Race Seats
 

Looking to pick up a pair of race seats for my RX-8. I've got a cage and would be buying 5-pt harnesses to go with the seats. With that said, I need to know if the seats I've not already deemed as acceptable with 5-points have the 5th submarine [crotch] strap.

Other than that, I'm just looking for thoughts on those listed. I'm 190lbs, 34-36" waist, and the Sparco Evo's in the Porsche are pretty tight, especially in the shoulders [built like a bodybuilder]

http://www.corbeau.com/products/fixe...seats/fx1_pro/ $320

http://www.racinglab.com/sparco-seat-tec.html (confirmed that it has the sub hole) $475

http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/s...t-p-13090.html $445

http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/m...t-p-44859.html (confirmed 5 holes) $341

http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/s...t-p-32438.html $328

Thanks in advance!

-Michael

From appearances I definitely like the Corbeau best. Would be my choice.

I'm looking at seats myself but want to be positioned 1-2"s lower because I'm 6'0" and 195 lbs former bodybuilder. I don't know if side mounts would lower the seat for me or if I'll need a custom setup. How tall are you? Will your height be an issue?

I'm also concerned about the cage shrinking an already tight situation when I have the helmet on.

If I remember correctly, getting mounting brackets made so that the seat is positioned about where you want it will be an issue.

if money wasn't an object

http://www.sparcousa.com/pseats_comp.asp?id=191

from the ones you posted, I'll go with the corbeau

Nice seats to choose from.

I'm 6'1" and have done 13 DE's with my head + helmet at a 20* angle from vertical. The cage doesn't hurt headroom at all, it's the sunroof that kills it.

I'm probably going to bolt it to the floor on the driver's side, and buy a slider for the passenger side.

It's looking like the Tec will be the winner, the Status seats are my favorites aesthetically but after talking to some vendors, they said that none of the seats will be even close to as comfortable as the Tec's if i'm dailying the car.

Sort of a side note: Spoke to someone at Mazdaspeed Motorsports Development today and he highly suggested going with a custom cage and only putting a cage in once the car becomes strictly a track car. Too dangerous driving it on the street without a helmet.

but... isn't it legal to drive with helmet? XD lol

I've been telling people here that for a while. The foam, that is mandatory to cushion blows, isn't thick enough for a helmet-less driver.

I don't know of anyplace that it is illegal. But, it makes you stand out to the police. You would be different than the average driver on the road. They may get curious and pull you over. It would be like driving with race numbers on the side of the car.
Plus, people would point and laugh. :)

If your looking for a safe way to mount a harness just get an bar

I really like my brides with the low maxx brackets I fit really good in them and I'm 6 feet tall too

I went with Sparco Evo's.

They're getting installed right now, and I'm installing the same seats in the Audi.

Got a discount on 4.

If your not looking for FIA approved seats, check out F1spec.com

nvm just read the post above, good choice.

post some pics when you get the car back !

Yeah pics are long overdue, cage, 5 pts, seats, turbo, exhaust, wheels, gauges etc.

it won't be low enough without custom mounts

Custom mount on driver's side. Sparco mount at bottom setting on passenger side.

I was super tired of having my helmeted head at a 20* angle from vertical when driving. [6'1" and long torso FTL] I have a sunroof rendered useless by the cage so the ceiling is even lower.

I'm basically sitting on the floor which is basically perfect height wise.

In the Audi we also had to fab a driver's side bracket.

Can you post some pics of you in the seat post install?

Mike, are you racing this caged monster or what?

I've been following a couple of these seat posts. In addition to the issue of potential headroom which I tried to follow up on in another thread, there also seems to be an issue of just getting aftermarket seats to simply fit in the space (width) available in the RX8. I am considering a Corbeau FX1 for my newly acquired RX8 but in looking at the dimensions posted on their website it suggests the seat would be a tight fit and possibly a no fit.

I have a fat butt apparently. Although I'm not fat, my waist is a 36 (at least that's what I wear, maybe its a 37), but apparently my hip bones are wide. I can't fit into my 6'2" buddy's Kayak and my last trip to Sebring I couldn't fit in a shorter friends Mazda Miata race seats (ouch). So I was looking at the Corbeau FX1 which is their middle size of 3 supposedly fits to a 38 waist. Their seat dimensions are 21" wide at the widest part and that looks to be close to the available width I measured in my new RX8 (it depends on where you measure). Anybody have any experience with this, particularly the Corbeaus?

PCA and other DE's, Just opted for safety before speed.

I'm a 200 lb bodybuilder type that's 6'1" w/ a 36 inch waist when I'm bulking.

My ass is perfectly pinched in the Sparco Evo's, fit width wise, but you will need to mount them to the floor or on a bottom mount bracket.

You can't salvage anything from the stock sliders that came with the car. At all.

I'd love to.

Hurricane Ike delayed picking up the car in Houston, but the turbo is en route from Mazsport after getting upgraded and rebuilt, so I'm hoping to pick the car up within the next two weeks.

there's a raised floorboard rail (my guess maybe 1" - 1.5" high) just behind the forward seat mounting points that either has to be cleared or clearanced


per the posted pic, I salvaged the mounting feet off the OE seat sliders and attached them to Recaro sliders using custom side rails that allow the bottom of the seat to be at the raised rail height yet still clear it just like the OE seats do. The racing seat has much less upholstery thickness than the OE seat so you pickup considerable helmet clearance even with sliders if done right

Yeah, when they fit me for the seat my nuts sat right behind the raised portion [assume you're talking the lateral 4-5" bump]

One of the issues was raceworthiness of the original fabbed brackets so that delayed delivery a substantial amount.