Senna

Wow! Cool link Expo. Would they (the brackets) be FIA approved? That's the only issue. Not sure if NASA requires FIA regs.

Senna

Did you order the FX1 Pro or the FX1 and what is your height/waist size?

One question I have re: these (and other) fixed back seats is do you need a different kind of bracket to be able to create a tilted setup to the seat. I.E. have the front of the seat set at a slightly higher angle than the rear.

I'm still hoping for a simple plug and play set up.

wishboneracing

Follow-up -- Sorry for the continued hi-jack. I've finally put some miles on the modified stock seat, and it still feels really really great. Piles of headroom if needed, and the side support for my slim self is so so so much better. No butt issues - when don't need the helmet clearance, I raise the base so everything stays fairly level and comfy (most of the foam came out from under-butt, not under-leg). My butt really doesn't miss the foam, and I just spent 4 hours in the car yesterday. I'm happy.
OK, back to race seats.

Senna

For some reason I'm not able to see your pics on page two. Glad you had some luck with your stock seat mod. How tall are you again and how much (in terms of inches) cushion did you remove from the butt part of the seat? I may have to give this a try until I can sit in someone else's car and like it enough to just duplicate their setup.

wishboneracing

I'm 5'11", and cut off a layer of foam about 3" max thickness tapering to 2" at rear and less than an inch under thigh. Leaves as much or more foam behind as a race seat has.

Senna

^^ Cool..maybe be worth trying until I can get a race seat in.

justjim

I ordered the FX1 which is the middle sized of the 3 sizes offered (FX1 pro is the smallest). I finally got a mounting bracket fabricated by a local race fabricator for some universal sliders. It wasn't particularly elegant but its done and we did gain some headroom. I will probably modify it in the future as I'm not particularly happy with the bracket. I don't think mounting the seat on the manufactured brackets would have given me the necessary headroom as Team8 has previously pointed out.

I took the RX8 and new seat to Sebring on Saturday Dec 13 and was immediately able to knock 2 seconds off my best lap time to get a 2:42 which I duplicated several times that day. I have to chalk the improvement up to the seat and the addition of a harness as the improvement in lap times came in the first session.

I found the Corbeaux FX1 comfortable at the track but I would never use it as a daily driver because its confining, hard to get in and out of, and you can't really use it with the OEM belts and the harness is too confining for the street. 5 bolts and its in and out after the track.

Senna

Thanks for the update. I'm not surprised your times came down with the seat. Glad it seems to be working for now.

I've done a little more investigating and I'm leaning toward a Sparco seat with the base bracket and side mounts which allow for variation in seat position. I'm hoping to gain about 1.5 to 2 inches in head room.

I also hope to help the problem of seat position by going with a racing steering wheel (already ordered) and spacer to bring the wheel about 50 millimeter closer to me. Between the 1-2 inches in headroom and the steering wheel out further I should be good to go.

Did you solve the airbag sensor light or are you just going to leave the light on because the stock seat goes back in after the track?

justjim

No I just let the warning light shine, it didn't bother me and it went off when I put the OEM seat back in when I came home. The TPS light bothers me more because its on and off or blinking all the time while the racing tires on on.

Arrrrex-8

Just did a test fit of kirkey 15" intermediate 10 degree layback using Bride seat rails. The car is a GT, so sun roof and power, leather, heated seats. I'm 6'2", 34" inseam, 34" waist, and weigh 220lbs, built pretty solidly, could stand to loose 10lbs. With the stock seat I have to lay the seat back a little farther than I like and slouch a little bit other wise my head rubs on the roof. I'm going to autoX this car in STX next year so I needed to find some head room. With the kirkey installed at its current position, I used the center holes on the Bride side mounts, with out a helmet I now have about 3" head clearance. With a helmet about a 1/2" or so. To mount the seat as low as I did I had to clearance the mounting tabs on the inboard seat rail some, probably not necessary with the 14" kirkey. Also the adjustability fore and aft were it sits now is limited, moving fwd the seat hits the cross member just aft of the fwd mounting position. Moving aft the seat hits a bump near the inboard aft mounting location. Its fine for me were its now, but some one significantly shorter or taller might have issue's. The perspective at this seating position is very different than what I'm used to, but I assume is what its like for most normal size people. The seat also leans back a little more than I'd like were it currently sits. I'm going to raise the back one hole, this should make the lean slightly more comfortable, and add some more fore and aft adjustability while hopefully not eating up the remaining head room. I'll have to raise the front up some more to gain any significant fwd adjustability, I don't think I'd have enough head room. So I think if I ever have a short codriver I'll have to set up a pad or something to move there body fwd in the seat.

Senna

Looks like it should help. Can I ask why you decided on Kirkey? Those have to be some of the most uncomfortable looking seats I've seen. But if they work for you that's all that matters.

mryoshi

Remember that if you use a fixed back seat you have to have roll cage in most cases. Its not safe in a roll over to have fixed back seat and no roll cage.
I had the FX1 in my old car. I wish I kept hem when I sold the car. The car was not even running so wouldnt have dinged me very much.
I am a big guy I had the wide version that they offer. It fit very nice. I have very wide shoudlers as well. Only thin is the wide version required me to remove interior body panels inlcuding center console around shifter on my old car. It was about 1/2" too wide.
It was a corolla so I would think it had more room than the 8 does.
Also if its a daily drive id recomend against it. They have only about 3/4" of foam padding. I daily drove mine and got used to it but passengers hated it.

Senna

Yeah, you're kinda stuck in one position with your neck/head possibly becoming a pivot point if the roof caves.

Arrrrex-8

I chose them because they're light, cheap, and I figured probably had the best chance of getting low enough for me to fit with a helmet.

While I would not call them comfortable, they aren't that bad. I've left it in for the time being so I can adjust to the new lower perspective I get while driving. I've spent as long as an 1 1/2hr stuck in traffic, and it didn't bother me. Getting in and out is a real pain in the *** though. And its difficult to reach anything that isn't at arms length such as the glove box. One thing I do plan on doing is getting some foam and making a lumbar pad. The plan is to swap the stock seats out for these on race day, but really they're not too bad, I've actually felt worse after being in stock seats on some other cars.

Arrrrex-8

True, but it is also very simple and quick to swap seats for race day and then swap back. This is what I plan on doing.

Arrrrex-8

Just got done swapping back to the stock seat. I've driven the car everyday for the last two and a half weeks with this seat. Other than getting in and out being a major pain in the ***, they weren't that uncomfortable. I even got stuck in traffic for 1.5 - 2 hours a couple of times. It took a little while but I think I got used to sitting so much lower, we'll see what happens when I swap them back in in two weeks for the first slush series event.

Also weighed them today. With the sliders they are 26.4lbs, 1.4lbs over minimum weight for the class.

Also for comparison for fitment. I lost more weight than I thought, I'm now 210 instead of the 220 I listed earlier. All the other stats I listed still stand.

kinchu007

iTrader: (1)

What happens to the airbag system when you remove the stock seat is my question...

Senna

The airbag light will probably show.

Kinchu-what's your next track day? I'm scheduled for Willow Springs in March, both days.

kinchu007

iTrader: (1)

If the airbag light is on doesn't that mean that the airbags won't deploy in case of an accident???? Seems like a pretty strong reason to stay away from racing seats on our cars unless you plan to swap for every track event...even then what if you god-forbid get into an accident on the way there or back?

Senna, my next track day is this Sunday at WSIR: http://www.speedventures.com/events/...il.aspx?id=209
I'm also planning on going to SOWS on the 6th of March: http://www.speedventures.com/events/...il.aspx?id=211
My buddy has an S2000 and is going to try to attend all the "S2000 Challenge"-associated Speedventures track events this year. I'm planning to go to all of them with him.

-Fil

justjim

Its my understanding that you only lose the airbag that was in the seat you remove. The light merely indicates that an airbag connection is open (missing). The airbags in the dash and roof are still functional. When you put the seat back in and reconnect the airbag the light goes out. It wouldn't make much sense to have a system where a poor connection on one element disables the entire multi-airbag system.

Senna

Have to say airbags never have made me feel much safer quite honestly. I figure if I'm in a tangle it's going to be ugly either way. Now a roll cage at the track is a different story and I'm still debating about whether to just make the 8 a track car strictly.

Fil, I can tell you're a speedventures loyalist. I tend to like NASA but perhaps I'll do a SV event sometime this year.

kinchu007

iTrader: (1)

I'm down to try NASA next year...does it have some sort of ladder structure for becoming a pro driver? Tell me more about it Senna...

As far as seats go, I like the Recaro SPG the best...do we have a solution for off-the shelf rails? or do we need custom rails fabricated for our cars?

Senna

Yeah, I think you're right about this.

Senna

Oh yeah, it has a very clear ladder system and the instruction is excellent. Mike Peters, the Group 3 leader in Socal is the man and I'm not BS'ing. It's basically HPDE 1 thru 4. Group 4 is also the Time Trial group so by time you get there you've got to be pretty good.

Thereafter you take a course. I know a few who were running in HPDE that took this course http://www.drivingconcepts.com/ and then you're good to go for your NASA pro race license.

Those Recaro's look nice. The question for many with the 8 is are there rails that allow the seat to be mounted low enough.

kinchu007

iTrader: (1)

Isn't NASA pricey though? How much do you pay for a few track days?