racing seat recommendations?

[jspoljor]

I'm looking for recommendations on racing seats. Ive done quite a few HPDE events now, and have decided that it might be time for some seats and a harness. My car is a 2000 986 boxster s. Pretty much all stock. While I would love some GT3 seats, a pair would cost more than the car is worth. So, after talking with people at the track yesterday, I'm going to look into Sparco, OMP, and Cobra. Any thoughts on these companies and their products? any others I should look into? The sparco EVO II was one that was mentioned. I'm a bit on the heavy side, 5'10 220 with a 36 inch waist.

Any knowledge and experience is greatly appreciated!

[steved0x]

I am 6'2" 240# with a 34" inseam and really wide shoulders. The Recaro Profi XL is a perfect fit and is what have. Other seats I have sat in are the Bimarco Grip (halo seat, tight but fit), Bimarco Futura (tight but fit), Porsche/Recaro GT3 "alien eyes" seat - fit, and I have a Cobra Evolution Pro Fit GT Width that fits except it my shoulders are too wide (made the mistake of buying without sitting in the seat)

My advice - go to your next HPDE and ask to sit in the seat of everybody that has race seats if they have a Boxster so much the better, you can see all the details of their installation. And don't do like me a buy a seat (my Cobra) that it turns out doesn't fit my shoulders.

All the brands you mention make good FIA vertified seats and you probably wouldn't go wrong with any of them, once you find a seat that you like and that fits you.

One thing to keep in mind, down here in FL at least, PCA (Florida Crown region but maybe others, I think it came down from national) has started enforcing a "no seats with harnesses if you don't have a roll cage or roll bar". I have the BK roll bar extender and that meets the requirements of that. Their logic is if you are pinned to the seat by harness and the car rolls, your body/neck can't move to the side like it can with the OEM 3 pt belt and so you need the extra protection of the roll bar.

[NewArt]

+1 on Steve’s comments. You can install a race seat without a change in harness. It is a big improvement. If you are thinking harness, then you must consider roll bar or cage, and a Hans device if you value your neck. A race seat with the stock 3 point seat belt is already a great track improvement and you can wait a while before spending a whack of cash!

[steved0x]

Yes race seat with stock 3 point is a great improvement, I ran mine like that for a while.

[jsceash]

A word of caution about 3 point stock seat belts and race seats. Some NE regions will not allow this. They require a 5 or 6 point harness with a race seat.

[Topless]

Getting a seat that fits you well is pretty important and there is no way for us to know. I am 5'10" 175 lbs, short legs, long torso. The Cobra seats fit me best and I have both the Suzuka and Imola pro. Best fit by far of all the brands you mentioned.

Do a rule check first with the clubs you run to make sure a seat alone will be legal. Some require seat>harness>hans>roll protection as a package.

[thstone]

Originally Posted by jspoljor

I'm a bit on the heavy side, 5'10 220 with a 36 inch waist.

I used to be the same size (I've since dropped 40 lbs but that's another story) and most seat manufacturers make a size L or XL seat in addition to the standard (medium) size model.

I found that the Sparco Pro2000 II fit my width perfectly (the standard medium size Pro2000 was too narrow for my arse).

Here are the dimensions for the regular size Sparco Pro2000 and the larger Pro2000 II. As you can see, the interior width of the regular size is 330mm vs the wider 360mm larger II.

The best thing that you can do is sit in as many seats that you possibly can and note which fit well and then look up the dimensions and use that as a guide to select your final choice.

Last, if you are thinking about a halo seat consider any potential visibility issues while driving on the street.