I've looked at quite a few aftermarket seats over the years and they all appear to have the same problem of not being able to lay back with a rollbar. The head portion of the seat is much wider and you can't slide/lay the seat back or the head restraint portion hits the rollbar. I've removed the package shelf and bent the seatrails a little bit, so my seat already lays back and extra 2" over somebody with the package shelf installed. My headrest is so far back it's fully inside of the rollbar. See pic.

I'm 6'4" and 240lbs, and what I'd like to do is just pad the floor a little and sit on that. There's plenty of room in the cockpit, but the seat takes up a lot of it. I've got very little interest in long-term comfort, but if I want to do any HPDE, I've got to sit about 3" lower than I am now... and I'd love a little extra legroom. Since I've got some sense of safety, I'd like an actual "seat" to sit on... so I was thinking something like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Dune-...spagenameZWD1V

Dune-buggy shops are kinda hard to come by here in HamptonRoads... anybody feelin' me on this idea?

 

sam you want a seat like that i have one in my basement, you can have it.

 

I don't know that an HPDE would let you use a seat like that unless it has appropriate safety rating. Not sure though.
Here are some options and I'll find the links later. Go to the targamiata.com site and find the picture of him cutting out the rear seat mounts to get lower. Then build brackets like savington did for his MOMO start. He gained about 2.5" of headroom that way and you would gain another 1.5" i bet by removing the rear seat mount risers. You wouldn't have any seat adjustment but you would have a good seat that is legal for the track, works with 6 point harnesses and headroom.

 

You could make custom brackets.. that would save you roughly 2-3" over OEM.

 

I used 2 2" wide 1/4" thick metal bars I bent then bolted the seat, then bolted to the floor in the stock locations. My head is nice and low now. My *** is about 1" off the floorboard, and people always think a child is driving.

 

WOW!!! I didn't know about those brackets on the rears. That may make the difference I'm looking for. It looks like the threads for the bolts are on the bracket... makes it tough to thread down into the chassis itself. I think I'd have to drill completely through the floorpan and use long bolts... but if I added a little extra bend to the tabs on the front bolts, I should be able to keep the stock seat rails. Of course...cutting those seat risers is permanent. I'd like to try getting a new skinny seat first and see if that works.

Scott, thanks for the offer... we may have to work something out.

http://www.nasaproracing.com/rules/ccr.pdf
The HPDE rulebook would seem to indicate that any reasonable seat that can be securely bolted to the frame would be OK.

But upon reading the rules, it'd seem my rollbar isn't legal anyways... the rear braces on my bar contain a slight bend in them and the rules specifically ban that. Oh well.

 

you can HDPE a stock car, no FIA ratings on anything.

Never had a problem at NASA events with the 2" rule in a HPDE. HPDE and Pro Racing is very different.


HPDE Rules:

SAFETY EQUIPMENT
_______roll bars in open cars
_______seat belts or harness
_______helmet (Snell 95 or newer)
_______covered battery inside cockpit

HAVE READY AT TRACK:
-Affix numbers on both sides of car at least 10 inches tall of a contrasting color.
-No loose objects in car or trunk. Remove spare tire, jack, floor mats, dash mats, paper, etc.
-A tech/group sticker placed on top center of windshield.
-All exposed lights covered with tape, except brake lights.
-A nomex suit is highly recommended.


http://www.nasaracing.net/new_dev_05..._tech_form.pdf

 

You should just do the seat-foam removal mod. It is the best mod available for the Miata!

 

yeah, im doing that tonight (foam removal)

 

Sam i can not warn you of those seats enough. You need to see them in person. We got a seat for our single passenger off road vehicle that had studs just pressed into the plastic.

I wouldnt trust it with a 15 MPH rock crawler let alone something like a turbo'd sportscar

 

That seat totally looks like what you'd see bolted to an arcade game.

 

I helped MikeF85 install some nice and comfy aluminum racing seats in which he was practically sitting on the floor. They're so comfortable you feel like a baby in the womb.

 

Hey guys, first post here. Only been lurking so far, since a turbo is still a ways in the future for me, but I've been doing a lot of reading around on various seat options and might be able to provide some input. I'm 6'2" and 200 lbs.

You'll likely have to ditch the sliders and mount right to the floor. You might be able to use something like a Sparco Sprint 5, but to get the layback necessary to get your noggin under the bar, you might have to remove the rear seat hump. The aluminum seats like a Kirkey or an Ultrashield Spec Miata seat (saferacer has them) are thinner and *might* not necessitate removing the seat humps. There's a guy on the Spec Miata forum who's 6'5" and uses the Ultrashield. He removed the rear seat hump to get some layback, and I believe he angled it even further using multi-position side brackets.

I'm waiting on a roll bar and will deal with seats after that's in. Up here in NoVA, OG Racing in Sterling has a bunch of seats on display that you can try on. I was surprised at how comfy the Kirkey seat was, given how little padding it had.

With an aluminum seat, you'll also need a brace that bolts to the back of the seat and ties it back to the harness bar. Something like this. Not sure if this is a strict requirement for HPDEs, but it is for racing.

If there are any tall folks in the NoVA/DC area who have all this worked out, I'd appreciate it if I could get a gander at your car to get a more firm idea of what will accomodate my head + helmet.

 

Ahh, yes, it was a Kirkey seat.