Oyishdog

what is the real difference between the intermediate and deluxe road race seats?

I am upgrading from a corbeau forza seat and want something that will offer great support and also help with the headroom situation. From what I read, the Kirkey seat with hardbar mounts will provide the most headroom?

John Shiels

if the intermediate is the one that looks the same it is weight due to holes in the seat. The seat is like sitting on the floor bar 1 " with the brackets I made before Gary had his out. Gary's are the same I think. Great seat! I braced mine to the roll bar also with an IO Port brace. Look at the shop drawings on their site you will see the difference. I bought deluxe but it doesn't seem worth it.

http://www.kirkeyracing.com/images/s...43000shopd.gif


http://www.kirkeyracing.com/images/s...47000shopd.gif

ltborg

im looking at getting the same seats and what they told me was that the intermediate seat is made out of sheet aluminum. it has beads rolled into it to stiffen the sheets. basically a few stampings bent to form the seat with the different panels welded together. if all you are doing is autocrossing or mild road courses (street tires, no race suspension, etc is what i gathered from the guy i was talking to) then you won't be able to tell the difference. the deluxe seat is made out of aluminum plate. this means its a little thicker where it needs to be and has more bracing welded on. it'll be made out of a lot more pieces welded together to form the seat.

i did a lot of work with these types of designs (structural engineering/analysis with sheet vs plate) when i was designing the front uprights on the 2006 Virginia Tech Formula car. plate (or more pieces of sheet) is much easier to make something stiff out of by welding the correct size bracing or correct thickness pieces on where you need it compared to just bending on big sheet.

i took a good look at the intermediate seats because they are a lot easier on the budget and i was able to twist them some, but some of that twisting was probably due to how i was grabbing it. if you are just looking for a seat to hold you in better, from what i can tell the intermediate is fine. i have been thinking about the deluxe seat since i am trying to race more competitively in autocross (and hit up the track for HPDEs and what not as much as possible) and am pretty big/heavy (6'3", 255) so the extra support may be nice/noticable.

sorry for the long winded answer but hopefully that gives you some good food for thought.
-lane

Oyishdog

very helpful...thanks!...err, well, now it looks like I will be spending twice as much

gkmccready

FWIW, I've had several Kirkey intermediates from before they started making roadracing seats and they've all been just fine and if not rock solid, solid enough. The current fibreglass seat in my RX7 has more flex to it than the low-end Kirkeys...

ltborg

yeah the intermediate felt fine enough at a minimum. im guessing three quarters of the flex at least came from the way it was mounted in the store. the deluxe just seems like its one of those do you want the last 5-10% for 100% more money.

ghoffman

You cannot get any lower than these pics of a Kirkey on our rails:


Photo courtesy of Tony!

John Shiels

yes you can see the plates in the drawing also and it's 2 lb heavier. I put mine in the back of the pickup. I looked in the mirror and low and behold it was about 1/3 mile back on the highway. I had back as hard as I could before someone ran it over. Seat cover has held up well and pops off and on easy.

Mikelly

Id caution you guys against trying them out in a showroom... I sat in both and ended up with the Roadrace intermediate and a backbrace for my Datsun. It's Very comfy, ZERO flex, and fits perfect. The more expensive Delux seat was well within the budget but simply didn't fit my torso as well. So make sure you get into one that's mounted in a car properly!

Mike

Slalom4me

Part of the reason I chose the Deluxe seat is that I feel it is better
suited for a person with long legs. The Deluxe base provides 2" more
thigh support than the Intermediate version does.

The mounting points were appealing, too.

A key factor to both the Deluxe and Intermediate versions is that
they are available in four hip widths (15"-18"). Mine is an 18" and
to optimize its fitment in my C4, I pulled the shoulder supports
together 1-2" for door frame clearance and straightened the outward
flare of the leading edge of the right thigh bolster for tunnel clearance.

I purchased a Deluxe sight unseen. It was a nice treat to discover the
machining when the seat arrived.







.

davidfarmer

The only difference that matters to me is......$400

I'm going with the $200 intermediate. It doesn't come with mounting holes on the side, but otherwise looks great to me. I have a drill.....

Oyishdog

Does someone have a pic of the intermediate seat and how the hardbar rails fit on the seat?


btw, David, I still need to get my car to you for alignment!

Slalom4me

An alternative to the Kirkey Intermediate is the Ultrashield
MarkBychowski uses in his '96 Vette. Here is one of a few photos
he has of these.

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/debnmark...03847028763/15

Edit to fix link

.

davidfarmer

I'm pretty sure you can just drill holes along the bottom rail. I may have some other mounting options for you soon.......

btw, $211 at Jegs

Slalom4me

Remember to get a cover if desired when ordering the seat.

I/O Port Racing lists the seat and cover package here



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ghoffman

[QUOTE=Oyishdog;1559121512]Does someone have a pic of the intermediate seat and how the hardbar rails fit on the seat?
QUOTE]

See post #7, that is the Kirkey.

Mikelly

I bought mine from OG Racing for $189 and I believe Summit has it in the same pricepoint.

As to the comment about drilling holes, you should be fine doing what David said.

I looked at the Ultrashield. However, they are generally soooo back logged from November thru April with the hords of orders from NASCAR teams that I gave up... It's a great seat, but I don't think it's so exceptional that the cost or the wait are worth it.

Mine is a size 17 and I gotta tell you guys, if the GT3 RSR seats weren't so damned nice, I'd steal the Kirkey out of the Datsun project car and throw it into the Twin Turbo.

Mike

Slalom4me

Not today. They show the #47700 at the same price as mentioned by DavidFarmer.

Covers appear to be around $140

.

Mikelly

Check OG then. I don't have more than $300 in the seat and the cover from them, and I bought them back in October.

Mike

Oyishdog

OG is 245 for seat and 150ish for cover today...I have bought alot of stuff from there..good store and good prices

anyway, I am searching to find a pic of the bottom/side of the intermediate to see how much space is available to drill the holes...