ninety4formula

Hey everyone. I was curious what type of seats people have in their cars for racing. I am really tall (6'5") and am looking to get a little more head room with the helmet and I'm trying to also get some more side support so I'm not bruising my leg by bracing myself. I have considered going with a kirkey aluminum seat, but I would need the 18" width and don't know if that would fit in the C4. This would be a street driven car. Any suggestions?

Brett Richmond

Might try bolting seat directly to the floor, that would give you about 3" extra. I am 5'11 and with regular seat in and helmet, I don't have a lot of room left myself...

1991Z07

I'm personally going to install the Corbeau A4's in mine...

They feel firm, and they fit the space. You can also order them with reduced foam thickness on the seat to get better clearance.

Like Brett said...install them with fixed seat rails (manual type) and they are practically on the floorboard. Should give you at least a few more inches of head room.

383vett

This Kirkey aluminum racing seat gave me a ton of headroom (I'm 6'). This one is for drag racing. They also make a road course seat. The thing is actually very comfortable.

1991Z07

Why the passenger seat? Do they let you take someone on a ride-along?

ninety4formula

How wide are those seats? I was looking at this seat in particular http://www.jegs.com/i/Kirkey/570/477...Fafm7AodZxQAWA and just haven't been able to measure what would fit in the car. I have basically just put 1" foam in the seat bottom with a seat cover over it so that it looked ok. I did that and remove the straps and I can fit, but just barely and it isn't as comfortable as what I believe this seat would be. I have heard they are nice to drive in. Will these seats work with the stock seat belts so that I can still drive the car in the street?

I have heard people say that the manual track will lower the seat height, but by how much? I don't want to buy one and find out that I'm not really gaining anything. I would prefer to go with a racing seat anyways because I want to be held more securely and not have to use my body to brace myself during autocross.

rocco16

I had APC sport seats in mine for many years. Just put Corbeau A4's in two weeks ago.

To the OP:
In my opinion, aluminum seats are not for a street car; more than an hour's worth of driving time in one and your tail is toast. For racing, yes, where support is the only important thing and your time in the car is measured in minutes, not hours.
For a street car you will be happier in a good sport seat, where you can change seat back angle, etc..

Even race cars that are on the track for 24 hours don't use aluminum seats (unless they are custom-fitted, with foam, to a particular driver).

ninety4formula

I emailed the guy that was selling the Corbeau A4's on here and asked him how they would be for me. He said that even with shaving an inch off the bottom that it would be tight for me with my helmet. That is part of the reason that I was looking into the aluminum seats. Being able to side mount them I think would gain me some more clearance up top by letting the seat sit lower. I don't care if it is adjustable because I'm the only one that drives the car. If I needed to change it then I could swap the seat out for the stocker. I don't really drive the car far distances really. I have driven it from NY to NC but I probably wouldn't do that now. I think now the farthest that I would drive it is 3 hours, but I would imagine that it wouldn't be that much more uncomfortable than the 1" foam I use as a seat bottom now with the straps removed. I agree that it wouldn't be the ideal seat for trips, but I could suck it up (I feel) for the amount of time that I am in the car. My only real other concern other than fit and seat belt usage would be getting in and out of the car. I don't know if it would be harder with the thigh supports there. I wish that there was a place around that had the seats in stock so I could just sit in some and see how they felt.

383vett

It's to hold the laptop silly.

383vett

My seats are 16" which for me are perfect. I went to Summit in Reno and they had different sizes and types of racing seats displayed. I could sit in a number of them and these worked for me. I think a 17" seat would be a challange to mount in a C-4. The car might not be wide enough. Mine are hard mounted to a steel hoop on a bar that goes under the seats and to the harness bar mount. Just make sure you take your time and get the right angle.

MarkBychowski

I put Ultrashield rally sport aluminum seats in mine with no problem. 17" with heavy aluminum angle brackets. They fit very nice and are pretty easy to get in and out of.

rocco16

I put the A4's on the stock power bases and have adequate headroom.
The Corbeau seat adapter/sliders will give you another 2" of headroom over the stock power bases. (I got the Corbeau adapters/sliders and decided not to use them)

If you are willing to swap seats back to stock when you drive on the street, then an aluminum seat might be your best bet after all.

ninety4formula

I would like to leave them in permanently if possible. I think the biggest thing for me would be if I could get in and out ok, use the factory seat belt, and it isn't too uncomfortable. If the aluminum seat meets those requirements then I would leave it in all the time.

How tall are you? Maybe if I got the seats shaved and use their brackets it might work.

rocco16

I hear ya'. The only sure way to know is to try them.

I'm 5' 6", but my inseam is only 29", so my torso is not much shorter than someone much taller. (short legs...)