MongoZ06

Just like many of you, and judging by previous posts there are a lot, I'm searching for a good aftermarket "race" seat to put in the car for HPDE's and DE's. Now there are an abundance of seats out there for those who are 5'10" and weigh 200lbs, what about those of us who are 6'+ and weigh over 250lbs... the options are limited.. even more so since aparently most of the seats that we would fit in don't fit in the car that well. What I'm reaching out for is to possibly find someone who either works for a manufacturer or knows someone who works for a manufacturer of aftermarket race seats that could swing an idea for that company to acctually produce a seat that would fit the corvette better than the "general line" of seats they currently produce.

With the shear number of corvette owners out there looking for such a solution I'm sure it would be a hot seller. Besides that I'm positive there are car owners of other manufacturers like Porsche who have the same issue with seating as us and would benefit from a seat that can fit in a small space while being able to accomodate us larger folks.

wtknght1

Cobra Suzuka GT version. (there are 2 types). The GT version is for the bigger guys. Sube Sports is the place.

I'm 6'3", 200 and the standard version fits me superbly, but the GT version has a few extra inches in the width for comfort. It's an excellent seat and very, very comfortable. I've commuted using the seat and had no issues! Link that up with Gary Hoffman's (Hardbar) seat rails and you'll be amazed how much better your in-car comfort and consistency becomes.

AU N EGL

Finding the right seat can be a challenge for anyone. But once you do you will will wonder why did you not find a seat sooner?

Knowing your hip width will help.

Sit on the floor with your back to the wall and your legs straight out.

Place Two, 2"x6" or 2"x8" boards ( 2"x4" are not tall enough) next to your hips and 90* from the wall.
The boards should come up to your ball of your hip joint ( trocanter of the femur. I think that is what it is call IIRC )

stand up then measure the distance between the boards.

add 1/2" and that is the width of your hips.

Good Luck on your search. You will find one

mwvettec5

Great to hear, I have one of the Cobras and Pfadts bracket & mounts headed my way via UPS.

THANKS !!!

John Shiels

Kirkey seats

MongoZ06

Will the Suzuka GT fit in the car without any serious modifications or removal of the factory seatbelt?

wtknght1

I wasn't concerned with the factory belt in this car, but it certainly should work. Any time you start adding racing related things, be prepared to modify/remove some stock components though.

I would not use the stock seat belt with a racing seat anyway. The hip supports are fairly high so the lap belt probably wouldn't make contact with your waist, so you're definitely better off using the racing belts. It's hard to have a hybrid car...god knows I've tried.

rustyguns

i have studied the crap out of this and the 3 I found

kirkey ( cheapest)

cobra

evo II


and you have to modify your seatbelts with them all


So when i finally get one I am going to make it as easy as possible to interchange the stock seat with the racing seat. Then use them both

one caveat though........ in a rollover these race seats keep you upright
so if you do not have a roll bar..........you can snap your neck

stock seat you can lean to the side and let the roof collapse a little
but if you roll a couple times........who knows!

G/L

Gray Ghost GS

6' 225 lbs. Sparco Evo 2 Plus - great seat and fits perfect!

MongoZ06

I'd like to have a setup where I will be able to interchange between the race seat and the factory seats with only minor modifications. From all the searches I've done and comments I've seen it's almost impossible with what options are available.

wtknght1

From what I've seen over the years, the over/under is 4 events. If you do 4 DE events per year, then you're definitely getting serious about this stuff and should really consider some serious safety equipment - bars, seat, belts, HANS, etc. If you're doing less than 4 events, I probably wouldn't fool with it. The stock seats will do well enough for what you need.

MongoZ06

That makes a lot sense on the 4 events per year.
Do you by chance have any pics of your seat installed in the car?

wtknght1

Mine's a fully prepped T1 car bud... I'm sure there are folks out there though that have some shots of their street car.

Cobra4B

I'm 6'4" 245 with wide shoulders... finding a seat that fit me and fit in the car was a huge PITA.

Finally I decided to try the world of aluminum racing seats... using the method Tom (AU N GEL) mentioned with boards I found that I needed a 17" seat.

I went with a Ultrashield Pro Roadrace seat with 20 degree layback mounted in a set of Hardbar aluminum seat rails. It's amazing... I can get the seat in/out in 10 minutes, and it fits in the car w/o removing the lower seat belt buckle (not an issue on C6s)

Some pics:

MongoZ06

How comfortable would the seat be for say a 2 hour drive ?
(that's how far the closest track is to me)

Cobra4B

^ Very... I was quite surprised. I'd go 4-5+ easily. I left the seat in the car for a few months at one point.

Wicked Weasel

I am 6'2" at 250 lbs.

I went with advice from Gary@Hardbar and got the Kirkey Deluxe with covers, hardbar rails and Brace from I/O Port Racing. I measured myself using 2 2x4 to get the waist size.

I will be installing them next week and will post pics of the install along with a write up.

From what people have told me they are very comfortable and long term driving is not an issue.

If you want to send me your size I can get you pricing on a Kirkey.

Cobra4B

^ The only issue I found is the higher end Kirkey has the holes pre-drilled on extra ribs at the bottom of the seat. If I had gotten that seat I could have never made it as low as I hae mine now (as seen in the pics above). But being 6'4" I needed that extra inch.

MongoZ06

I'm 6'3" and 310lbs
My hip width is 18" we just checked it
Also I will need the harness slots to be 27"-28" from the base of the seat (depending on how thick the padding it)

I'm tall in the torso so every little bit of headroom is a must

Cobra4B

^ They make an Ultrashield 18 incher, but you'll have to remove the lower seat belt buckle to make it fit.