Liquid1

I have a 2008 Z06 that I use primarily for about 5 track days per year at an intermediate level. I drive it to and from the track and maybe do 1 or 2 weekend drives per year. I have a family so there is very limited opportunity for other recreational use of the car.

In order to accomodate a HANS device, I bought a harness bar, Sparco harnesses, and Recaro seats. I need to decide within the next day or so whether to try to run the harness bar and harnesses with the stock seats or install the Recaro seats. The primary concern that is being raised by my shop is how uncomfortable it will be to drive the car to and from the track with the harnesses, as well as a possible loss of some element of safety due to losing the airbags. Their idea is to install the harness bar and harness with stock seats, and use the stock belts when driving to and from the track. Does anyone have this setup? Is it safe? Realizing this is a subjective question, how much comfort/safety am I losing by using the harnesses while driving on the street?

Thanks in advance for your insight. Please let me know if there are any questions I can help clarify.

ssdeuce

I have the Kirkey road race seat. I also drive to the track with the seat and harness. I'm good for about 1 1/2 hours. I bought a seat cushion at the store that fits perfect and helps a ton. As far as the stock seat and belt I'm no help sorry. I can say the race seat holds you up so much better while on the track you'll be a better driver and you can always takeout four bolts and put your stock seat in for Date nights with the wife

mfquinn

I faced the same dilemma you have. I will do about 40 track days this year, drive my car to the track and still use it as somewhat of a daily driver. I wanted seats that would work well (to a certain degree) in both situations. I finally went with the Corbeau TRS seats. They can recline (not that I use that feature much), they will slide (not that I use that feature much) and they are comfortable on long trips. They also hold me in very well (even with the factory 3 point belts) on the track. I went with the harness bar, 6 point Schroth harness and a Hans device (actually I use the neck defender). I kept the factory belts for every day driving and once I am at the track I just use the harness. I have been very happy with the setup. I really liked the Sparco Evo Plus seats but just didn't want to have to climb in and out every day. A lot of folks just switch their drivers seat before heading to the event. I decided not to go this route because to do upgrades or check out rides, most clubs want you to have both seats/belts to be the same. Anyway, good luck with your project.

travisnd

Dual use stinks... did it for years. It's very nice to have a dedicated track car that is setup perfeclty and doesn't need to be swapped back and forth. That said it's not realistic for many... especially if you're just getting your toe wet in this hobby.

I see nothing wrong with driving the car to/from the track with the race seats and harnesses. I mean Corvettes didn't have side impact airbags until the C6 model anyway.... lots and lots of C5s running around w/o them.

I think you can buy a plug-in module so that your main airbags and telescoping column (if you have one) still work, but not sure who sells them since I'm a C5Z owner.

The stock seats stink in these cars and I believe they're a large contributor to people having negative feedback on the steering feel/handling of these cars. Put a good seat in them and get your butt planted and it's a new car.

Liquid1

I have the proper resistor to keep the telescoping function nad keep the warning lights off, but if you're in a harness you're never going to reach the airbag anyway, so it is moot.

For those that have replaced their stock seats, is there something I need to do with a yaw sensor embedded in the stock seats? Hardbar (who supplied the mounts) was talking to my shop and mentioned something along these lines, but I can't seem to find anything in search. Thanks again for the help.

travisnd

Did they move it in a C6? In the C5 the yaw sensor is mounted to the center console support and the lateral G sensor is bonded to the passenger side floor.

Jason

Compomises. Always. Suck.

Bill Dearborn

I don't have any facts to back this up but I seriously doubt the air bags are deactivated just by pulling the seats out. You will lose the sensor for passenger presence and the signal that tells the system the stock belts are fastened. However, those things will not deactivate the bags. The air bag light might be on but that doesn't mean they won't fire. If your car has side air bags then the light will indicate a failure of the side air bag system but again I seriously doubt GM would take the legal risk of deactivating the front bags just because the side air bags have an operational problem. Would they deactivate the front bags if the car was in a multiple collision accident where it was struck in the side with a deployment of a side air bag and then deactivate the front bags just before it hit a tree in the front? I can just imagine the newspapers and the plaintiff's attorney on TV spinning that story. The air bag light just indicates there is an issue with the air bag system that might keep it from working properly.

The racing harness will not keep your body from moving forward. The belts and your body will stretch about a foot forward in a hard impact. Most frontal impacts are in the range of 30 to 40 Gs. That is a lot of force.

Bill

bosco022

When you get ready for a dedicated track car consider something like this:

pick up a good used perimeter frame short track late model,

add one 2011 Camaro composite body from Howe. ARP etc

one LS motor of your choice

one used fresh Jerico road race 4 speed

quick change rear end

short track suspension

go out a whip most everyone for between 25-39K depending on motor/brakes used.

Liquid1

Good to know for when I try out for being the HPDE lap time king but it has absolutely zero relevance to the question I asked. Thanks for posting.

bosco022

Agreed, wasn't tryin' to hijack your thread, just trying to make the point that these type compromise type track cars often end up being an expensive trap. But then, I guess so do purpose built ones.

The Panther

This is what I pretend my car looks like while I am driving...badass

jsbwac

It sounds like you are in the same boat I am in. I want the racing seats, 6 point harness, Hans, etc. for race days, but need the comfort of the stock seats for when the wife is with me.
I use the Corbeau FX1 Pros and I have gotten to the point where I leave them in most of the time. They are a little tough to get in and out of, but the comfort isn't that bad for longer drives and weekend drives. You might lose a little comfort and the side airbags, but I agree with one of the previous posts, the fronts should still work. If you want to make sure and get the dash icon for the airbags to go out, I believe PFADT sells an adapter. It isn't cheap though and is the reason I never bought it.
Also, if you can get a system down, the seat swap is not that big a deal. Each one takes me about ten minutes to swap, but I have done it quite a bit so it is pretty easy at this point.
One quick tip, set your telescopic wheel prior to taking your seat out. Once it is disconnected, this function will not work and you are stuck with the steering wheel where ever it was last. In my opinion, make the seat and belt swap. The Recaros and harnesses will hold you in place much better at the track and make the day more enjoyable. Looking back, I don't know how I ever did it with stock seats and stock belts.

Just my 2 cents.

Good luck and enjoy the car!

Bill Dearborn

One thing I forgot to mention in my other post. The restraint system connectors under the seats are not designed for multiple connections/disconnections. Thus they will wear quickly and start giving problems if you swap seats in and out on a regular basis. I have started installing the race seats and then leaving them for most of the season. Mine will go in next week and will not be removed until I finish doing track and autoX events for the first half of the season in June. Then they will be reinstalled in late August and not removed again until the season ends in October. I have been thinking about seeing if I could get duplicates of the connectors and make up some connector savers that take most of the abuse.

Bill

GO_BLUE_VETTES

I have a Cobra Suzuka GT seat and the BK harness bar. At one point I had the seat in the car for over two years straight. To me the Cobra seat is WAY more comfortable than the stock seat (support and positioning), when I sit in the stock seat I am flopping all over. I once drove 7.5 hours in the seat with only one quick stop - no problems. The only hassle is using the 6pt harnesses all the time. If you are running errands it can be a drag if you are hopping in and out of the car a lot.

Using the hardbar seat mounts, I can do a stock seat to track seat swap in less than 20 minutes. I leave the stock seatbelt installed all the time, and the seat fits in the car without touching any of the plastic interior panels.

Corvee

With regard to the comfort of aftermarket seats, it depends on the design of the seat. My aftermarket seats remain in the car, and I have made several 4+ hour trips without issues. It is mostly dependent on your stature/weight. If you can get in and out of the seat easily, it should be OK. Some seats have high sides with slots for the belts, which limits access. I installed harnesses for the track and retained the stock seat belts for street use. In fact, law enforcement in some states (including the Republic of Texas) will ticket you for using a harness on the street.

As far as using a harness with stock seats - I would be more concerned with safety than comfort. You mentioned Recaro, what style? How many connections for the Sparco harness? If you are using a hans device, and a harness bar, I assume a 4-point. If so, the shoulder belts will need to pass through the seat back inorder to maintain proper geometry, particularly for the hans. Another consideration - many install a 5- or 6-point harness because of "submarining" during impact. To install a 5/6 the seat will need a sub-belt slot. Not sure if the 4-point is any better than a stock seat-belt in that regard but your dash air bags will help if left operable.

Check with the hans and harness manufacturers for suggestions. How are you connecting your side belts? Most install aftermarket seat rails with incoporated connection points for this reason. Hardbar and Brey-Kraus make brackets that mount to the stock rail connection points. Whether or not they will work with the stock seats depends on the harness geometry. I would do my research throughly before installation, unless you are confident the installer has extensive knowledge of safety equipment and its installation in Corvettes. You are better off with stock seats and belts than improperly installed harnesses. Some groups (i.e. Porsche club) are very picky about safety equipment and will not let you run their events with improper safety equipment (you can with stock set-up).

An alternative is Caravaggio seats which maintain the factory rails. I use the aforementioned aftermarket connection brackets. Caravaggio also addresses the issue of the airbags with a connector for the left seat and weight sensor for the right seat. The seat air bags are obviously removed with the stock seats. I do not know if the dash air bags are defeated if you do not have the connectors but you will receive an error message indicating the system is not operating properly, unless you "close the circuits" in the seat wiring. Seems like I ran across another manufacturer for the air-bag wiring "jumper" but can't recall. Arizen, another seat vendor on the Forum, may have some other ideas.

In short -unless the stock seats/belts are a major detractor from your track experience, I would leave them in for now. You may create a situation that is impossible to sort out in a couple of days.

Liquid1

Thanks for the post. Some additional details.... I went with the Recaro Profi SPG as that is the one that felt the most comfortable (I tested probably 15 seats in total of various manufacturers). I have the Sparco 6 point harness with straps for the HANS (they actually market it as an "8 point" because of the HANS straps).

I am leaning towards installing the Recaros and going with them all the time. My shop is telling me that I may find it uncomfortable primarily because of how tight the harness holds you in your seat (not being able to reach the radio or sit up and look back to check over your shoulder for example) which I think I should be able to deal with fine. I am slightly concerned about the potential safety compromise of driving in a harness without a HANS and without the benefit of the airbags. I probably overthink these things, but that's my nature.

So the setup would be Hardbar mounts, Recaro Profi seats, Sparco 6 point harness attached to a Sharkbar. I need to get the Hardbar adapters you are mentioning for the harness install. Hardbar has also raised the question about needing to relocate the yaw sensor if it is embedded in the stock seat? Does anyone know definitively where that is located on a 2008 Z06? I am somewhat cautious about screwing with that with some of the threads I've seen about the active handling system going haywire.

Corvee

Those seats are plenty comfortable. Keep your stock belts for the street. Study the geometry of your harness connections to the brackets. As far as the yaw sensor - there is five pounds of crap under the driver seat. I retained with the stock rails and you should be able to do as well with the aftermarket rails.

TPSMak

Here is a set of Corbeau LG1s, harness bar, and belts into a customer's car.

The REAL cool thing about this install is WE HAVE RETAINED THE USE OF THE STOCK SEAT BELTS!