THSCC Forums

I know most track organizations enforce a rule that requires driver and passenger safety equipment to be the same.

If the driver's seat is replaced with an aftermarket seat but the stock 3-point seatbelt is still used, is the passenger seat required to be replaced with an identical seat?

depends on who you ask, and what club. personally i wouldn't have any problem with that setup as long as the passenger seat wasn't a total POS.

would you put your Momma in that seat?

street car racers, .......... why William?

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BenchWarmer Motorsports

another one of those damn LeMons heads

just another Chump

we are an Autocross Club Dammit............

It should be substantially equal. It doesn't have to be exact but you should not have a pro racer setup for you and frayed POS equipment for the instructor. I have two different race seats in my car

Well I think the stock BMW seat is probably same or better quality than the sparco speed that is going in the driver's side...so that shouldn't be a problem right? I would totally put my momma in a stock BMW seat.

You will find instructors that have a fairly major malfunction with the driver having a race seat, and them being stuck in an OEM seat. It's not the quality of the OEM seat being faulty. It's how hard they have to work to stay planted in the seat, while you're firmly secured in a race seat.

Having spent plenty of time on track in stock seats and race seats, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I drive harder in a race seat. I've never driven with 3 pt harnesses in one, but a shell is still going to allow you to concentrate less on keeping your butt from sliding around and more on driving the car.

Take this for what it's worth, but unless you can provide some kind of shell seat for your instructor, I'd stick with the OEM seats and 3 pts.

Get some of the rubberish shelf liner material to make the leather seats more grippy. That helps a ton with oem seats.

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Tom Freeman
'98 M3/4/5 | '93 Spec3 325i | '12 TSX sport wagon | '03 Tahoe
Team Silver Bullets '91 240SX

I've always gone by the "substantially the same" rule ...

Funny, because my last student mentioned that he had to replace his matching race seats with a "wider" version on the right side because too many instructors didn't fit.
I didn't take that personally

Frank

Interestingly, it seems few instructors would consider that sitting in the stock BMW sport seat (which does a pretty good job with containment) is potentially much safer than some given aftermarket fitted seat (especially some shell thing). People automatically think that because something is aftermarket it is safer perhaps without considering the extensive design/test/redesign/etc that goes into a high quality OEM BMW seat in terms of crash safety.

Chances are that in a really nasty incident which causes major structural deformation of the car chassis, being in that OEM seat may pan out better, especially from an internal organ damage standpoint, since it is designed to deform and absorb energy from your body when needed. Take a look at the E60 M5 that was totaled in Turn 10 at VIR in the past year. That stock seat absorbed a HUGE load, deformed just enough to limit severe damage to the driver such that he walked away just a bit sore.

Take a look at the seat:
http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e60-m5-e61-m5-touring-discussion/149164-rip-m5-crashed-vir.html

Anyway, sorry to throw cold water on the discussion...

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Current stable:
2019 BMW M2 Competition slicktop 6MT
2011 BMW M3 sedan slicktop 6MT
2007 BMW 328i wagon (slushbox for now)
1975 CanAm 125MX2

Chuck brings up a good point, but OEM seat quality in a situation like that that can vary wildly between the makes. Yes, I know that Ash's car is another BMW, but I just want to make it clear for others that are looking at this topic. Ask Robert Plank about what happens to a stock Miata seatback in a rear end impact.

I don't know the stats off the top of my head, but an FIA certified seat (which I believe the Sparco Speed holds that cert) had some pretty stringent tests it has to pass as well.

I still stick by my suggestion to stay with both OEM seats and 3pts. I personally won't put a seat in a car that doesn't have a roll bar and harnesses. That's my own rule, however.

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Tom Freeman
'98 M3/4/5 | '93 Spec3 325i | '12 TSX sport wagon | '03 Tahoe
Team Silver Bullets '91 240SX

If the intent of the after market seat is for safety, then your wasting your money without the requisite harness system. And as Tom says, without a roll cage or bar you're again wasting your money and jeopardizing your safety, again. To be clear you need all three seat, harness and bars for protection. If the intent is for more secure seat position, then be aware that you may be sacrificing your safety. In a side hit, as in Chucks example a FIA certified seat would surely break your ribs because of the stiff bolsters. So any time there is deviation from the oem system your safety is in jeopardy unless you go to the full race system of bars/cage, harness and seat, INMHO.

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2004 C5(415whp,390ft/lbs),
1997C5,1997Trans Am, 1986 C4,
1990 Miata, 1976 MGB,1997 Protege, 1989 MR2

The reason for the seat is actually headroom. I don't fit in my BMW with a helmet on, thanks to the sunroof. I was looking to find a seat like this to mount lower in the car. May or may not work. I'm going to look at one Friday so I will find out I guess.

this!

William, have you talked w/ anyone about seeing if you can reduce the seating height on the stock seat? I wonder if a upholstery place could replace foam and lower the springs to where the stock seat could be retained. I also wonder if there are any options about reworking the attachment points. Food for thought...

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Rodney

'08 Bullitt mustang, CAM 7
Autox VP '09-'10, President '11-'12, interim President 2nd half of ‘14
proud recipient of the Bowie Grey service award '12
Now just a guy driving a mustang....

Well I found a good deal on a whole BMW mount, sliders, and Sparco seat so I am going to at least go have a look at that, which is a lot less work than trying to redo my current seat. It isn't even close though; I think there is no way that the stock BMW rails would get me low enough.

http://store.vacmotorsports.com/categor ... eat+mounts

look here.

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BenchWarmer Motorsports

another one of those damn LeMons heads

just another Chump

we are an Autocross Club Dammit............

i'd love a good seat in my m3 so let me know if it doesn't work out