After I graduate from the mechanic school im going to right now, im planning on getting into racing a little more aggresively. So, I decided id take care of safety issues first. (bare with me, its a toyota MR2-sw20)

First is roll cage. Im quite set on that, and ill probably be putting either a 8pt or a 10pt (welded ofcourse)

The bucket seat is a probelm for me (since i LIVE in japan) i hear alot of people on this board dont like Bride. Is this a price issue? or is this concerning safety? My choices (due to pricing and regulations) is Bride, Sparco, Recaro. There must be more out there, but i cant think of any. OMP was a choice, but it ended up being alot more expensive than any of the above. Bride ranges from $500 usd to about $700 with seat rails. Sparco ranges from $300usd to about $500 with seat rails. and recaro $600 to $800. Im thinking Sparco evo, etc will be my choice due to price issues and the fact its FIA approved. But ill probably be sitting in most everything i can try.

So my question is, what would be the best concerning safety?
thanx

 

Couple of things...

The mods tend to not like open polls, as they often end up getting hijacked by jokers. You might want to do something about that.

I'd guess that any seat with an FIA certification would be pretty safe. That being the case, I'd go with whatever's most comfortable for you. If you do have the chance to actually sit in them and compare, that's a real plus. Also make sure your seat and harness are correctly installed.

I think Bride has a reputation here as a "tuner" seat for the JDM crowd. Not sure if this is deserved or not. If you're serious about racing, look for that FIA approval.

 

Bride runs about twice that much in this country. They seem like good seats, but comparable to Sparco/Recaro/OMP which are much cheaper.

The people who buy Bride here generally do so because it's rarer and is a Japanese market product. If you can get them at a comparable price, then maybe it's a worthwhile choice.


[Modified by JeffS, 1:32 PM 9/26/2002]

 

You'll have to decide what kind of racing you'll get into, get the rule books and then start planning your safety mods. Otherwise you'll end up installing a 10pt cage with a reclining bucket (for example) and only then find out that the series you want to run in specs a max 8pt cage and a non-reclining race seat...

 

you can also take a look at Corbeau seats. http://www.corbeau.com/

 

thanx for all the replys

sorry bout the poll, didnt notice till now

i checked out cobreau but it seems as if the only FIA approved bucket seats that would fit me (165cm, 55kg) would be the forza..... which is steel frame (im assuming that steel frames would be quite heavier than most FRP or CFRP seats). But the price for this would be nice. I know a couple of stores that sell them so i guess ill add this to my list as well.

After some thought, the mounting of 5pt steatbelt seems to be a problem too, since its close to impossible to attach this to the roll cage (space problems). It seems that most of the people bolt it in to the rear (with steel plating for extra strength).

thanx again.

 

There isn't a horizontal bar halfway high in the main hoop to use for shoulder harness attachment? Most cages have one. Also, the main hoop should have a diagonal to help support it in a rollover (triangles are stronger than squares).

Also, most of us know nothing about Japanese race regulations. Make sure whatever you do is legal. In the US, there are pretty strict regulation concerning rollcages - tubing size, placement and location of attachemnts, etc.

 

The problem is, since its a midship, right after the seats is a wall (and behind this is the engine room). Im thinking there will not be enough space to attatch the horizontal bar for the harness.

Most likely ill probably be getting a custom roll cage made instead of buying one and welding it in.

Thanx for the replies