What do you guys think of the Recaro SP-G compared with similar race shells such as; Sparco Evo/Pro 2000, Bride Zeta/Neos/Navi, Spoon, or Mugen? I will be purchasing a bucket seat very soon, intended for street/race use, so any advice would be appreciated. Coming across someone who has Japanese buckets with reviews are hard to come by and ALL information on these seats are in Japanese! Sucks..

To compare, I know the quality of Recaro SRDs are of high quality and should be even better with racing shells. But what I really want to know are the materials that SP-Gs are made out of, specifically the padding and how supportive they are. Weighing in at 6.5 kg. (15 lbs.) on a fiberglass shell, these seem like an ideal bucket without having to spend over a thousand dollars on a single seat.

Of course, someone can sway me to get a Mugen/Spoon/Bride if they are REALLY worth it over the Recaros.




The above pictures are the actual SP-As, not SP-Gs. Strangely, all sites but this particular one (where these pictures are from) label these as SP-Gs.



Those are beside the point, here is the SP-G. I believe that these ones are easier to get compared to the SP-A.

 

i've seen those before and they are damn nice seats...comfortable as well...if you can afford them, get them

 

Nevermind, the SP-As are $2500 and made out of carbon kevlar. The SP-Gs are fiberglass and about $800, tiny difference.


[Modified by Keyed ITR, 10:33 PM 9/11/2002]

 

I've sat in one and they feel very comfortable, and they provide very good support.

 

i would pick recaro sp-gs over bride any day

 

Some links that may help...
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=182434
http://www%2ehonda%2dtech%2ecom/zerothread?id=183261

If I replace my seats with shells I'm either going with OMP grips or recaro spgs


[Modified by Jon7, 2:23 AM 9/12/2002]

 

Get a FIA approved seat.

That rules out Mugen, Spoon, Vision, Bride, Cross, etc.


[Modified by Reid, 9:34 PM 9/11/2002]

 

 

 

Is FIA like DOT approved? Sounds like a U.S. specific rule...






[Modified by Keyed ITR, 1:45 AM 9/12/2002]

 

Thanks for the link Jon7, I was getting irritated of the same SP-G picture on every single website.

 

 

 

what si your build? I LOVED the Mugens I sat in . . . wish I coudl afford them.

 

Well, I'm 5'11"/165 lbs., pretty lean build. I could fit into anything pretty good. I read in some posts that the Mugen is a rather small seat, designed for a Japanese build. I wish I could try either of these seats out, it's tough when you live in the desert with lots and lots of rice boys. Tenzo SRD knock offs are quite common.

 

damn, a bit taller than I am but same weight, you might lookm into the Sparco Ultra. I have a pair in my Hatchcrap for dailydriving too, they rule. pretty easy to get into, very well padded but still super stiff. Also at 12 pounds each (fiberglass ) they are very cost effective. I got the pair for $600 shipped, from Erick at Primm Motorsports last year. You can find pics of them on my homepage, link in my sig. I figured I would rather have Sparcoo seats that are made well and have loot for other mods than just buy a pair of Spoon/Recaro/Mugen buckets and have no loot for other things, like TRACKDAYS!
Or I could have bought just one bucket from those "big" JDM companies, but then my trackschool instructors would not be too happy with me would they?

 

The Mugen S1 is an awesome seat...and probably the most "daily driveable" of all bucket race seats because the rail has a mounting location for the stock seat belt. The shell has a nice shape to it and the seat cover is really high quality. There is hardly any padding material, but the seat is still very comfortable because it is shaped so well. The only downside is that it isn't FIA approved, but for the average autocrosser or track day attendee that isn't a problem.

The Recaro SPG is a little tighter in the thighs than the Mugen S1, but is about the same size overall. Unlike the S1, the seat cover has A LOT of padding. I'm about 5'9" and 155 lbs., and the SPG was really snug (but not uncomfortable). I would imagine that the S1 has a better road feel because of the super thin padding, but I'm not sure. Talk to geometro to get his on-track opinions of the SPG. Also, I believe that the SPG can be made to work with the Mugen seat rails pretty easily, so it can be daily driven.

 

Just to follow up with Bob's post here:

The S1 is a nice seat and I really do dig on the fabric and fit (5'7" 150lbs so I'm pretty "average"). How comfortable is it? Well, I did a few trips SF-LA trips in it with no problems at all, whereas the stock seats got uncomfortable after several hours.

The SPG is not bad either. As Bob mentioned it is more padded (so it is "snugger" in some respects). The thigh bolstering is pretty tight so your legs pretty much point dead ahead. The S1 seats are a little wider. Road feel is a little more muted than the S1 but still way better than the stock seat: you can still feel every nuance of the road and what each tire is doing. One nice thing about the SPG is that you can adjust the lumbar support more easily by stuffing in a extra bit of carpet padding where you need it.

Also, as in previous posts asking about this: the SPG will bolt up to the S1 seat rails. However it will not fit in the lowest position. Compared to the SPG in the above pics, I think the S1 rail mounts put the SPG in a lower position (I can still see out of the car just fine, where as I could barely see over the dash with the S1 seat on the highest position).

Hopefully that helps....

-Geo

 

seen geometro's seat before. looks awesome. didn't get to sit it in or anything...


[Modified by disordeR, 8:35 PM 9/12/2002]

 

anyone wanna trade recaro spg's for my red bride zeta II neos?

 

Thanks for all the info; Bob, Owen, and geometro! Good comparisons with the Mugen S1. But one thing stands out...all this talk about the Mugen S1 brackets and no talk of the Recaros? Are the Recaros hard to get a hold of? More expensive than Mugen (go figure)?

 

Wow, everybody has had a powerful influence with the Recaros...

Nice trade, aren't those a couple hundred more expensive than the SR-Gs?

 

The Mugen seat brackets are better because they have sliders and a built in mounting location for the stock seat belt. If you are the only person that drives your car, and you are absolutely sure that you will NEVER want to move the seat, then a Recaro bracket should work fine. I'm not sure what they cost though.

 

the Recaros SP-A's and G's are awesome.
i will be hopefully getting my hands on a 2nd hand SP-A, full carbon kevlar shell, for a fraction of the orginal price. Apparently these (or all)race shells have a used by date and after the expiry date they are not allowed to be used for competition anymore, i was quite suprised to find out about this.

 

Yeah, probably done after a couple short races. Damn those sponsors.


Well, I think I'll opt for the Mugen sliders then, thanks to Bob.