Thread: Racing seats and harness

we're in the process of installing harnesses and racing seats in the old rover. We will be mounting them through the body correctly however

I don't know of any seat where you can bolt the harness to it and don't know whether you would want to.

One thing here in WA I understand harnesses are illegal as the only method of seatbelts in the car so best to check that out too

You definitely can't bolt the harness to the seat. It has to be bolted to the car using existing or approved seat belt mounts.

I can't reccomend a particular seat, but I can reccomend fitting one. When I first got into rallying and hillclimbs I only ever had standard seats. As soon as I fitted a fixed back Recaro to my car, my times dropped significantly and I was far more comfortable in the car. I had harnesses with the standard seats, but it was the new seat that made the difference.

i'm using RCI plastic racing seats in my buggy, with padded covers. I got them from rocket industries, but you can get them anywhere, rare spaes, autobarn, repco can oreder them in. they were $70-80 for the seat, and that again for the paded covers. They are supportive, but i wouldn't want them in a car i was to spend more than an hour or 2 in at a time.



Andy

Thanks Andy, could you post a pic of the back of the seats so I can see how the harness goes.

Thanks everyone, at least I have learnt I will have to bolt the harness to the car. Since I have cut the rear of the car off, I wont have any approved rear mounting points, but I will work out some sort of mounting for them. I think I read somewhere that it is better to have the mounting point of the should straps up higher than on the floor.

Originally Posted by walker

Since I have cut the rear of the car off, I wont have any approved rear mounting points, but I will work out some sort of mounting for them. I think I read somewhere that it is better to have the mounting point of the should straps up higher than on the floor.

When I built the roll cage for my car, I found the simplest way of attaching the harness was to remove the tags from the end of the harness shoulder straps and wrap the straps around a cross bar in the cage. It is an approved method for CAMS, but you'd have to check whether it is still legal for road use. It used to be OK for road use as I did the same thing in my previous car that was road registered. Engineers are very fussy about seat belt anchorage points (for good reason!) and this is a good way to get around it.
While you haven't got a cage in your car, you may be able to use the idea in some way.

Ok, thanks. But I am not going to have an internal roll cage. I am getting a 4 point roll bar incorporated in the tray of the ute.

Texas Ranger,
When your chatting to your engineer next, ask him what he would like...
Racing seat mounting is critical, but the harnesses are really critical...
get hold of a Cams manual and have a squiz... if Cams ok it then Vic roads like it...

When i had the Marsh Racing seats in my Rally car i had stacks of issues to get them engineered... and the harnesses were the same... then Cams told me i had to replace them every 24 months... so i gave in and sold the car....

Anyhow.... talk to your engineer...

Adam,
I think you will struggle mounting the harness with out an internal cage, or without running them through the back wall of the cab over or onto a horizontal harness bar.

The harness height and mounting angles are very critical and can apparently be more hazardous than a regular seatbelt causing major spinal issues if completely.

The CCDA also have documents on roll cage design which i would recommend you read.

As for road use harness are illegal, you must still have the regular approved seat belts in which the harness are an addition.

Dave.