mglamarche

Two close friends who rolled their Porsches at over 100 mph and walked away, emphasized to me that it was their racing seat, 5-point harness, Hans Device and roll bar that saved them. Realizing that wisdom is a product of learning from OTHERS mistakes, I installed the Tequipment Stainless Steel roll bar and Reacro Pole Position seats in my 996 turbo. This past weekend while at Pacific Raceways, in Washington State, another instructor who races often, pointed out to me that my new racing seats are not the correct ones for me. The locations of the holes in the seat back that accommodate the belt as it comes from the roll bar are too low relative to my shoulders and horizontal bar they attached to . In a font-end collision, I would be thrown forward and all of the g-forces would be transmitted down my spine, crushing it. The incorrect seat purchase totally defeated the safety measures I took. I was not aware that this seat is meant for individuals less than 6-feet. My purpose for this post is twofold: 1) to share this with all of you, such that you may benefit through wisdom rather than experience in protecting your most important asset and 2) That one or more of you will share with me another possibility, such that I won’t need to sell these new seats and purchase the GT3 seats. Thank you ahead of time for your comments and suggestions.

ltc

Your instructor is correct.
Belt geometries (along with seats, seat back braces, H&N restraints) have been discussed many times in the Racing and DE Forum.
They are almost NEVER viewed individually, but rather as parts of a fully integrated safety system.

docwyte

Yep, the Pole Positions are for people with short torsos or are just plain short. At 5'11" with a long torso, the shoulder strap holes are far too low for me.

blinkwatt

I was looking to buy these seats,I'm 5 7".

Do you mind telling me what hardware you had to buy to get the seats to mount to the car?

David A

I got brackets from FVD but you will need a small 964 RS adapter for the seat belt buckle to mount on the pole position because it is a racing shell design for harness only.

David A

964 RS seat belt buckle adapter from your Porsche Dealer are about $25 each and you need 2 for the pole position.
Part # 964-521-065-00

mglamarche

Blinkwtt, I purchased the both the seat and brackets from On-Track in Milford, MI. I did considerable looking and found this vendor to be the most reasonable and three months after the purchase, the most honorable. I received the seats on October and waited until February to install them. I had the wrong slider and after a phone call, they sent me another set without requiring me to pledge my credit card info as collateral. The reasoning for this was “this is our fault.” The cost including shipping to Washington State was $1,894.00. Pole Position Velour seats $599ea, Bracket for 996 Porsche $185ea, Steel adapters $80ea... Lumbar support (inflatable bladder) $$36.00, and shipping $130.00. 248.896.3046. So far, no one has given me any ideas on making this work (cutting new access holes, etc.) therefore if someone want to make me an offer for these seats used at one track event, let’s hear it.
mglamarche@gmail.com

killerbee

Go to speedware and sit in a few seats and get their input on what will fit you and the car. Messing with the seats is a bad idea and would only compound the error you made in getting seats that do not fit.

chris walrod

Do you know what angle your shoulder belts are at with you in the seat?

Pilot_951S

Pole position seats have the most ludicrous shoulder slots I have ever seen. That said I have one as my driver's seat and I take the bottom cushion out when driving. It does 4 things for me. #1 I don't have to buy a new seat. #2 it lowers me in the car and improves my relationship with the controls. #3 more headroom. #4 sitting on the plastic shell give me a better feel for the car.

Having said all that my next seat will be an SPG XL which did not exist when I bought my Pole Position.

For Reference I'm 5'10" and I have an average to small torso length.

SimonK

How about stock seats? How safe are those? I am 6 foot and I must say I think my head is way to forward from the back rest when driving. Any of you wondered about that? I would say my head is 20cm (7.8 inches) forward which seems a bit far?