Always wondered what the ideal seating position is for driving found this Porsche video.

In case the link doesnt embed:

 

Very interesting. I had no doubts there was some "ideal" method. I will be checking my wrists to the steering wheel this evening.

 

Chris Harris mentions the wrist positioning all the time. Make sense.

 

This is exactly the positioning method I learned and have used as a PCA instructor from at least 15 years ago. And being based on human anatomy and ergonomics, I don't see them changing any time soon either. But the thing is, even though these things have been known since, like, forever, the funny thing is nobody knows them! Every single student I ever had sat too far back.

Sorry, gonna repeat that: Every single student I ever had sat too far back.

Even the guy (model) demonstrating it in the video is too far back! Before people start screaming it can't be wrong its a Porsche video, listen to the dialog, it is 100% correct: "the seat back should be vertical enough that with both wrists perched on top of the steering wheel the top of the back is fully supported by the bolsters of the seat." Instead they show us a model with his palms barely touching the wheel with both shoulders rolled forward. The instructor got it right- then someone in video production botched it.

Watch any of the videos of Patrick Long (or any of the other factory drivers) they are all sitting very upright, elbows bent, shoulders comfortably into the seat.

I can't emphasize this enough. Anyone who tries this method, I can just about guarantee you will immediately feel "can't be right… too close" and want to scoot back at least an inch or two. Well, don't. If it feels too close, move it an inch closer still. Odds are you are so used to sitting too far back that when you feel impossibly crowded in way too close you have finally got it just right.

 

Also many people drive with the seatback way too reclined, even if they touch their wrists at the top of the wheel. That, I think led to the stupid design of forward pointing headrests some cars have (not Porsches), forcing one's neck to drop forward.

I posted this CORRECT SEAT POSITION in 2008.

 

+911 for these seating position instructions. If your seat is not adjusted correctly you can't fully control the car.

I too am an HPDE instructor for PCA and other clubs. Way too many drivers show up with their seats in the "gangsta lean" position thinking it's cool. It's not, it's unsafe.

 

This was useful and my own position is very close. It does get a bit fatiguing on long hauls - any allowance for a roomier positioning in this instance?

 

I think the recommendation is for spirited / race type of driving and not long hauls. At the end of the day, the 911 is primarily a track vehicle more than it's a commute vehicle. I guess if you're not going to be spirited, you can adjust the seat based on the driving purpose that suits you the best. IMO

 

The right position is correct for all kinds of driving. Not fatiguing at all. Reclined position is bad on neck and lower back.

 

it's systemic that you see people sitting back too far. after listening an watching the video i feel that I'm not upright enough/close enough to the wheel. I find my shoulders rolled and not resting against the seat. I think this is justification enough to get fixed back bucket seats

And yes too much gangsta lean.

@chuck911 where do you instruct?

 

The steps ADias posted are correct. And its NOT true this is for "race type of driving and not long hauls." I have to believe anyone saying this is talking to be talking and not speaking from experience. Speaking from experience, both myself and everyone I know who is properly seated "for race type of driving" uses exactly the same position all day long on a 500 mile day. The correct position optimally supports your body while simultaneously placing you in the most efficient position for operating the controls.

There are two main obstacles to making correct seating habitual: bad habits, and bad examples. Bad habits simply means you are so used to doing something wrong that when you first begin to learn to do it right it feels wrong. Anyone who has had a pro teach them to swing a golf club, tennis racket or baseball bat knows what I'm talking about. The pro gets you so totally awkward you feel like you'll never get it. But then with diligence and perseverance you wake up one day to find everything not only feels right again, but better than ever, and you're smoking ***** you only whiffed before. Same thing here.

As for bad examples, pretty much every driver you have ever seen your whole life. Race car drivers are the worst- but because of us not them. We look at racers reclined in F1 cars and somehow forget they are forced into this position by the design of the car. But watch all the racers in cars that do NOT force them to recline. From stock cars to rally to Cup they all sit upright. Yes even the endurance racers.

Of course when you do finally get yourself into the correct position then you will find all your mirrors need adjusting. Well, they did anyway. But like the seat, you just didn't know it. Bad habits, bad examples. And then getting those right you may notice your friend, the one who took DS and DE, always bugging you about something called "the line", doesn't turn in early like you do but waits until he's practically going off the road, which looks crazy wrong but look how much faster he is, and you discover yet again- bad habits, bad examples.

But, baby steps. Start with the seat.

 

Where do you position your driver's side mirror? All my life I pointed it to look down the side of the car (which is how I position the passenger one). But an my first DE, I think, I was instructed to point it much further out, more into the blind spot. This reduces overlap between it's view and the rear-view mirror's view. You have to get used to it, because now as you pass items like median walls, they flash in the side mirror. Curious what the instructors here think about this and what they suggest.

 

You shouldn't be able to see your car from the side mirrors. The side mirrors are to see other vehicles in the lanes to your side. There should be no "overlap" with the rear view mirror.

There's no point in flanking the side of your car becuase if you see something in the mirror, its too late...crunch.

 

Just here on RL. Used to do DE, DS and autocross with PNWR. Started out just like everyone else- all the same bad habits, all the same ignorance, all the same conviction that I'm really a good driver who just needs somewhere safe to drive fast without risking a ticket. Thanks to instructors (and with a lot of perseverance) I was able to disabuse myself of all that BS, and go on to developing - this time, for real - the skills I thought I had. Which as far as I know is what everyone- and I mean EVERYONE- goes through. Or those who apply themselves, at any rate.

Continuing development into an instructor just seemed the logical next step. That is also the way its supposed to work in a volunteer organization like PCA. After a while though it sometimes happens that we realize the "student" sitting behind the wheel has about the same level of respect for what he's doing as he has knowledge of it. Which is to say, none. Or imaginary. Which after sitting there while they spin at 90, go off track, or hit the wall- events they can't see coming even though you told them half a dozen times at least, events you can see so clearly you calmly instruct them to put the clutch in at the proper moment during the spin- some of us decide its just not worth it.

Here on RL, well as they say, sticks and stones…. instructing here is WAY safer.

 

What they describe for seating position in that video above iis how I've always sat in the car. All of my friends/family that sat in my cars thought it was too close or "you sit like you're in a race car" was the comment. Funny that whenever I've driven my friends cars, I would feel like "how the F do they drive this thing" because I felt like I was sitting in the back seat. It just felt too stretched out. Sometimes I wondered if I was truly sitting too close and they were more in the correct seating position.