BartN (TX)

This is a follow up for anyone doing a Rennlist search about big guys in race seats in a 997.1 GT3

I had my first track day with my new Recaro Profi XL seat and Schroth Porsche harnesses. I have the Recaro mounting brackets and sliders and BK sub-belt mounting bar. All of it was a simple bolt-in process which is described in several threads in Rennlist . One heads up on the installation. The inboard belt attachment point is the only place on a Porsche that uses a non-metric bolt. I needed a longer bolt to attach both the harness belt and oem belts to the same bracket. Played hell trying to find one. That's because it uses a 7/16-20 bolt. Apparently this is universal across all manufacturers. I used a 3/4" length.

Back to the seat, WOW, what a difference!

From a fitment perspective, I'm 6'2, 230lbs, with a 38" waist and 34" inseam. I’m 'thick' but not 'fat' with relatively broad shoulders. Just kind of an overall 'big guy'. The seat feels perfect around my hips, snug but not overly tight. The top of the seat does significantly push my shoulders forward in a cupped position.

For the street, the seat is acceptable but not ideal. I wish the sliders would allow the seat to go back the additional 2-3" that's available between the seat back and the GMG bar. For long hauls I may miss the lack of lumbar support. The angle of the seat back is ideal for how I like to sit but others may prefer to be a bit more reclined. All in all, it's an acceptable compromise for me and I do 75% street & 25% track and relatively low miles per year.

For the track, it's IDEAL! The seat position couldn't be more perfect for me. I have the steering wheel raised and fully extended allowing for comfortable clearance of my knees and a perfect reach to the wheel. With the belts cinched down HARD the issue of cupping my shoulders becomes an advantage. It really holds my upper body firmly and comfortably in place. Belt placement is excellent. At first it was a bit difficult to really cinch my inboard lap belt because of the console placement. Eventually I would first cinch it up so the buckle is off centered on my lap and then pull very hard down on the outboard belt which was much easier to pull straight down and hard on. If I needed a little more adjustment on the inboard belt I would grab the loose end with my left hand and use my right elbow to bear down on the strap between the end and the clasp in a kind of sling arrangement. Worked great. One more advantage of the seat is the headrest. With the OEM seat the headrest would touch/push on the back of my helmet. WOULD DRIVE ME NUTS! With the race seat it is well away giving your head full motion.

I'm still having to un-learn habits I've picked up tracking with OEM seats and belts for the last 13 years but I'm starting to allow myself to relax against the seat and belts and let them do their job while I tend to mine, namely piloting the car.

Hope someone contemplating this upgrade finds this post useful. I'm thrilled I finally did it. Good luck.

Hoosier_Daddy

+1.

Great seats and worth every penny. This is the second car I've had mine in and are now my go to seats for double duty cars.

Enjoy!

TRAKCAR

I am 6'4" 260 38" waist and 38 inseam.
The OEM GT2RS GT3RS seat are perfect. On track I remove the seat cushion, for daily driving I put it back in. Tilted the seat a bit and it barely fits with the OEM RS CS bar.

And they fold and are pretty. Just my 0.02c for the big guys..

jcastle

+1 for OEM GT2 seat. 6-3, 215lbs 38waist 34 inseam. I leave cushions in all the time. Sport adaptives were even more comfortable for daily drive, but not good for track.

tcsracing1

+1 for OEM GT2 seats. Love em'.

996 GT3 clubsport seats are supposedly bigger for more portly drivers...

Hoosier_Daddy

The Recaro XLs the OP mentioned are much more comfortable for larger guys than the 996 GT3 seats -- I've owned two sets of each -- no comparison if one sits in them for more then 10 minutes.

I've never had the pleasure of testing the GT2 seats.

BartN (TX)

I sat in both the GT2 seat and the Recaro and, for my size, the Recaro was far more comfortable to me.

The GT2 seats are beautiful, have the airbag and can recline, but don't forget the HUGE difference in price between the two.

Point of the post was to help those who were considering the Recaro's and what they can expect

mepps

the gt2 seats recline? am i missing sumthin?

BartN (TX)

My bad. Didn't mean recline. Meant fold forward.

-eztrader-

What if ur 6'5 or taller? None of the racing seats recline do they?

BartN (TX)

Not that I'm familiar with, but I'm no expert.

RavenDog

For the bigger guys that found the GT2 seat comfortable, what is your jacket size? I have wider shoulders (size 46 jacket), so was curious on shoulder room. I have sat in the GT2 seats for ~5 mins during a Porsche event, which was too short of a time to tell.

Thanks.

BartN (TX)

I wear a 48L and don't recall how the short stint in the GT2 affected my shoulders. Maybe that's because my *** was jammed in there too tight :-)

I definitely felt the 'pinch' of the Recaro at first but I've become used to it far quicker that I thought I would.

NVRANUF

6'5", 37" waist, 36" inseam, 225-230lbs here. I went with OMP WRC seats hard mounted to my specs, to the floor.
Very happy with the position and fit. Though anyone with shorter (normal) leg length has a tough time reaching the pedals.... not entirely a bad thing!

Astrix

Bumping an old thread rather than making a new one as this is 100% relevant.

I came from a 996 GT3 with the Recaro's and I just got done running my (new to me) 997.1 touring with comfort electric seats all weekend in the Aussie Rennsport event. Well I've bulged a disc and in a world of pain this week so I need to address this prior to next track day.

I really did like the recaro's but love the fact I can fold the seats and throw stuff in the back on track days.

So where can we source the 997 GT2 seats now? I notice they're generally NLA? OR any other options? I'll also look at Recaro/Bride etc.

cheers.