74goldtarga

My previous track car was a full-cage 944 turbo race car. I just swapped the stock seats out of my 997 GT3 and swapped in a set of Recaro SPG XL on BBi mounts/sliders with new Schroth 6-point harnesses. I am planning at least one weekend at Brainerd International and Road America and probably a third weekend this fall in the GT3.

Question is - in a DE situation is it safer to re-code the car to activate the other airbags or is it actually safer at the track since I will be in the race seat / harness / helmet / HANS to leave the airbags deactivated? Are 6-point harnesses actually quantitatively safer than 3 points in a modern 911 in a crash at the track? Not fun to think about I realize. On the street the stock sofas in my GT3 are quite excellent seats but in my only track-day in the GT3 I felt like I spent too much energy trying to stay centered in the seat compared to my experience in a race seat with 6-point harness. Appreciate any insight.

docwyte

Just watched a really long video by Joe Marko from HMS Motorsport where he touches on this. His opinion is that 6 point harnesses are more safe and that you should leave the airbags active but clip in a seat belt receptacle so the airbags don't deploy at full force.

74goldtarga

Thanks for the reply - when I removed my seats the seatbelt receptacles and wiring came with it. (which I suppose everyone knows but I did not until after I had the new seats in and went looking for the receptacle for the 3 point shoulder belt!)

At this point in the 997 the airbag light comes on and stays on along with the warning when I start the car and I assume this means the entire system is inactivated. My friend has a Durametric Pro and we were going to reprogram to clear the airbag light which I assume would reactivate the airbags with the exception of the now removed stock seat thorax airbags.

It surprised me that I don't get a seatbelt warning or chime but I don't have either.

I'm not really sure the best way to re-install the stock seatbelt receptacles which would be nice to have for street driving in any case - I am sure I could do so but I would have to separate the wiring and not sure how I would re-wire into the plug.

De Jeeper

Just unbolt the seatbelt recepticle from the seat or buy one from a dismantler and plug it back into the harness. I know on a 996 u cant recode any of the srs system and i would be very surprised if u could do it even with a pwis system. U will be able to turn off the light but it will come back on when u turn the key. U either need the buckle or install a resistor.

my recaro adaptors have a tab on them for the seat belt recepticle.

74goldtarga

Thanks. In the 997 module the seats can be coded out and airbag light eliminated apparently but the question is whether this is wise. The seatbelt receptacle on my stock seats (now removed) are wired into the seat harness so basically I have to disassemble the harness plug on the bottom of the seats to free up the belt receptacles. So I might order some 997 receptacles from a dismantler although I would still have to figure out how to wire them into the seat harness plug under the seats on the floor of the car for the car to "see" them.

Any other opinions on stock sofas with 3 points and thorax airbags vs. 6 point and Recaro SPG?
I will be instructing in a 991.1 with sofas along with driving my 997.1 with Recaros next weekend so should be a good comparison in terms of preference but I hope not to compare which is safer in an incident so maybe people have informed opinions.

dgmark

You may want to code out the side curtains and seat bolsters, There have been deployments when aggressively going over curbing. Turn 7 at Road America is a spot that has deployed the side curtains.

De Jeeper

6 point and a recaro all day long. I exceeded the limits of a stock seat by my 3rd track day. Nothing worse then having to pin yourself against the back of the seat with your arms so u dont slide out in a turn.

Did they put manual seats in a 997? If u can get the receptical from one of those then it should have a plug that will have all the memory and power stuff deleted and just plug into the car harness.

garrett376

For clarification: on a 996 you can actually recode the SRS system to the European settings (what the PIWIS calls it) so the seat belts are not part of the system, so if the buckles are missing, or not clicked, they won't trigger a seat belt light (if not latched), or an airbag light (if not connected). On a 996, you can also unplug, and re-plug in, the airbag module so you can turn off the airbags while on track (by unplugging the module), and then plug in the module when you go to drive home and airbags will be on, with no warning light issues.
Maybe the 997 shares some similarities to the 996?

74goldtarga

All good thoughts - I am thinking airbags off for now. I am using the 6 points in the rare occasion that I am street driving since I don't have a seat-belt receptacle.