hacker-pschorr

I finally have my Recaro Pole Position installed with a Schroth 6-point harness. Since I was having the front end painted by Dave Treichel in Appleton (30 minute drive) seamed like a good way to "test" the setup since most runs are about 20-30 minutes long. I pull into town, loosen up the harness so I can navigate through traffic, my left arms starts to tingle, go numb. It did feel a bit uncomfertable when I sinched it down real tight, but not unbearable.

These belts worked out fine with the old OMP seat that was in the car before. It does feel tighter on the shoulders with the Recaro seat, but this seat feels like a better fit, I was a bit loose in the OMP.

Would harness pads help? Any ideas?

Ed Hughes

Maybe you're driving so fast now, you gave yourself a heart attack?

Kurt R

I'm not really sure what to tell you here. The only thing I can think of is it's because you were in one position for 30 minutes. There's a lot more going on in a 30 minute track session than a 30 minute drive down 41. Try a 30 minute drive on a twisty road and see if the same thing happens.

911

HP,

Hate to ask a silly question, but how is your back? Is it healthy?

The reason I ask is become the one thing I noticed when I put my racing seats in (Sparco Evos) is that my back became a lot more sensitive to the seat. After having some back problems throughout my life (including surgery 8 months ago), I can really feel some discomfort if I'm not properly sitting in my seat. Sometimes I get a tingling sensation in my left hand. So, I have to make sure that back is properly aligned in the seat each time I go for a drive.

Rich

RedlineMan

Hey;

I think Rich is onto something here. It is my experience that race seat often do not have a shape that offers proper lower back support. Most arm problems come from the upper back or neck area. You may have some issues with the seat improperly "curving" your upper back. Often adding a small pad in the lumbar area is necessary. Another advantage of alloy seats: it is easy to pad them under the cover.

So too do problems like this sometimes stem from improper belt installations. If the belts have too much decline from shoulder to belt bar, the over abundance of spinal compression can compound any improper seat fitment issues and cause an unnatural curvature of your spine and/or pressure on your neck.

I'd definitely put some time into a very careful assessment of your install. Although I don't really think it is that simple, belts pads certainly won't hurt either.

hacker-pschorr

When I get my car back I'll play around with some padding. I'll have to measure but I suspect the shoulder holes are lower on this Recaro than the previous seat. If that is the case I'll try removing the bottom pad to lower myself in the seat more and see if that helps. This seat does feel narrower in the shoulders than my previous seat. When I sinch down the harness, I can feel my shoulders pushing into the side wings more than the other seat. Then again, the other seat didn't have much for shoulder wings.

tntporsche

Harness pads should be a significant improvement. Likelihood is that the shoulder harness is pinching a nerve in the shoulder area, causing the numb, tingling sensation in the arm. I don't ever use a shoulder harness without the pad--even in a student's car for that reason.

Alan C.

Had the same problem at the last Putnam race. My left hand went numb in the sprint race. Adjusted my seating position for the Top Gun and didn't have the problem.