ervtx

This is something I've been wanting to do for a couple of years now... finally got it done. I had thought often about a harness bar and race seats when I was driving the cab so that I could start wearing a Hans, but never found any options that didn't ruin the look of the cab. So even before I made the move to the GT3, I knew this would be my first addition.

I had high expectations for this combination, but I have to say that it came out better than I had imagined. The seats are more comfortable than stock, and work well with the GMG bar. Now my next track day is going to take even longer to get here than before!

mglobe

dooood!

mojom3

Looks great and comfortable. Should be able to stick where you sit now. Looks like my next project , have to use the seats I already have, but don't take the wife very far in it anyway.

WHB Porsche

Sat in a 997TT with Terracotta interior and those buckets today - PHENOMENAL seats. I find them more comfortable than the 6GT3 buckets (fit my shoulders better). Not to mention, the seats are gorgeous. Great choice!

p-cardriver

Can't tell for sure, but it looks like the shoulder belts are wide - too wide for HANS?

Toby Pennycuff

Looks very nice Russell. You'll have your chance to use them in about EIGHT DAYS! See you soon.

TBP

ervtx

I knew you would approve

3" straps work with a Hans just fine; just have to make sure that they are inside the lip along the outside edges of the yoke. I wanted the flexibility to use the harnesses w/o a Hans (especially on the passenger side), and I could not have done that with the 2" straps.

Yeah, I can't wait... I'm going to TWS next weekend, so I'll get a chance to get comfortable with the set up first. See you on Monday if I'm lucky; otherwise Tuesday am...

007DT

My Student yesterday at Barber had a 996 GT3 with those seats... They are very very nice!!

Looks Great!

RedlineMan

Ummm...

He was not refering to the belt width, but the distance BETWEEN them. Too far apart for proper HANS use, ESPECIALLY using 3" belts. The belt bar looks a bit too low as well. You need shaft collars on the belt bar to fix the belts in place latterally on the bar, and you need to keep them as close to 4" apart as you can get. Unfortunately, the belt holes in those seats are not conducive to that proper placement.

In case you thought you were done... you're not... not quite yet.

ervtx

John,

How did you come up with the 4" objective?

The Schroth instructions prescribe the distance between the belts as a function of Hans collar width, and the distance between the Hans and the anchor points. The recommended distances between the belts range from criss-crossed, to zero, to 7.7 inches. In addition, the recommended distances are reduced by 1" when using the 2" belts vs. the 3" belts, so the wider belts translate into more distance between them, not less.

In terms of the height of the bar, Schroth recommends that the belts angle downwards between zero and 20 degrees from the point of contact with the Hans That would be a function of the height of the driver, and distance between the anchor points and the Hans.

RedlineMan

OK...

Well, I've done this once or twice. You can read everything in the instructions and do the calculations from the tables... and then go and try and apply that to your equipment. You will find that it likely won't work perfectly because your setup was not OPTIMIZED for HANS use in the first place. Now, you have to understand the underlying fundamentals of how everything works together so as to come up with the best compromise within the framework of your hardware. In other words, reading the book and making it work are two completely seperate realms.

You look like you have a decent shoulder belt length, if your seat is in your prefered position in the pics. The limiting factor for you is the somewhat extreme width between the pass through holes in your seat. You can cram the mounts together real close, but that means the inner edges of the seat holes will be acting upon the belt material quite a lot. It looks to me that your seat holes are at least 5" apart, making the belt mount point 4" apart a good compromise between getting them close, and possibly putting the belt material in some danger.

As to belt angles, I do not go more than 10* declination from HANS surface to mount point if I can help it. If you have more than that, you will likely have some discomfort from increased spinal compression when you cinch the belts down tight, and/or will discover deficiencies in torso retention in the seat., i.e. the belts will force you down and out of the seat (submarine).

Next...

TeamDrugMoney

Hey ERVTX, out of curiosity, what made you go with this bar system? It looks like it is great, but I am planning out a rear cage for my winter project and am going to be asking a lot of questions about this. Please let me know what all your thoughts were going into this decision.

ervtx

With regard to the height of the bar...
With the Hans, my belt angles are easily less than 20 degrees and very close to zero. check.

With regard to the distance between the belts...
The tables indicate that the distance between the anchors should be 7.7 inches measured from mid-point to mid-point (or 4.7 measured from inside edge to inside edge). The distance between the holes in the seat is less than 6 inches, but width of the Hans collar is 7.1 inches. In other words, the straps do not touch the edges of the holes since they are gradually moving from 4.7 inches apart to a 6.something inches apart by the time they reach the collar.

If there's a gap between the book and making it work in this case, I can't figure out what it is.

It was pretty easy... I wanted to go with factory seats and factory harness bar. It's a daily driver, so I wasn't interested in a full cage. The factory Techquipment bar is no longer offered, so I looked at the GMG and the Brey-Kraus on the recommendation of my mechanic (also a respected club racer, who sees his clients on the track, not just in the shop). In the end, it was the fact that the GMG install required less modifications to the car for mounting points. My mechanic had recently installed the GMG bar on a 2010 GT3, so I was also able to inspect the results before making a final decision.

TeamDrugMoney

Thanks ERVTX!

RedlineMan

Hey;

Sounding better. Obviously looking at pictures can be deceiving. The belts look far more than 4" apart to me. Now all you need is some shaft collars to make sure they stay there. By the way, the 4" idea comes from people's neck width, which is generally around that number. If you go without the HANS (why would you?) then you want the belts as close to neck width as possible. The wider the belts go apart, the less likely it is that you will stay in them. I simply default to that whenever possible, or applicable.