Kerrigan Smith

Alex,

Sorry that I am a little late to the thread and did not know about this misfortune. I am so glad you are OK and so sorry that this situation happened to you. Hope to see you back out there again soon!

bella1

Thanks Kerrigan and others who have commented on this. I chose to post the video in the hope that others would learn from my misfortune. I may be adding a right side net to my set up. I am thinking the shoulder straps over my Hans limited my side motion to some degree. The seat is cracked where it split from the left side bracket. The bracket and plate bolted to the floor are undamaged.

Damage estimate scheduled for next week and hope to be done by our FSR Instructor Clinic and DE in May! Our event is filling up well and I am really looking forward to our Instructor Clinic run by Pete Tremper!

kurt M

Per the above post the seat failed. I have also noted this kind of flex in some other bottom mounted only seats. Perhaps not to the same degree but alarming to my untrained eye. I have noted this in all kinds of cars from stock in DE to in car video of Porsche Cup racing. Even during the race the cup drivers bodys were yawing back and forth.
From my limited learning flex during an impact is not a good kind of energy "absorption". Flex and body displacement makes the G forces less smooth while ramping up and back down and more chaotic. You are better able to withstand higher G forces the cleaner they are. Let the car be the energy soak and reduce any whiping kind of motion. In a forward offset impact I think most drivers would extend past the wings of many of the wing seats.
I went with a Kirky full containment seat that is mounted in many places, has padded leg boards, a firmly installed right side net and a firmly installed window net. A big ugly heavy full containment seat like this not installed easily in a stock coupe without some real modification to the car. If you can’t cut the car up, at least use all the available gear that can keep you in place, reduce your motion and guide you back into the seat as cleanly as it can. Just an internet opinion.