Gary R.

They look perfect, hope I get to be your instructor as they really seem to snuggle you right in.. and screw the need for sub belt, those are for pussies!

RonCT

Gary summed it up accurately - as usual. What's good for the student is good for the instructor. One of my students was so safety minded as to suggest I bring my Hans if I have one. Same seats and harnesses. Imagine your student is in a shell with hans and you are in a stock seat with factory 3-points.

Potomac-Greg

I wouldn't mess with cheap, no-name seats. There are very few seats that offer recline/fold and also a sub-belt hole. I had Recaro SRDs in my 944 and they offered both.

And you can have harnesses and retain your 3 point belts for street use.

utkinpol

Thanks for the hint, I will try to hunt for those during winter. It is indeed kinda tricky, only readily available option is a set of GT2 seats from suncoast but it is crazy to shell out $7K for seats alone, at least not on my budget.

Coochas

Paul,
Take a trip out to HMS in Danvers. They have at least a dozen different seats in their showroom and IMO are very well informed on what works and what doesn't.
I have the 6-GT3 seats in my car and I really like them but there are plenty of alternatives out there that are cheaper and just as good as the P seats. I think you are right that the seats are becoming scarcer: I paid Suncoast about half of what they are now charging for the same seats!

Apex Rex

The SRD's have been replaced by the Speed model in recaro's lineup. Still far cheaper than GT2 seats.

utkinpol

I think I will settle with pair of RECARO Sportster CS. It would probably work the best for a dual purpose car.
My mechanic proposes to put spg xl on a driver side and either topline or sportster on a passenger side, it is also possible, but I feel I will like sportster better for daily routines than a real bucket like spg.

Thanks for the hint about HMS, Coochas, I will try to to it this weekend. Winter will be long, so, I am not in a rush. But from what I can see on a Recaro web site - Sportster looks perfect, only problem is that it will probably cost at least 2 times more than I was going to spend on this project.

aj986s

X3 on the Recaro SPG/Speed seets. We have 2 of our cars setup with the Recaro on driver's and stock seat on passenger side. The Recaro's have proper sub-belt holes for the driver to use 5-pt harness while solo. But they also have low bolsters that safely/properly accommodate OEM 3-pt belts, which driver can use if a passenger is present. About $800 new, but they periodically popup for sale used at much less.

race911

Sorry to come in here and be the downer, but this is a ~$50K car with thousands upon thousands further spent on modifications............yet a few hundred in safety equipment is a sticking point?

I was riding in a rollover with 100% stock safety gear in an E36 M3 last month. Very low speed, and everything worked as it should have. Makes you take stock and rethink about how you want to be equipped out there.

mglobe

The specifics of the rules have been covered already here, but it's probably also worth noting that instructors always have the option of not riding in a vehicle that they feel does not provide for their safety adequately.

Carrera51

You should stay away from some of those "cheap" seats on ebay. How much testing do you think has been done on them? Probably not much. There are plenty of reasonably priced "sport seats" from known reliable manufacturers.

Potomac-Greg

No worries. We moved him up to Recaros!

utkinpol

Heh. sort of. final decision for now will be to get one sportster cs seat in leather, stock passenger seat will stay and both seats will be used with 3point seatbelts until I will get to the point when this car will be ready to complete track transformation, ditch rear seats, get proper rollbar, etc.

will see how new seat will work with stock seatbelt, if it will be less than adequate, then, well, somewhat mid-next-season I will complete this. what I definitely have here is time, there is nowhere to hurry with this at all...

Potomac-Greg

If you start adding up the cost of turning your comfortable street car into an effective track car (and an uncomfortable street car), you'll make the next inevitable step -- the dedicated track car. This disease only goes one way.

aj986s

AFAIK, the Sportster CS does not have the needed seat bottom hole to accomodate a 5/6 point harness (for the anti-submarine belt). If a non-OEM harness will be used, most track clubs I believe require a 5/6 point harness; I know PCA requires it. The Recaro Speed can be ordered with or without the sub belt hole. AFAIK, the Recaro Speed is the only seat available properly designed for 5/6 point harness, but has low enough hip bolsters to properly accommodate OEM 3 point belts.