Gary R.

Buy an 8" slab of good solid foam and carve it to fit your seat, I made one for my wife and it works great..

SoClose

I'm 6'3", Kim is 5'4". Our cars are set up identically in order that we can easily drive each other's car. Recaros on sliders.
We have tried several 'solutions', but the only one to work is mixing the two compounds in a large plastic bag, placing in another large plastic bag, and getting her into the correct position immediately. It takes several extra hands to mix, pour, etc. Once the stuff starts to rise, someone will be holding her down as the foam grows significantly. A little too much is much better- it will be trimmed later anyway. Ensure old clothes for all involved, as it is extremely messy. No jewelry, including rings. Make sure that what she is wearing replicates what she will wear while driving.
She needs to be planted in the seat while driving and no amount of foam will accomplish that.
Do some trial runs to determine expansion of the product and where everyone will be standing during the process. Plan more time than you might expect. Do it right and she'll enjoy driving, and this insert will last for years if not abused.

Scootin159

The 2-part foam can hold her "up" some, as it gets pretty stiff pretty quick. It might take a try or two to time it right, but if you let it stiffen just a tad before she gets in, it will support her weight just fine before it cures. If anything (as SoClose mentioned), you might need to actually push her down into the seat to resist the foam's expansion.

racer

Why not just get her, her own car? 944s are pretty cheap afterall

ritzblitz

I use a phonebook under my cushion, though it may not be enough height for her.

Matt Romanowski

I know where there is a car just waiting to get to the track....

https://rennlist.com/forums/for-sale...ax-de-car.html

User 52121

Getting her a Porsche of her own has crossed my mind on several occasions. And hers. And believe me - I would love to not have to worry about someone other than me running my car on the track! And the 924S that was posted looks like a fantastic car, just perfect for what she'd be doing with it. Priced right, too.

But... (there's always a "but")
- it's tough enough keeping one 80s Porsche running in tip-top shape, let alone two.
- if we picked up a 2nd 944, it would have to be a Turbo. Unless I wanted to give my wife the Turbo and I drove the N/A. Maybe some of you with wives withOUT a competitive streak won't understand - but with mine, if I put her in an N/A while I drive a Turbo, then it will mean that I'm deliberately trying to hold her back or prevent her from going faster than me. Easier to learn in, easier to drive, etc. won't matter. It's bad enough that the girl she views as her closest competition at our region's AX events drives a 993S, and she gets mad that she is already at an equipment disadvantage.
- I already ran through this scenario in the summer - a neighbor of ours (elderly gentleman) has an early 944 N/A that's been sitting in his garage for the last 2 years. He's the original owner and it only has something like 40k on it. Super clean, but I guess the clutch is shot (hence why he parked it.) I considered shooting him an offer on it, with the plan to buy it and fix it for the wife to drive. In the end though, I decided against it, per the previous bullet point above - it's not a Turbo and I'd never hear the end of it.

If we DO someday buy a 2nd Porsche for her, it will most likely be a Boxster S. A little newer, a much "better" car in terms of autocross competitiveness, safer (ABS, airbags), etc.

Circuit Motorsports

2 part foam is messy. I wouldn't do it in a real car unless you didn't care about it. I've poured a lot of them and it's still hit or miss on when some gets out and it never cleans up well.

Bead seats are the way to go in this instance. For two reasons. One they are much cleaner and easier to do. Two, they are much safer. In an impact, the 2 part foam will often shatter as it's very stiff and brittle. The bead seat is designed to protect you in an impact as it's just like the lining of helmets.

I've sold and done many bead seats and have yet to find someone not like it. Very easy to do especially with the right tools which are available for rent as well.

racer

Some might argue that the SRD/Speed seat isn't a "proper" seat, since it is a reclining seat. How about a custom mounted (slider) proper seat. Tell your wife to "sit low" so as to not compromise the cars senstive center of gravity (since she is competitive, she will certainly understand )

That said, I think you will do just fine driving your new "n/a" while she enjoys the turbo!

User 52121

And those that want to argue, can argue.

If I can DE my car with stock 24+ year old factory reclining seats and be considered perfectly safe (safe enough to satisfy PCA's insurance provider, which is already pretty **** compared to other car clubs), then a brand new pair of reclining Recaro Speed seats should be perfectly safe. Personally I think that if I wreck my car in a DE hard enough to where the fact that my Recaro seat can recline plays a factor in my injury, then I have much bigger issues to deal with.

I also have a 6 year old that likes to ride with us from time to time in the Porsche. Putting fixed-back seats in the car makes the rear seat inaccessible.

JBreckeen

My girlfriend and I share our car, and the Kirkey containment seat is too low for her. After doing this research, she came up with using a office chair "lumbar support pad thingy?" I did a quick search, but couldn't come up with the exact one we use, but I can tell you it fits perfectly in the bucket of the seat like it was made for it. It is supposed to go behind your back, but she sits on it --- no comments from the gallery please . . . that's you Peter!


Feels just like Le Mans doing driver swaps . . .

esscape26

At 5.0, I have a seat that is on sliders.

I fill in the seat with cushions that come with various seats that I either asked for at a dealer or accumulated. Sparco, Recaro, etc. all have these cushions. I sewed them together to make two pieces. A tailor could do it in a snap.

I have seen the inserts, (but done by a professional company where you went to do it) but boy that sounds like an ordeal in your own garage.

Have a new car, so will see how it goes in finding a different set.

Being comfortable is key to wanting to drive more. I can tell you that.

You should also put in two sub belts for the two different slider positions and if you have a seat back brace, it will need two holes, although getting a seat that doesn't need one is the best idea for two driver cars.

TheOtherEric

My wife is 6" shorter than me and we share our race car. We use a combination of (a) kitchen floor mats from Wal-Mart and (b) thick foam from Joan Fabrics and sewed up a little cushion with a back cushion piece too. A buddy and his wife liked what we did and had something identical made by an upholstery shop in leather here in Chicago. Probably paid $200. I'd definitely use high-density foam from an upholstery shop; Joanne's foam isn't high-density enough.

And you don't need to worry about sub strap holes; just make the cushion like 11" wide (or whatever) by like 8" deep so that it ends just at the sub holes. That's what we did and my buddy did, and it works fine.

We considered the two-part bead-bag thing, but that stuff is expensive (!!) plus I doubt it would be any better than what we use.

Oh, and I highly doubt any DE instructor will think anything of this, unless he's just a complete dick. Nothing wrong with what you're envisioning, no matter how half-assed or hacked it looks. (BTW, my wife & I are both national PCA DE corps instructors! )

User 52121

Thanks for all the suggestions. Spent a bit of time talking to a local vendor (Northstar Motorsports) who is also the Chicago Region Chief Driving Instructor and he hooked us up with a Recaro seat pad that fits perfectly. Should work nicely. If we find that it's still too short, he gave us a few other ideas to use in conjunction (not unlike the ideas listed here) that he considers to be safe/legal to use.

Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions.

bobt993

Gregg alluded to the bead mix bag. Pegasus sells a system to do this and it works pretty good. I have gone through all options with my wife who is 5-1 and I am 6-1. First option that worked for us early on is a cushion made by local auto interior shop. We brought them the car and he fabricated various levels of foam laminated together to contour to her fit. He added grommet holes and a durable cover so the system would come in and out of the car easily. Next setup was to go with a Kirkey seat remove the liner and use the bead and resin system. That takes some time and give her a book to read while she waits 3 hours for it to set properly. If you use this system over an existing liner the walls are too thin and it will break apart easily. The next generation of this system was I lost enough weight to run a 15inch Kirkey and I made slide rails that angled up when the seat slides forward to elevate her seating position so she only needs a small seat booster. I cut down the steering wheel stock to maintain arm reach, but allow closer pedal contact. I also moved the pedals out 1inch to give proper pedal length. On race weekends I put the seat back where I want it and remove the other stuff. For DE's I really don't mind the seat position that much.