Seth Thomas

Attachment is from a BMWCCA Club Race at Roebling Road. Very light crash by racing standards. I think this speaks for itself for a containment seat like the Racetech.

eric523

I agree with Craig, having been in a bad accident with the halo seat saving my butt, I wouldn't drive without one.

North Coast Cab

Motorhead,
I just put in a Kirkey containment seat with only the right side head restraint. This allowed me to remove the right side net which always impeded my view to the right. The right side head restraint made it too difficult to get out of the car so I left it off.
I have seen now in GA and WC they require a left side net which may be the best option. You can lower it for exit but have it in place for while on track.

fatbillybob

Seth,

That is exactly what FCS is trying to avoid and why I think cars should have sidenets even in HPDE. For my dual use car I'm pulling the dash so that I can weld in some front anchor points for my sidenets. The rear anchors will be on my 4 point half cage. In my racecar, being the super chicken, I welded this additional "B" piller support bar that you can see dissapear in the first photo ending on the rear aspect of my rear cage support down tube.

fatbillybob

Some believe including NASCAR that even a FCS needs sidenets! I was at a lecture once where Dr. Melvin was the keynote speaker. He said that "regardless" of the seat used sidenets were one of the most important and cheapest safety features that should be in every racecar.

analogmike

No window net in BMW club racing?

Greg Smith

There are and it's there.

Seth Thomas

Mike:

BMWCCA requires both a window net and a right side window net. As you can see the net is stretching in the picture and the driver's head appears to be past the plane of the side of the car. Just like belts in a car the nets are made stretch. This is one reason I would not rely on just a net to help keep my head in the car or in the seat area. The seat is more of a solid object that will keep your head in a small area. And the reason for the requirement of both left and right side nets in Grand Am is because of the risk of the upper body/head to actually slide past the side of the seat and then on the next hit the body isn't in a position to not absorb the impact without severe injury.

Sterling Doc

Ouch! That picture hurts to look at it. Watching some in-car video of crashes, the amount of movement in an accident is pretty frightening.
I had to modify my window net mounting, and practice getting out to make the Sparco Pro ADV halo seat work in my 944, but it's worth it.

originalmotorhead

John,
I would think it would be the left side tab on the seat that would impead the entry / exit ??

The seat i'm looking at has a slightly larger tab on right side. Picking it up tonight. Weekend plan is to get it sitting in the car(not mounted) and in proper position and see how clearences are and then determine if entry / exit is going to be an issue or not. If it's not gonna fly, back to the store it goes and back in my momo goes..

Tom

originalmotorhead

Got the seat partially bolted in usign exiting back support, however I plan to redo the back support and use two bars at angles so there is no wiggle in the seat whatsoever.

Since i was able to mount the seat thru the bottom, I have it bolted thru the floor(welded plate under) and that gave me 2+inches more headroom and effectivly allowing my noggin to clear front and left side of roll bar(halo).

Entry and exit with the FCS is a little tighter, had to play with the angle to get the containment piece back enough but I timed hopping out of the car(no belts yet) and it seemed quick so I am hoping once belts and net are in that I'll be fine.

With the brain bucket on, there's only a little bit of left to right movement of my head and no visibility issues at all.

Thinking my old Momo seats and right side net go on the market this week. The FCS is here to stay.

Tom

Seth Thomas

KEEP THE RIGHT SIDE NET! DO NOT SELL IT!

And no my caps lock is not on accidently. This is important even with a containment seat. There is a reason the pros require a right side net and it is 100% for safety even with a containment seat. They have found that in extreme circumstances the body of a driver can move the outside of the seat and cause neck/back injuries. The right side net when mounted properly will eliminate this risk. This is also the same reason we have a window net and a left side net in Grand Am!

va122

Me too

kurt M

This is what I ended up building after looking at club race and pro cars. Keep in mind I am no expert in anything regarding a race car build and designed from the gleanings of others. I am always looking for improvements and open to suggestions. I wanted to have a full containment system but still be able to get out in a hurry if need be. Big things like the door bar shape in relation to the seat to small things like a sharp window net tang that sticks down to the wheel release leaving the wheel extension in place encroach on the usable exit area. I used a pyramid X for 2 reasons. It seems to be a stronger method per pound of tube used and it opens up more room for getting out. I built it with 1.20 wall tubing as well. I moved the seat right far enough that it overhang the center tunnel a bit. This cost me some real CoG drop as it could have been lower by 2 inches but got me well away from the door bars. I moved the steering wheel over to line it back up to the seat. The foot pedals are now lined up even better as 911s start out cockeyed in relation to the pedal cluster and steering wheel. I also incorporated leg boards into the car and reinforced the left side footwall to better resist front wheel intrusion in an impact. I plan to clean up the foot well area around and above the pedals some more to cover the brake and fire lines. The left side net system was designed so there are no protrusions into the drivers exit area. When released the net snaps down and out of the way pulled by surgical tubing on the cable ends. The wheel and extension come off together leaving a bit more exit room. The emergency kill switch is in reach of the driver as is the fire system release and safety pin. The fire system punch button and safety pin are easy to see and reach by the drover and from outside. The right side net wraps around behind the seat and the tension buckle is welded directly to the front cross tube in the dash.

originalmotorhead

Let me pose a question, where's the best place to mount the 6 point sub straps to?
Bring them back to the spots where the lap belt is
or
tie em into the floor closer to where they come up thru the seat ?

Tom