RickBetterley

I would think that, all other things being equal (ingress/egress, fitment, price, quality), a containment seat provides more safety than a halo seat.
Assume this is for a track car (non-street), full cage and removable wheel.
Right or wrong (and yes, oversimplified)?

Peter Carroll/Toronto

I''ve been in containment sets and they were the most uncomfortable thing I've ever sat in. IMHO, a propper halo seat is best. If it works for ALMS and WRC, then I think it's enough for me.

Now, a halo seat is not going to work on the street. They are hard to get in and out of and the cops will surely see them as offensive.

I race in a Racaro SPG Hans. For my wife's track car, we use a regular Recaro SPG for the street and then swap it for the SPG Hans just for track days. Since they are both Recaro SPGs, the holes are identical and we just need to swap the shell - a 5 minute job... The sliders and side brackets do not change.

I would also add something like a DAS-Sport bolt-on roll bar. A harness bar is not enough. All that containment can kill you if you hit so the roof caves in.

RickBetterley

Thank you, Peter.
I have edited the original post to specify track car only, full cage, and a removable wheel.

CCA

Correct, a full containment seat supports more of the body including the head, than a "shallow" halo seat would. But you need to be comparing apples to apples, not a top end halo seat compared to a low end Kirky containment seat. Quality and fitment count.

RickBetterley

Thanks; yes, that certainly makes sense - but assuming comparable quality, the full body envelope of the containment seat ought to be safer than the partial envelope of the halo, if I am thinking about this right.

fatbillybob

I would put a properly supported cheapest Kirkey up against even the best FIA 10 year halo seat. The beauty of even the cheapest vs the stoutest full containment seat is the amount of other reinforcement to the cage that is needed. FC seats by design where intended for the best safety cell possible which is a seat forming the foundation of the safety system directly supported and mounted to the cage. If one studies the FIA 10year seat one will notice that it incorporates some very important features of the FC seat while the FIA 5yr seat does not.

Peter Carroll/Toronto

I still found those containment seats horribly uncomfortable. Plus I don't like how (some of them) are rigidly attached to the car. Same argument as using a back brace. If I am in a crash (and I have been in a couple), I do not want to be firmly attached to the cage. A composite seat will absorb a great deal of impact energy.

Not all race seats are the same. Check out the Recaro SPG Pro Hans. It is very deep and quite tight when compared to other race seats. Maybe is it a containment seat? It depends where you draw the line... Other than the mounting holes, it shares nothing with the regular SPG seat.

I've raced in one for years and would not consider anything else. Also, the Hans device fits it perfectly. It's like being locked into a roller-coaster...

http://www.recaro-automotive.com/us/...cer-hansr.html

fatbillybob

Actually, you do want to be rigidly mounted to the cage. You want predictable engineered crush zones of the car to spread off crash energy. The NASCAR safety systems is the best you can get in tintops today. The FIA has been trying to build a better seat for years. They came up with the FIA 8862-2009 seat spec. It now looks like halfway between a halo seat and a full containment seat. It lasts 10 years now and has mountings integrated on the back. Last I looked no one is buying them since only a couple makers produce them and they are 2x+ the cost of the best carbon fiber FIA 5 year seat.

jdistefa

hmm

CCA

I'm happy with my Racetech.
http://www.racetech-usa.com/shop/RT4...torsport-seats

kurt M

This. The car and what it hits is the absorbtion system not you.

In a nutshell. The more you move once contact is made the worse it is for you.

Perhaps the containment seat was uncomfortable due to poor fit. My "low end Kirkey" fits me like a glove and does not produce any discomfort unless I forget to take my wallet out of my pocket. Wallet = sleeping clutch leg. The seat was sized for my torso and also has ajustments to fit the shoulder and head containment systems to the driver. Good fit is key which is a positive aspect of the ajustable seats. If my wallet makes a notable change working with seats that only come in 3 or so sizes will force compromise. I lost about 20% of my body weight a couple years ago and simply refit the seat ajustments a bit.

Again the key is to make the car soak impact energy not you.