linzman

Love my racetech seat too. Lots of good advice here about the fit of seat, snugging harnesses, etc. Dont forget to make sure you are seated in a good driving position. For example, if you are using your shoulders too much, your body may be subconscious bracing itself to try to reduce the excess motion. This also adds to the exhausted feeling at the end of the session because you're doing a lot more work than you have to. Car position and balance through turns can also play a role. If the car feels more planted through a turn, you won't feel like you're fighting it, and won't feel the need to brace yourself while fighting the car.

Ubermensch

Working on left foot braking was a surprisingly effective way to get me to stop bracing myself on the dead pedal and door. I was giving myself a bruise/abrasion on my left knee from pressing against the door so much! As others said this is only effective if you're well secured, but even when I was, I had to break the mental/physical habit I had developed.

johneecatt

A couple of guys on my team have custom fitting from Recaro, and they use stiff foam inserts (cut to fit). You could try adding foam wedges to snug you into place. Then let out all your breath and yank the belts. I used to brace myself with my leg as well, until I got a proper fitting seat.

Speeds5

Jeff, was good seeing you on the track past couple of days. I used to do the same thing a couple of years ago and it was all from the seat being too wide. You should make sure that's fitting you right and if it is, the next culprit is the belts. tighten them with both hands and if you think you got them tight enough, tighten them some more. Don't forget you now have a very powerful car, creating a lot more Gs, those belts need to be really tight.

Eugene

C-gt3

i just recently went through this while switching cars.
i found after reading Bentlys book on proper seating position to make some changes.
im seating farther back from the pedals but i needed the steering wheel brought close to me.
im also seating as low as i can in the seat so i dont hit my head on the cross bar with fire pad which is hard as a rock.
i put a spacer on the wheel and extender piece on the clutch to fix the reach issue.
using two hands to scrunch the belts as tight as i can get them to the point of ripping my finger nails off and sometimes screaming to get an extra tug in there.
huge difference and just relax and breath while driving.
using the dead pedal and steering wheel as support really takes a toll on you.

morsini

I struggled with this myself, until I bought a halo seat for my size. The immediate effect was two second place finishes at a track i'd never driven before. It makes a tremendous difference.

John Milne

As mentioned, a proper fitting seat is critical. Seat mounting is also very important.

If your seat is moving around it creates the same need to brace yourself as a poorly fitting seat. This can be a real issue if you are using sliders. If your sliders are mounted as you would expect to mount them, they will move very easily, but will also wiggle. You can miss align the tracks with shims to tighten the movement and reduce wiggle. The seat is then hard to move, but when you are sitting in the seat you can move just fine by using your legs.

I prefer a solidly mounter seat with a really good seat back brace. This can be a problem with a halo/containment seat as the halo restricts exit an may require sliders to allow the seat to go back allowing safe ingress and especially egress.

A further benefit of a well mounted stable seat is the improved seat of the pants feel for the car and track

tvr-4

Jeff - for me, it was all down to a seating fit and position and since then, I spend extra time and money to make sure it's just right (fit/angle/distance, etc).

Do you have the same issue when you are riding shotgun or are you able to relax and let your body rest in the seat / belts?

jlanka

This is very interesting, and as far as I can remember I am able to relax when riding shotgun.

hf1

I used to tense up and brace when the car got near the grip limit (high G turns) because I had no idea what was going to happen if it went beyond it. After I learned car control the fear of the unknown was gone and the body relaxed.

LuigiVampa

I emulate James Hunt. I find an empty trailer and an umbrella girl. Maybe smoke a joint.

All good!

rlm328

Just make sure you are relaxed going into the turn. Tell yourself not to brace, after a while it will become natural. Rotate your wrists on the long straights, relax your legs in the turns. Have confidence in your equipment and your abilities. An off relaxed is easier on you then a tensed off.

Coochas

These are all great suggestions but nobody mentioned masturbating on the grid to relax.

Veloce Raptor

Except you

Coochas

Would you expect anything less?