Thinking about buying a custom halo seat

#1

I want a new seat. Standard seats don’t fit me well because I have normal American shoulders with the ass of an 11yr old schoolgirl. And I want the new seat to have a halo.

After poking around various ways to do this, I’ve decided that the only way to be sure that a seat is going to fit me is to get it custom made, and not by sending some measurements in. And only Aluminum seats allow that kind of flexibility.

I think that normal (as opposed to aluminum) race seats look a lot nicer. But their halo designs obstruct my vision, you can’t fine tune the halo by moving it a bit up/down, and their fit is generic.

Tom “The Director” Hennig has a seat made by an outfit called Richardson Racing, N of Charlotte. He started with their drag racing seats because it lacked the rib cage protector that is a nogo for road racing. Then he had them fit it to him, and then install shoulder and head braces. His is modified for a HANS but I use an R3 so I figured I’d go w/o the HANS mod.
http://www.rrpinc.com/catalog2/sportsman-drag-racing-seat-p-5075.html

So I thought I’d go with the “channeled” drag seat ($315)
The channeled shoulder braces ($150)
Head restraint ($125)

Their 15" drag seat might be small enough to do this with, but after measuring my current seat I’m thinking that 15" is a bit big. So I thought that I’d make the 4 1/2hr road trip to their shop just to make sure that I end up with a good fit.

Any thoughts on Al seats in general?

The “channeling” business is reinforcing rib. It kind of makes me wonder…how much strength is too much? Maybe a little bit of flex in the seat during an impact is a good thing. Thoughts on that?

#2

Before you convince yourself you can’t see with a standard halo, take my car out for a couple sessions at CMP. With proper mirrors, you never turn your head to the side enough for the halo to matter (except in the paddock).

Color me skeptical about an outfit that doesn’t have any information on their site about safety certifications…

#3

Before you convince yourself you can’t see with a standard halo, take my car out for a couple sessions at CMP. With proper mirrors, you never turn your head to the side enough for the halo to matter (except in the paddock).

Color me skeptical about an outfit that doesn’t have any information on their site about safety certifications…[/quote]

Re. taking your car out. That’s cool of you, and the fact that there’s some consensus on the issue of peripheral vision at bf.c has made an impression on me. But there’s also the issue of fit, and I don’t know if I’m ever going to get a good fit out of a one-size-fits-all race seat.

You could send me some of your favorite RA data tho. I gotta figure out what’s going on that I can’t run low 1:46’s anymore. Being 4secs back is ludicrous. I’m in a bit of an ill-humor over that.

#4

I went from a Sparco Evo to a RaceTech and didn’t notice any reduction in peripheral vision. Backing the car is is rather more difficult, but that is all I’ve noticed.

#5

I have noticed that sitting in seats in the paddock and sitting in them while driving in anger are two different things. My shoulders always seem too wide for the seat until I am up on the wheel driving like I stole it. Then I don’t even notice the shoulders. Same with the halo wings. I wear the belts very tight so I haven’t noticed any difference between the Racetech wide seat in the 13 hour car, my Circuit Pro, or my old (narrower) Circuit. Once I am belted in, they all feel the same to me.

[quote]You could send me some of your favorite RA data tho. I gotta figure out what’s going on that I can’t run low 1:46’s anymore. Being 4secs back is ludicrous. I’m in a bit of an ill-humor over that.[/quote]I’ll do the same as with Tower and The Kid. Show me yours and I will show you mine. :wink:

#6

Look at the Kirkey Road Race Containment seat, the halo is adjustable. The construction is awesome. Got one in the shop for a customer and I am totally impressed with the quality.

#7

I’ve been looking at that seat too. How far do the rib protectors stick out? Would they interfere with your right arm when shifting?

If I am interpreting the pic correctly, the shoulder braces are not adjustable. That would be a problem for me because although I have the butt of a school girl, I have normal shoulders. Would this mean I’d need a custom version or what?

#8

I do not believe there would be any issues with the side support and the sholder seems to be roomy enough that with a 15" seat it might fit you well. But everyone notices different things and has different standards. You more than welcome to come by the shop if you are in Greenville for some reason, but I do not think the car will make to the track until June or so.

#9

Anyone have experience with the rib protectors that are on most aluminum seats? Do they interfere with shifting?

#10

[quote=“Ranger” post=55550]Anyone have experience with the rib protectors that are on most aluminum seats? Do they interfere with shifting?[/quote]Only if you shift like an 11 year old girl, too. :stuck_out_tongue:

#11

I haven’t noticed any issues with shifting. It was the only seat that fit me well. I’m 6’6" and 230.

Jason

#12

[quote=“jls8177” post=55572]I haven’t noticed any issues with shifting. It was the only seat that fit me well. I’m 6’6" and 230.

Jason[/quote]
6’ 6", 230lbs? Dang.

Hey, can you go beat up NASA144? He was mean to me.

#13

This seat is the front runner. It has an up/down adjustable halo and lots of reinforcement in the back. The various other ways I’ve looked at skinning this cat either results in a halo that is not adjustable, or is a design where the shoulder and halo braces would bolt on to a seat that lacks reinforcement in the region where the braces would be fastened.

http://www.kirkeyracing.com/index.php?link=browse&code=Series45

Kirkey, Ultrashield, and Richardson will all happily sell you seats that you can than bolt on shoulder braces and/or halos. IMO opinion the problem with this is that you end up bolting important things to a portion of the seat that is not reinforced. The seats that are designed for shoulder braces and halos have a fair amount of structural reinforcement that the “bolt on” solutions lack. Examples of seats that you could bolt on shoulder braces and/or halos.

http://www.kirkeyracing.com/index.php?link=browse&code=Series41
http://www.rrpinc.com/catalog2/sportsman-drag-racing-seat-p-5075.html
http://www.ultrashieldrace.com/prod.php?id=9
http://www.ultrashieldrace.com/prod.php?id=2

The Richardson seat has a $100 option to reinforce it, but the location of the reinforcement does not go anywhere near where the shoulder brace and halo would bolt on.

The problem with Ultrashields seats is that their halos can’t be adjusted and their website has limited pics and no drawings. You can’t, for example, see any of the reinforcing that might be on the back side of the seats. Richardson’s site is also weak on pics and drawings.

What’s holding me back on the Kirkey 45 series is I’d like more certainty that the shoulder braces will be in the right place (horiz & vertically), and I was thinking I’d like a halo with a little more right side length.

#14

I have the kirkey full containment seat with the open sides like this one http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Kirkey-Open-Wheel-Full-Containment-Seat,5343.html

I like the added visibility with the longer passenger side head bolster.

Jason

#15

[quote=“jls8177” post=55615]I have the kirkey full containment seat with the open sides like this one http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Kirkey-Open-Wheel-Full-Containment-Seat,5343.html

I like the added visibility with the longer passenger side head bolster.

Jason[/quote]
I did some research on that seat this morning. Pricey, but the fact that the shoulder braces can be moved up/down and in/out is really cool. Of course the head brace can move up/down too. That would allow me to experiment and fine tune the seat’s config over time.

The install instructions say that both the head brace and shoulder brace has to be attached to your cage. But I talked to Kirkey about that today and they said for a 150hp car that additional mounting wouldn’t be necessary. The seat is apparently designed for some series of cars that go really fast and crash a lot.

Do the rib protectors create any issues for you? How tight of a fit was it in your car? How did you mount it?

#16

The ability to “customize” it is pretty nice. I did have mine mounted to the cage. I had to adjust it once after the mounting but it wasn’t a huge expenditure to get it right. The NASA MA Tech guys weren’t very clear on my questions of whether I would need a seat back brace if the top of the seat was not mounted to the cage.

It was a tight fit but workable. The guy that put mine in said that he had put them in Miatas also. The rib protectors are nice, they let you relax a little more when cornering. The seat just holds you in place. They mounted it with a square tube frame to the floor. It is very solid.

Are you going to VIR this weekend? I’ll be there if you want to take a look. I’ll measure the head bolster and try to get some pics of the mounting if it will stop raining tonight.

Jason

#17

The drivers side head guard is 10.5 inches, the passenger is 14.5 inches. These are approximate depending on your measuring points. I went from the back of the aluminum on the bracket to the most front edge.

#18

I ended up buying this: http://www.ogracing.com/catalog/2-Car/37-Seats/176-Kirkey/183-Seats/item-1410-KIRKEY-FULL-CONTAINMENT-ROAD-RACING-SEAT

This seat isn’t made anymore. Kirkey called it at 63 series and it seems to be the predecessor to the 66 series that jls linked to in his post. The older model can be found on sale for a $100 cheaper, it has bigger hip bolsters, the right side halo is longer and the left side is shorter. I was on the fence re. the layback angle. The 63 is a 20deg seat and the 66 is a 10deg seat.

What ended up driving the choice is the adjustability of the shoulder braces and head brace. My attempts to do a custom effort weren’t working out that well and would really have been a bummer to get a custom seat made based on some measurements, and then find that I wasn’t all that happy with it.

The other way to do adjustability was to get a plain seat like this…http://www.rrpinc.com/catalog2/sportsman-drag-racing-seat-p-5075.html and buy a bolt on shoulder and head brace kit. The problem with that, IMO, was that the kit ends up bolting on to parts of the seat that are not that strong. Although this particular seat can be reinforced, the reinforcing is no where near where the sholder braces and halo bolt on.

#19

I thought the object of this racing stuff was to go forward, not backwards…just sayin’

Go ahead DeVinney, the floor is yours…

#20

I thought the object of this racing stuff was to go forward, not backwards…just sayin’

Go ahead DeVinney, the floor is yours…[/quote]
I can’t say anything snarky. Last fall I backed my car off the trailer at OPM and promptly rammed another car. Fortunately, the other car was my spare chassis so the only real damage was to the 410’s bumper, tail light and license plate panel. Doh!