Maineiac

Fits fine in my car.

John Shiels

I have the stock seat belt in my car also with 17" Kirkey. If an impact is into folding my seat it's over for me. I had a Sparco Evo2 and it was up against the door. The Kirkey drops right in easily with plenty of room and has a ton more lateral support than a Sparco. The mounts I made are similar to the HArdbar mounts. I did them before Gary had mounts for a Kirkey.

cebars

Do the HPDE and other racing events require both seats and belts to be the same..for driver and instructor?

Gary04Z06

The BMW and PCA here do.

Gary04Z06

If you can make some (cheaper then Hardbar, I know they are nice, but seem awefull pricey to me at least) I'd be interested. Or, if you need someone to test out a set, I can give great feed back.

Z06 Bob

It appears that's the way all clubs are going. I put in a Kirkey Deluxe in the drivers and got a less expensive intermediate for the passenger.
Both have the new air knit cover which is nice.

Both sides must have the same restraint from what I've read.

Sure it costs us some more money but in the end it will be safer.

John I agree with your explanation of the metal seat safety.

I just went out and looked at my Kirkey again.
There is much more support than the Sparco evo 2 I looked at.

Wicked Weasel

I wonder why I couldnt get mine to fit. I have to look at everything again and see what is going on. Maybe I didnt fiddle with eveything enough.

John Shiels

I'll take a picture if I can find my download cable for the docking station.

mikahb

I posted the video up here. Again, not saying aluminum seats are bad - they are still definitely better and far safer than a stock seat, just wanted everyone to see what convinced me to go composite. The other consideration for my choice was that my car will be doing W2W racing, not HPDE, so the liklihood of getting hit or hitting something is quite a bit higher (very nearly had a C6Z06 enter through my drivers door this weekend at CMP! ).

If it was my other car that I used for autoX and HPDE, it would have been a Kirkey or Ultrashield for sure.

PA Z06

The Pfadt rails look higher then the hardbar rails, can anyone confirm this.
I currently have my Evo on sparco rails, but I would like a lil more helmet room.

John Shiels

Doesn't look like he has any restraint system. How many here can drive all but a race car with that on the street? That is not a real containment seat just a flimsy add on piece that bolt on improperly installed.

Z06 Bob

PA Z06,

I'll try to take some measurements on my set up and get some photos this week. It is pretty low but not on the carpet. In fact in the initial bolt up and trial I was able to get the Kirkey so low that I couldn't see over the dash. I'm 5'10".

Bob

PA Z06

Sweet thanks Bob

0Randy@DRM

When I crashed this winter, I did about three or four of those in a row. I don't know what moved, but I do know 1 foot 9 inches away from my head there was a roll cage brace, with thick padding on it. Well somehow, my head hit that hard enough, to crack my Bell helment.

Randy

0Randy@DRM

It is a head rest for longer races, and should never be used as anything more. Well besides a good reason for crashing because you can't see out of the car.

Randy
At what point are we going to start crashing more because of saftey??? I icerace with a guy that we call Spider man. There is more damn netting and crap in that car, I'm suprised he can even see anything besides out the front window.

BQuicksilver

I didn't even see the Pfadt rails on their site, but I'd like something that sits about stock height or 1" lower. Maybe they'll chime in.

John Shiels

I have that piece in a box for my Kirkey. They tell you to have it installed by a professional like Randy and properly brace it not two bolts.

ghoffman

Thanks for the great review! Just to answer a few of the posts, we do have a C4 seat rails, and they are not interchangeable but are similar. The Hardbar rails are much lower than any others, and to get lower you would have to go through the floor. Having said that, they are fully adjustable vertically as well for people with less tall torsos. In addition, they have been fully tested at triple digit crash speeds by many forum members that totalled their cars but walked away unhurt, and are by far the stiffest on the market for the best feel and control as well as safety. These rails are used on most of the T1 cars (including Vipers) and have many, many SCCA National championships and Runoff victories. They will fit with the Sparco, OMP, style seats as well as the Kirkey, Butlerbuilt, etc NASCAR seats. If your desired seat fits in the car, it will work with the Hardbar seat rails. We even can accomodate the Sparco EVO3 for those XXXL guys out there with an optional ($25) spacer kit.
As far as harnesses go, there is Teamtech, then everybody else. One of the brands mentioned above is not only not the best, but frankly, not even in the same league (and I worked for the parent company for 10 years)! In addition, the Teamtech are made in the USA and are available in any/all colors and with the Rampac and Jetpilot are fully padded in the torso and lower abdomen area, wheras the other brands are simply a 3 inch web. The Jetpilot is a very unique harness in that there is no anti-sub belt per-se. The Jetpilot is similar to a parachute harness in that it fully encapsulates your hips and pelvis without putting your genitalia at risk as does a standard 5 or 6 point harness does. Think of it this way: would you ever jump out of a plane at 250 MPH and have your parachute open and react all of that force in your crotch? Of course not, unless your lifetime ambition is to be a Vienna choir boy! Of course, all Teamtech harnesses are SFI, NASCAR, SCCA, etc approved.

EvilBoffin

Gary -

I like the idea of the JetPilot harness, but do you think it is 'practical' for use on the passenger side of an HPDE car? I mean, where instructors and other passengers might be riding, and have to each be shown how to strap it on?

Would it make more sense to get a JetPilot for myself (driver) and then get the more 'traditional' RamPac for the passenger? Or would it just be best to get 2 RamPac's?

Finally - can Teamtech's be re-webbed/rebuilt to avoid tossing out the whole thing in only a few years?

ghoffman

The Jetpilot is really only for the driver or someone of the same size since it is made to order. The Rampac is more universal size wise. And yes, you bring up another good point, all Teamtech harnesses can be re-certified so you never have to toss it.