Are race seats safer than factory seats?

When you have a 6 pt bar or 10 pt cage?

The wreck at the wcn hits home. Its a wake up call...hopefully for others too.

Kevin, when the race seat is attached to the bar/cage then for sure. If it is not then the only safety I can see is if the reace seat has better provision for the seat belt locations.

Talk to you soon, Kip

That's what I was figuring. The stock seats though have probably gone through a lot more crash testing by GM and all.

I have used both and the kirkey seats in the car now make me feel much better. I can tell you that 3 layer pants. jacket. race gloves. shoes. neck brace. window net. can seem like a pita. But imo you cant go down the track in a 140 mph car without it.

One more

X2 but i can hear all the excuses coming up. Scotts crash still has me shaking my head !!

Walt, are those the pro street kirkeys or the economy ones? What did you do for brackets or are they fixed? I would still like to be able to adjust mine

The belts should be tight enough that you cannot move at all. You can get them much tighter in a rigid race seat than you can in a cushy stock seat. Watch the pro class drivers yank on their seat belts before pulling into the water. They pull on the straps with everything they have to make sure they cant move.

I can get mine tight enough with the stock seats that I can't reach the door handle to close the door. May do a brace on the back of the stock seat.

hahaha.. Melissa is in the car an Russ an I were walkin away and we see her flapping her arms...She couldn't reach her helmet :biggrin:

Kevin they are the pro street 16" The driver seat has an adjuster. Each click lines up with a hole in the back brace. Passenger is fixed. The brackets were fabed out of 1" square tube. Jax did the covers with blue t material.

Yes the race seats are much safer than the stock seats. The front to back movement isn't really an issue because your belts should be bolted to the cage. The problem with stock seats is side to side movement. When Chris H crashed at BG his side hurt him from his kidney area hitting the roll cage where it comes down beside the driver seat. Even with your belts tight you think your body can't move but weird things happen during a hard impact. The biggest advantage to the race seats is how your belts come up through the side of the seats. This belt location as well as the sides on the seat coming up by your waist keeps your body from sliding side to side.

I nearly lost a friend to a bad racing accident at Cecil County several years ago. After seeing the results of his crash, I started this forum and upgraded most of the safety items in my car to prevent the same things from ever happening to me.

In my opinion Race seats are a good investment if you plan on running any faster than 10.50. I'm using a Kirkey Road Race seat. I had a custom cover made in gray and black to match the rest of the interior of my car. The "wings" on the seat-back keep me from moving side to side. I feel confident that the seat will keep me from bouncing around inside the safety harness if I ever wreck the car. The seat makes it a bit harder to get in and out, but worth the hassle in my opinion. I think that the head restraints that mount to the seats are a good idea too. They might just keep your head from bouncing side to side in a bad crash.

IMO that brace in the middle looks like it could come through the seat an cause serious bodoly injury .... any way to brace on the side ? I lost a close freind and the seat belts cut through the kirkley seat at the shoulder holes

I doubt that they were tested @140mph....

I was very concerned about the seat back brace coming through the seat back in a severe impact. I welded tabs to 1/4" plate steel then bolted it to the seat to distribute the force across the seat back. That would be one of my many concerns about using a stock seat. How can you properly brace a stock seat? I don't think I would trust a stock seat in a severe crash.

Dave

NHRA has done their homework at at 9.99 the safety requirments get very indepth.Here is a link to an accident in a low 11 second car.Please read,the driver posted his opinion about the seat.This was a real eye opener for me.
http://classracer.com/classforum/showthread.php?t=27736&highlight=dodge dart accident&page=5

Kevin

A proper fitting seat keeps you from moving around and is secured to the cage/chassis of the vehicle. Seems like a lot of injuries are cause by forces where a person starts gets yanked around in every direction.

Peter

Pete,

I think you are correct. I believe injuries will occur when the driver is able to move around inside the restraint system. The seat in my car fits me like a glove and wraps around me. Maybe its overkill but that is the way I like things!!

SS/GN,

The damage to the car on your link looks very similar to the crash my friend Bob Makley went through. The majority of Bob's injuries were caused by the steering column being forced up into his face. He didn't have a full face helmet and it caused a big problem. I included a dash bar in my roll cage to secure the steering column to keep the column from moving in on the driver. At the time I was using an open face helmet too. I upgraded the helmet to a Bell full face.......and with the new SNELL ratings need to buy another new one for next year..........hmmm, maybe we need a new thread about the new helmet ratings!!

What concerns me the most is my daughter will be driving the GN this year.I am contacting simpson and ordering the new neck collar this week.Even in a low 12 high 11 sec car I think it is a good idea.Helps suppoert the head and take the weight off the neck from the full face helmet.I would never race with an open face helmet and think they should be illegal in all classes and ATV's.My daughter already has the jacket'pants and even shoes from her Jr dragster.Thanks for the opinions

Kevin