What race seat to be 2 inches lower than Sparco Sprint?

[davekmoore]

Presently using a Sparco Sprint V on standard rails in my SE (same floorpan as NB). I'm only 5ft 9ins but the top of my helmet is way over the top of the windscreen and was over the BD roll bar.

The BD bar is currently being replaced by a custom made taller wider one but, because the soft top is being kept, there are still limitations with the line between the top of the bar and the top of the screen. And of course, the windscreen pillars in an MX-5 don't give any rollover protection anyway.

I would prefer to still have the adjustability of the standard seat rails.

So what other seats would fit, preferably on standard rails and would get me 2 inches lower?

Or am I stuck with lowering the whole floor?

[Dan]

Sounds like you already know you can get lower without the sliders so if you don't want to do that keep it as your last choice (third party sliders from brands like Sparco may be slightly more slimline).

The other way to get lower outside of removing the sliders or changing the seat is to recline the seat, with adjustable side mounts you can change the recline on the seat. This makes a big difference as you can get your bum to be really close to the floor.

As for a recommended seat, I just put a Cobra Imola in as the passenger seat of my MX5, it has similar sides to the Sparco Sprint which makes it easy to get in and out of, it's fibreglass so it doesn't have any metal or anything at the bottom so if you remove the already thin padding you can sit basically on the floor and you can do a google image search and see them in NA & NB MX5's (I have a Cobra Suzuka as my drivers seat which is the same with higher sides).

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[ManiacLachy]

Something with side mounts maybe? Should get a bit lower but still slide

[davekmoore]

Thanks Dan

Sounds like you already know you can get lower without the sliders so if you don't want to do that keep it as your last choice.
Yes, my finely honed body moves in and out of the car more easily and better avoids the steering wheel with the seat all the way back. I then fasten the harness and move the seat forward on the sliders as hard as possible against the harness. This means I never have to adjust the harness.

The other way to get lower outside of removing the sliders or changing the seat is to recline the seat, with adjustable side mounts you can change the recline on the seat. This makes a big difference as you can get your bum to be really close to the floor.
Concerned about whether that puts knees to near to steering wheel?

As for a recommended seat, I just put a Cobra Imola in as the passenger seat of my MX5, it has similar sides to the Sparco Sprint which makes it easy to get in and out of, it's fibreglass so it doesn't have any metal or anything at the bottom so if you remove the already thin padding you can sit basically on the floor and you can do a google image search and see them in NA & NB MX5's (I have a Cobra Suzuka as my drivers seat which is the same with higher sides).
Can I fit the OEM sliders on these in the same way they're fitted on the Sprint?

[hks_kansei]

Unfortunately if you want to keep the rails you are somewhat limited.

The sprint V from memory sits basically level on the rails, maybe half an inch above with padding etc.
About the only way to get more headroom is to either recline the seat (depends on knee room) or to find a seat that narrows in the bum part and can slip down between the rails.

I have a Mazdaspeed B-Spec seat in mine and I find it's maybe half inch lower than a sprint V, a full inch or more if I take the base padding off (it's a separate cushion on this one) (also note i've spaced the front edge up by 10mm or so to add recline)
The problem is it's not suited to racing (no harness points at all)

About all I can suggest, if reclining the seat won't work, is to consider having the seat mounting humps cut off the floor and having some seat rails bolted directly to the floorpan (would need to drill holes, and have some load spreading plates added underneath the car to make it safe)
That would buy you quite a bit of headroom, but of course be a lot more work.

[lightyear]

Option 1: Get nick to lower your floor.
Option 2: You can buy sliders that mount beside the seat instead of under.

[davekmoore]

Where do these side mount sliders come from and how much do they lower the seat?

How was Sandown?

[Dan]

Sounds like you already know you can get lower without the sliders so if you don't want to do that keep it as your last choice.
Yes, my finely honed body moves in and out of the car more easily and better avoids the steering wheel with the seat all the way back. I then fasten the harness and move the seat forward on the sliders as hard as possible against the harness. This means I never have to adjust the harness.
Makes sense, I've never heard of someone using that method before

The other way to get lower outside of removing the sliders or changing the seat is to recline the seat, with adjustable side mounts you can change the recline on the seat. This makes a big difference as you can get your bum to be really close to the floor.
Concerned about whether that puts knees to near to steering wheel?
Maybe, but I don't think it affects it too much as you don't recline that much. If you had troubles you can also remove the front padding or get a reduced size front padding on most fibreglass race seats so you could make your knees angle up less

As for a recommended seat, I just put a Cobra Imola in as the passenger seat of my MX5, it has similar sides to the Sparco Sprint which makes it easy to get in and out of, it's fibreglass so it doesn't have any metal or anything at the bottom so if you remove the already thin padding you can sit basically on the floor and you can do a google image search and see them in NA & NB MX5's (I have a Cobra Suzuka as my drivers seat which is the same with higher sides).
Can I fit the OEM sliders on these in the same way they're fitted on the Sprint?

Nope, only side mount

To make it more visual this is what I was describing with a side mount with sliders, your current setup is on the right but using the OEM sliders/base, an aftermarket slider/side mount is on the left.


Basically it's something like this (you can make one or have someone make one for you locally) http://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda-Pe ... -0555.html plus something like this http://www.sparcousa.com/product/track-set

Goodwin says on on the ad for that seat rail he's selling that a slider/side mount setup rather than a side mount fixed to the base adds half an inch.

[hks_kansei]

Worth also adding that to use side mounts the seat needs to be one that has the necessary captive nuts on the sides.

I've never looked closely enough at the Sprint V to know if it does or doesn't have them.

[greenMachine]

Option 1: Get nick to lower your floor.
Option 2: You can buy sliders that mount beside the seat instead of under.

Option 3: fit removeable steering wheel
Option 4: fit spacers between seat and seat rail, to tilt existing seat backwards.

Removeable wheel is great, I have just done it - really opens up the interior of the car. I only need to get used to using something other than the steering wheel to lever myself out of the seat .

My Sprint has about 10mm steel block welded to the rail to tilt the seat back. I was not comfortable with the seating position and wanted to sit further away, but my short legs meant that leaning the seat back was the only way to do it.

[CrazyRacer]

I'm going through a similar problem at the moment.

Trying to fit a Cobra Monaco Pro to an NB.

I'm happy to mount it without rails, as long as its reasonably quick to replace it with the standard seat and runners. But having long legs I'm finding I just can't get it back far enough as the right hand shoulder wing on the seat hits the box section of the B pillar.

I found the most comfortable I can get in the car is if I leave the seat out altogether and sit on 40mm of foam directly on the floor with my back again the rear bulkhead. With that its pretty close to a perfect driving position for me and down nice and low. Its got me thinking that a custom fibreglass seat (without a RH wing) bolted directly to the floor could be the go. Might have to give Alfa Fibreglass a call and see if they can help me.

Has anyone tried anything similar?

[StillIC]

Has anyone tried anything similar?

My fibre-glass seat is on the floor. It may even have little bits cut out so that mounting bolts and side mount rails can protrude into it somewhat. It still isn't low enough for my helmet not to hit my AGI cage. I am 1.90m tall (6'3"). The more I push it back for leg space, the more upright I am (especially as the seat side hits the cage). The more upright I am the taller I sit. The more laid back I get the further it is to reach the wheel, which is already mounted on an extended boss.

I just don't fit. Bloody MX5s.

My only remaining plan involves less padding than the ~25mm (uncompressed) I currently have, without giving too much away.

[Apu]

Lotus Elise seats, using the Elise rails, bolted onto plates to fit MX5 mounting points get pretty low.

The set I had on my car had very little clearance to the floor, and I still had the benefit of a sliding driver seat. Passenger seat was fixed.

[The American]

I'm 6'5" and have a Sparco on Garage Star rails, which allow some tilt. My ROPS is AutomotivePlus single diagonal tall boy. Here's me with that Combo - you can still see my head peaking above the windscreen and the ROPS:
SAM_5862

My last car was an NA with the same Sparco on factory sliders. I wish I'd kept these TE37s! Also not low enough, noting that this set up had no capacity for tilt:
Hansen Slides ON The Turn

I've concluded that I will need to either do the roof delete mod or explore a solid mount to the floor. PCI mounts also look very low, but have not seen one of those come up cheap near me...

[davekmoore]

Probs cutting the floor and going 2" lower, perhaps with a 1/2" tilt lower at the back to get a little recline.