is a seat brace required?

///Mracer · Post by **///Mracer** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 11:31 am

I have a 4-point roll bar in my M3 (bsp) and have a fixed back Recaro SPG seat which is mounted to the floor. Does Solo 1 require seat back brace connected to the roll bar? I looked through Appendix J - roll bar specs. for Solo 1 and did not see anything about back braces so my assumption is that they are not required.

thanks, Matt

Matt Green · Post by **Matt Green** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 1:14 pm

If you are using a non-FIA seat (that is not a stock seat for the car), then a seat back brace *is* required.

You can one from Pegasus for about $60 I believe...

///Mracer · Post by **///Mracer** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 2:05 pm

thanks

Roy · Post by **Roy** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 8:36 am

Matt, are you sure that the brace is required for Street Prepared cars? I was under the impression that race seats were not even required.

Tim Royer · Post by **Tim Royer** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 12:33 pm

Hi,

SP class race seats are not required, but if you are using one that is not FIA approved you need to have a brace. If you are using the stock seat you don't need to have a brace.

My thought on this:

If you are using a racing seat it is better if it is supported by a brace that is attached to the cage and contacts the seat at about the shoulder blade area make sure that the contact area against the back of the seat is about 12" wide by 4" to 6" high. This is just for your safety if you would impact from the rear at least there would be a good amount of area against the seat back to distribute the impact.

Matt Green · Post by **Matt Green** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 2:46 pm

Tim Royer wrote:My thought on this:

Yeah, what he said

I have personally seen an incident where the entire seat basically pulled out of the mounts, and that brace sure did help in that case...

Names have been omitted to protect the guilty.

Post by **Rich Rock** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 11:16 pm

Would the rule apply to a car running in Historic or Vintage?

Tim Royer · Post by **Tim Royer** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 12:44 am

HI,

Yepper, but don't quote me

Post by **Rich Rock** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 5:44 am

Okay I'll quote JW Orrs. He told me the answer is no, the seat back does NOT need to be attached to the rollbar, only that there be a horizontal bar behind the seat on a TR4 that will be running in either Historic or Vintage. By the way, the seat in question will be a Kirkey aluminum.

I need to know SOON. I'm working on the car, trying to get it legal right now.

Rich Rock

Steve Tumolo · Post by **Steve Tumolo** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 10:47 am

If it is a Kirkey aluminum seat then by all means I would make a brace for it that attaches to the seat back bar. They tend to fold up nicely in a wreck.

Rich Sweigart · Post by **Rich Sweigart** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 2:37 pm

Please take a look at GCR 18.1.2 and GCR 18.3.5, those sections provide all of your answers. A Kirkey aluminum seat would need a seat brace to be legal. If the seat was a FIA standard 8815-1999 or higher, then no seat back would be required. If the seat was non-intergral seat,you need a head restraint of a minimum of a 36 sq. inches and padded with a non-resilient material and be capable of a 200 lbs. force in the rearward direction.

I remember that the rule was put in force due to a fatality at a Lime Rock Porsche Club event in which a driver backed into a guardrail at high speed and the aluminum seat back broke and the driver's head went behind the rollbar and the driver's neck snapped on the rebound, thus killing the driver.

Rich Sweigart

Post by **Rich Rock** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 7:19 pm

JW said that a horizontal bar behind the seat, and by that he means practically touching the seat back, would prevent rearward movement of the seat even if it were not attached to the seat and would be legal in vintage or historic classes.

The question is one of legality in the class not which method is better. I know which is better