My Recaro Profi SPG seats are now out of date, has anyone fitted Cobra Historics in their 914?

There isn't much going on here regarding "racing/tracking" - you might want to try the Pelican or Rennlist boards...all the best.

Tony

Ok Thank you for the tip .

Question: Does your seat HAVE to be FIA certified? If not, here in the States...Kirkey is the go-to source for many racers. They make excellent products...I am using their Intermediate Road Race seat and am very impressed with the quality, fit, finish and might I even add comfort. Here it is installed in my 914 - of course, if your sanctioning body REQUIRES the seats to be FIA certified, this is of no use for you. Likewise, Europe's FIA seats mean nothing to most sanctioning bodies here that required SFI ratings. Such it is in the struggle to be in control of motorsports!

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There are a few series here that don't need FIA seats, but most of the interesting ones do including Historics which is where I am aiming. The cockpit of a 914 is not the biggest so I need something compact.

Check your racing organization, but some allow out of date seats as well as non-SFI / non-FIA seats as long as you have a back brace. In some cases you don't even need the back brace if your seat is within a certain number of inches of the firewall or roll cage.

Scott

Thanks for all replies, I have bought a pair of Cobra Imola Pro's. Really nice seats.

I pass tech no problem with CSRG and HMSA using an actual Scheel seat from who knows when. Of course I am in the US.. Are you running Vintage or a Modern series? Only thing they really ask about is the dates on my harness, and my driving gear. This they care about. Sure its totally different there.

MB

I'm afraid that scrutineers are quite strict over here, belts, cages and seats all need to comply with the regulations. Not so bad for sprints or hillclimbs, but most track racing is more controlled.

Well for us, the cars must meet rules from the time they were built/raced. I know the HANS is now required for SVRA, which I have a feeling will make to all the groups here.

We have a Cobra Suzuka seat with sliders in our race car...very nice, we like the removable/replacable padding since Nadine and I want very different driving positions - almost like a fitted seat insert...

Trial fitting my Cobra Imola Pro seat. I just need to figure a way to fix on the floor pan so that I can get maximum headroom !

Depending upon how much room you need the floor can be notched/lowered. The picture I posted earlier is my Road Race seat installed on the lowered floor pan. It was a major pain to fabricate but I had no other choice. I am now positioned at the correct level and safely away from the cage.

Tony

Tony, do you have any pictures of the fab work done to get your seat mounted down to the floor? I need to do that to Papa Smurf...is yours actually BELOW floor level? I just need to mount it to the flat floor and eliminate the cross bar that's under the front of the seat...looking for ideas...

Hi,
My 914-6 was built by Protech Racing, and by the look of it has had a number of different seats fitted since 1984 ! You can see from my pic that the original cross member on the drivers side has been cut out. By the look of it a strap has been welded in across the car for the bolts at the rear of the seat to bolt through. At the front there was obviously a square section welded in, but this has been cut out leaving just the stubs visible now. I am going to reinstate those fixings I think, and not go below floor level.
My new roll cage will include a bar across the door opening which should brace the tub, so I am not worried about the missing half of the cross member.
What do you think ?

As long as your cage is properly tied to the entire rocker length you should be fine. I like having three plates along the rocker...I've seen often where the cage is tied in only on either side. I have mine tied in at four places...

This is the picture I emailed to Naro last night in response to his inquiry. My sub belt is welded to the floor pan but my seat is not. We welded up 1/4" plate and boxed it in on both outside and inside - they are then threaded. The back of the seat is bolted to a plate welded to the cage. Some seats have a little play or flex in them...mine doesn't move a millimeter! All the best!

Tony

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That is a truly impressive cage ! I don't need anything quite so substantial as I only do Hillclimbs and sprints.

If your doing hillclimbs please error on the side of substantial. Also I'd brace the seat to the roll bar.

I second Randal's concerns. I don't hill climb because of the increase in risk (lack of run off areas). Bob/Naro does them but he doesn't drive very fast.
A little end of year zinger Bob - JK!

It doesn't take big speed to be killed or seriously injured. I hope you and anyone else participating in spirited track/hill/drag driving wears a HANS (like) device too! My greatest fear (no, I don't dwell on it though) is someone losing brakes into a high speed braking zone and collecting me on turn in. I can't guarantee I'm safe with that kind of impact but I've tried within becoming a Stock car. I also agree with his advice about bolting the upper seat to the roll cage - mine is bolted right behind my neck and makes a world of difference.

PS: I bought my car as a roller with the base cage already installed...it was from Chris at Tangerine. It was solid but we made a few changes and additions to make it suit my application a little better. I wanted to give a shout out to Racer Chris - you can't go wrong with his products. Advertising over now...

T

Thanks, I appreciate you concerns and advice. My new seats and roll cage are FIA approved. The seat is also HANS compatible. Rules here in the UK are pretty strict, and although my car had been raced in the US since 1984 I have had to spend quite a lot getting it right before I would be allowed on track here.

FYI on my DSR we've made a bunch of cage modifications to strengthen the cockpit area. I'm also going to be mounting heavy density foam in blocks about 18" thick and as long and high as I can make them outboard of the cockpit, but under the body. The other place I'm concerned about is the foot well area. In a DSR you don't have much room there and any front impact in a hill climb could be nasty. Still haven't figured that part out.

Agree with everything you said about Chris. I had a ton of Chris's stuff on 222 and Andrew has sure put it to good use.

Ha!! I'll have you know I consistently win GT2 class in the hillclimbs against MUCH bigger cars - ones that beat me on the track! (and don't worry Tony, I took it as all good/fun, not upset at all... )

Hillclimbs are awesome. For SCCA, we have to have all the same safety equipment as for club racing - full fire suit/clothing, Hans, etc. and harnesses, seat, full cage w/door bars, kill switch, window nets (or arm restraints for open cars), etc.

The Dragon hillclimb we do is really safe - mountain on one side, guard rails the entire way on the other. There are MANY more place to hit trees and immovable objects on race tracks than on this run. Plus,...you're never even out of 3rd gear and it's so steep, if you let off the gas you stop pretty quickly.

This event is probably one of the coolest 'racing' things we do. Nadine loves it too and is getting faster and faster each time.

Tony, to your concern I agree - someone diving into a turn and misjudging or losing brakes is something you have no control over. On a hillclimb, it's just you, your car and the mountain. You have TOTAL control over everything. If you wreck, it's your fault so you could have avoided it...

Randal & Naro - I can see how you both think Hill Climbs are safe...LOL!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkIepauST0s

I'm about 5'9" 175lbs and use the Cobra Suzuka with side mounts bolted directly to the floor, with some added steel reinforcements. I notched the box section that goes across the floorpan. There's plenty of headroom for me with this approach but these seats are narrow so even at my size it's a cozy fit.

I totally agree with not skimping on safety gear - I must have $10K or so into that stuff myself. That said I'm glad our local clubs are not anal about expiration dates on seats and suits. We do have to keep belts and helmets current and POC requires a HANS or equivalent for a lot of the folks/classes. I'll need a new suit next year anyway cuz mine is worn-out and getting nasty!