Quick note guys,

I did talk with Matt from HMS at Watkins Glen at the end of August. He explained to me that the weak link is the testing company - there is somekind of bottleneck at that point. Since the belts have an impact on safety, they need to be certified before marketing. Let's put it this way: I'd rather wait for a tested product than some poorly designed belts that could impact my and my passenger's safety.

 

I gave up asking them. I'm going to wait until the start of the autox season next year and if they have them done by then, great. If not, I'm just going to modify the R53 version to make it work.

 

oh come on people. there is nothing different with these belts for the R56 than for the R53. The only modification is removing literally 1" of plastic on the side of the clip. NONE of the stuctural parts are affected. NONE of the metal clips are even touched. It is the exact same way it is mounted in the Gen 1 cars and those seem to be fine.

If you want the belts, get the belts, love the belts, thank me later.

 

But is the geometry of the belts the same with the different seat designs? Of the belts act on your person differently there is a chance that they'd be more dangerous than the stock 3pt belts. Esp in how they'd interact in regards to submarining, but also the different stress rates on the shoulder belts for the angled stretching to control your body during an accident. New dimensions on the R56 may interfere causing injury where it wouldn't have otherwise occured, and such injury, probably not covered my your insurance company if you where using non-approved restraints. This is why they're being sent out for safety testing. Also if the DOT approval applies to 02-06 then 07+ MINIs aren't DOT covered, find an officer that's aware of that and it's what you're using on the street, that's a non DOT approved harness and you've got a seatbelt ticket.

Not saying any of that *will* happen but it is all a *risk*, so there's more to it than just filing (and weakening) a connector.

 

That's not really the issue for me. Nobody is arguing that the R53 version can't be modified to fit the R56. The geometry of the chassis changes in the R56 were not enough to affect that and all that needs modifying is the plastic surrounding the clip.

Everything I have heard so far seems to indicate that the stock seats have not been able to pass the test. So it's more of an issue with the seats not being able to handle the forces of a crash test with the harnesses' effect on them. That's a little concerning to me.

All in all, I'm probably going to get the R53 set and just use them for autox only anyways, not on the street where the crash safety really comes into play.

 

I’m kinda with Spdu4ia on this one.

The Quick-Fit Rallye 4 belt we’re talking about (and I assume the Pro version as well) is marketed as street legal. I, for one, wouldn’t EVER use it on the street. Aside from testing, airbag, etc. issues, if you’ve tried one you release it’s REALLY impossible to turn around and back up wearing one of these. Maybe you all can get everywhere without having to move around to look at things but I can’t. It’s a good idea for me precisely because you CAN take it out easily and NOT use it one the street.

The belt, if they ever design one for the R56, will probably be essentially the same. It’s the strength of the seat that they’re testing (maybe). My club already didn’t want them used on track, even with ones that were in R53s.

So for me, the only issue is autox. And I’m willing to take the risk (or I wouldn’t be doing autox....).

If it would be OK in HS class, I’d eventually delete the rear seats, add a roll cage, and get a real harness. But that’s in the way off future.

Rob

 

How do you removed the color line pieces? is there a DIY somewhere?