No I'm not trying to buy anything, just trying to figure out how the heck one should get the seat aligned properly. I'm using the stock seat, which seam about an inch too high . Thing doesn't want to go down more .

The back adjustment and the "how far away from the pedals, one should be.

This seems to be kinda a hard adjustment for me. If I put the seat to where my legs are comfy I cannot reach the steering wheel, or feel like I'm reaching for it. If I put the seat back upright more my back starts hurting a bit.

So HOW do I adjust thing seat to where I should be "perfect" HELP!

 

You want to be able to drape your arms - straight out - over the top of the steering wheel and have your wrists on the wheel.

Your legs should be slightly bent with feet on the pedals.

How you achieve this will be done with a combination of rake on the seat back, height on the lower cushion, and fore/aft adjustment.

If you can't get comfortable, unfortunately, the only other option is another seat.

Hope that helps!
Randy

 

Seating position is very different from person to person. The things Randy mentions above are the general rules of where to start.
My position is quite close to the wheel and pedals. I would say that with my arms extended straight over the wheel, the wheel might hit about 1" past my wrist.
Most people tend to drive their street cars in more of the formula car position, kinda stretch out. This is really not at all recommended for sedan racing. You always want your elbows bent in all positions during the rotation of the wheel. Bend you knees so your thighs are lifting from the front of the seat.
If you start doing this while driving on the street, you'll learn to love the correct position.
I would say that I get closer to the wheel during the season.

A great video for my favorite seating would be here
Watch the remainder on 24hr Daytona tomorrow AM on Speed (at least here in the east). They usually have some good shots of the drivers in car.

 

the rule of thumb for me is having your elbows at a 45 degree angle with your hands at the 3 and 9 position. the reason being the nerve receptors in your arm/elbows have the most ability to realize change with this angle. imagine the pimp trick playah that rides with his single arm straight out over the top of the steering wheel. the only nerve receptors that can input/output response are now in the shoulder and at a very small angle. this would not be good for high speed driving where you want your brain to have as much input as possible.

when i'm getting on the track, i slide my seat all the way back. i then give a good yank on my seatbelt to make it lock. with the belt in lock i pull the seat forward so i am pinned in my seat. it was a great change for my track days. trying to hold ones self in your seat should not be an issue when your driving that fast. this is my daily driver and i'm not ready to put true driving seats in it.

hope that helps

 

"Great video" is an understatement. Thanks for sharing.

 

Now that car is a is beautiful. WHAT A SOUND. was that thing turbo chargered or supercharged?

Thanks for all of the recommendations. I think from the sounds of it a good harness to keep me planted in the seat just right would help also.

What about fuel do you guys just run 91 at the track or do you use racing fuel 100 octane when on the track?

 

Yes, a good harness really helps. Got your PM so I'll reply here being you brought it up. The Schroth Rally harness is a nice idea, but you really need to ask the clubs you are running with if they allow it. I know there are some that find it unsafe for track use. I used to use one and I thought it was great. Also, like Phil mentioned on the other thread, you need two of the same harnesses if you are doing DEs.

91-93 is fine for our Mini Ss on the track. You just won't notice any difference with 100 in a moderately modified Mini. Save you money and fill up before you get to the track as the prices there are usually very high. It's always good to bring an extra 5 gal as four 20 min seasons will empty your car, and you still need to get home. Figure about 8 mpg at the track if you run hard.
By the way, that BMW is normally aspirated as I understand.
Here is an older video that sorta shows my driving position.

 

...I noticed my pocket book was quite a bit lighter after filling up with 100 octane...no noticable performance improvement, or loss of performance for that matter. But my drives were all late in the year last season - 40 degreesF.

The seat thing; I've experimented with getting the seat as low as possible in an effort to drop my affect on the center of gravity. This feels awkward especially if you happen to 5'-10" or smaller. The car may handle better with me sitting as low as possible, but I cannot place the car as well. FWIW

 

http://www.miniusa.com/link/motoron/...mancetips/tip1
This is how I sit more or less the same as mention by Randy. Great for daily driving however my body is proportioned as such that I can't see the top half of the tach, so I have to estimate where my RPMs are.

 

There are all kinds of rules of thumb for seating position, from the NASCAR steering-wheel-on-your-chest position to the classic Italian sports car gorilla position (pedals close and a looooong reach for the wheel). What makes the most sense is whatever is right for your body. You need to be able to reach the wheel comfortably and have enough leverage on it to operate it easily. You need to be able to reach all the pedals when they are flat to the floor with enough flexibility to be able to heel and toe the gas and brake. If you have long arms and short legs (like me) some compromises need to be made on a car without a telescoping wheel.

One thing I'd suggest is to change only one setting at a time and try some spirited driving to see what works and what doesn't. Seat forward, seat back, seat up or down, different angles of the backrest, etc. Get half of you comfortable, either legs or arms, and then work on the other half.

Then shoot anybody who moves your seat around and screws up your hard-earned comfort.

But maybe that's just me.

 

I'm 6'4". I find that when I adjust the seat back and let my legs stretch out, I'm not as precise shifting or working the pedals. I have a very hard time getting into 5th gear smoothly like this as I almost have to lean forward and get my shoulder into it. When I get close, everything just seems easier even though my legs are bent quite a bit.

On the other hand, when I drive my friend's MR2, it feels much more natural and comfortable to have the seat as far back as possible where my arms are almost straight out grabbing the wheel. All cars are different. The high seating position and the placement of the wheel/shifter make the MINI fairly difficult to get right.

 

Well, I will most likely offend some here, but I need to just confirm that people that post advise here should be doing so with the experience of lots of track time and or race experience.

 

I changed my postiton today and found that my shifting was much more precise when I was a bit higher up on the seat. Sometimes I wonder if I should switch to a different seat, but I would want an airbag :/

 

Onasled

Thanks for sharing that awsome clip, my hand and feet got all sweatie just watching it. What a great driver he is. all the other cars were like standing still.

 

So it looks like your staying between 3rd and 4th gear is that correct? Do you ever go past that point?

Also what seat are you using?

 

I was never totally satisfied with the seating position I got in the stock seat so I swapped it out for a Sparco Torino. It's adjustable so people can still get in the back, but it's much lower so there isn't any room to put feet under it. It grips a lot more in corners, too. You don't have to shift your weight as much, and you won't have to hold on to the steering wheel like you do in the stock seat.

I can't recommend a mod more than I recommend the Torino. It made driving a lot more fun.

And yeah, you lose the airbag, but that's just more incentive not to get in accidents! We've survived without in-seat airbags for this long, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

The seat is REALLY comfortable by the way. I felt better driving long distances in the Sparco than I did in the stock seat.

 

Again, please remember that this section of the NAM forum (Road Racing Discussion) should concentrate on racing or even advanced DEs. I know it might be a tough one, but if you want to talk about aftermarket recliner seats, then try and keep it in Interior and Exterior Mods , not here.

Thanks

 

I'm probably going to stick with the stock seat until I can find something really cool that I like for a reasonable price. If a Torino or millano came up for a reasonable price I would probably nab it. The [FONT=Verdana]Corbeau Legacy was pretty comfy when I sat in it.[/FONT]

 

Just make sure you sit in these seats before you think about buying them. When I was seat shoppiong I spent a good 5 min in each seat, and then when I narrowed the choices down, I spent another 5-10 min. in those.
I tried the Torinos and found them to be very hard, too narrow, and gave little support for track driving. So, they do feel good for some, but for the track they are not worth the mod.
I ended up with Sparco Fighters. Not FIA approvd, but a good DE seat at a decent price.

 

Yah, I could imagine that. Sorry about messing up this thread a bit, when one gets jumpy :D. That fighter seat, looks like it has some good support for the lowerback. I still would like to be able to get in the back seat a bit though.

I wonder if there are any modifactions that you could do to the stock seat to make it a tad bit more comfy.

Back to the topic at hand. If while using the stock seats if I use a quick fit harness, should I want to have "belt spreaders" on the headrest?



Look at this picture and you might understand what I mean. See right under the headrest, it almost seems like you need a spreader to keep them from getting messed up. Thoughts?

 

What's in that photo is just fine, as long as the pads are all the way up to the headrest so your neck is padded.
Is it that you are uncomfortable in your seat?

 

some days the seat is fine, other days the seat is bad, I seem to go back and forth. Thats why I was wondering if it was my seat adjustment initially. I'm trying a new seat adjustment and seeing if it holds for me right now

 

If you looking to get the factory seat to "hold" you then just forget it ...
Best thing you can do with the factory seat is a five point harness. If not that then that Schroth, IF the clubs you go with alow it.

 

I've checked into a few clubs, and the DE I will be attending will allow me to use it. They suggest I keep both in the car for the driver and the stock one on the passenger side. That way if there are issues I can say, "see both are the same"

If I feel the factory seat is lacking, I may wish to change the seat, I guess at that point I'll look into what to do