zaarin
05-24-2006, 04:48 PM
(This is very long so I have included Cliff's Notes at bottom)
Current story:
I took my car out to the race track for the first time a few months ago. It was an absolute blast and I will be addicted as soon as I can afford to be financially. However, the CG Lock that I bought to help hold me into my stock OEM seat (2002 WRX Wagon) is absolutely not cutting it in any way, shape or fashion. This is for two reasons.
First of all, I am freakishly, horribly, terribly skinny, and I actually have room to slide around under the lap belt, left to right, even when the CG lock is tightened as far as it can go. This is because the buckle is literally taller than my hip. Yes, I'm apparently that skinny. Second of all, regardless of how well the CG Lock holds my pelvis in place, my torso (under tracking conditions) is swinging and flying and flailing all over the place in my stock seat, because there's obviously no tension in the shoulder strap.
Obvious result:
Not only can I feel myself sucking even more than I should be at the expense of not being strapped into the car properly, by the end of the day my back is very sore from desperately trying to hold myself into my seat. I'm not driving at the top of my game because I can't feel what the car is doing, and this is very clearly quite bad for my back. I've noticed the same thing after even gentle canyon runs if they are long enough; my back starts to hurt towards the end, I just can't hold myself in the seat.
Question time:
I basically got all excited and decided that I want a harness to hold my arse in when I'm getting spirited behind the wheel. I went shopping and found a few interesting choices that piqued my interest, but I decided to do more research before I bought. Thank goodness. Now I have a LOT more questions before I decide to buy.
For one thing, I'm 6'4", and my shoulders are taller than the backrest on my OEM seat. This, according to my reading, causes a multitude of problems already. Does simply being taller than my seat put me SOL to begin with? I now know that harnesses mounting to the lap belt mounts in the rear seats are basically suicide for a driver who is taller than his seat, so that leaves me with the option of a harness bar, but all I've been able to find about harness bars is "uhh, nothing for the wagon, sorry. Not for guys your height, anyway."
Even the harness-bar-versus-my-height discussion may become a moot point, because a couple of the threads I've stumbled across claim that a harness bar without a full roll cage is also bad news, and can pin passeners' heads to the ceiling in a roll-over, or cause other mischief and mayhem. Let's face it, the point of a harness is (1) safety and (2) to keep you strapped in snugly for performance reasons. So why buy a setup that is less safe than stock?
In conclusion:
So basically, my question is this: if I am truly trying to maintain a safety-oriented motorsport experience, is there an affordable way to do it for a guy as tall as I am? Or should I abandon my hobby until I am rich enough to weld in a roll cage with a harness bar and a 6-point? Or is there a middle ground that is safe and at least somewhat affordable? ...or am I just paranoid?
Cliff's Notes:
2002 WRX Wagon, OEM seats. I am too tall so can't use a harness that bolts at rear-seat lap belt location. Harness bar exists for wagon, but doesn't matter because I'm too tall for harness bars also (according to research such bars are just entering development). According to industry experts and drivers, harness bar without a roll cage is stupid anyway, and does as much harm as good in a rollover incident. Am I SOL until I'm rich enough to afford a full cage setup, or is there a TRULY SAFE econo method to hold my arse into the seat when I'm driving on the race track?
Current story:
I took my car out to the race track for the first time a few months ago. It was an absolute blast and I will be addicted as soon as I can afford to be financially. However, the CG Lock that I bought to help hold me into my stock OEM seat (2002 WRX Wagon) is absolutely not cutting it in any way, shape or fashion. This is for two reasons.
First of all, I am freakishly, horribly, terribly skinny, and I actually have room to slide around under the lap belt, left to right, even when the CG lock is tightened as far as it can go. This is because the buckle is literally taller than my hip. Yes, I'm apparently that skinny. Second of all, regardless of how well the CG Lock holds my pelvis in place, my torso (under tracking conditions) is swinging and flying and flailing all over the place in my stock seat, because there's obviously no tension in the shoulder strap.
Obvious result:
Not only can I feel myself sucking even more than I should be at the expense of not being strapped into the car properly, by the end of the day my back is very sore from desperately trying to hold myself into my seat. I'm not driving at the top of my game because I can't feel what the car is doing, and this is very clearly quite bad for my back. I've noticed the same thing after even gentle canyon runs if they are long enough; my back starts to hurt towards the end, I just can't hold myself in the seat.
Question time:
I basically got all excited and decided that I want a harness to hold my arse in when I'm getting spirited behind the wheel. I went shopping and found a few interesting choices that piqued my interest, but I decided to do more research before I bought. Thank goodness. Now I have a LOT more questions before I decide to buy.
For one thing, I'm 6'4", and my shoulders are taller than the backrest on my OEM seat. This, according to my reading, causes a multitude of problems already. Does simply being taller than my seat put me SOL to begin with? I now know that harnesses mounting to the lap belt mounts in the rear seats are basically suicide for a driver who is taller than his seat, so that leaves me with the option of a harness bar, but all I've been able to find about harness bars is "uhh, nothing for the wagon, sorry. Not for guys your height, anyway."
Even the harness-bar-versus-my-height discussion may become a moot point, because a couple of the threads I've stumbled across claim that a harness bar without a full roll cage is also bad news, and can pin passeners' heads to the ceiling in a roll-over, or cause other mischief and mayhem. Let's face it, the point of a harness is (1) safety and (2) to keep you strapped in snugly for performance reasons. So why buy a setup that is less safe than stock?
In conclusion:
So basically, my question is this: if I am truly trying to maintain a safety-oriented motorsport experience, is there an affordable way to do it for a guy as tall as I am? Or should I abandon my hobby until I am rich enough to weld in a roll cage with a harness bar and a 6-point? Or is there a middle ground that is safe and at least somewhat affordable? ...or am I just paranoid?
Cliff's Notes:
2002 WRX Wagon, OEM seats. I am too tall so can't use a harness that bolts at rear-seat lap belt location. Harness bar exists for wagon, but doesn't matter because I'm too tall for harness bars also (according to research such bars are just entering development). According to industry experts and drivers, harness bar without a roll cage is stupid anyway, and does as much harm as good in a rollover incident. Am I SOL until I'm rich enough to afford a full cage setup, or is there a TRULY SAFE econo method to hold my arse into the seat when I'm driving on the race track?