Seats

The seat is the primary sensory interface between the driver and the car. Its objective is to distribute the support and feedback evenly over as wide a contact area as possible. The best way to achieve this is with a hard surface, moulded to the drivers shape.

I'm expecting to save more than 5Kg in weight with the seating, by using carbon-fibre seats that are directly floor mounted.

The choice of seat has a huge impact on the way a car feels and involves the driver.

Tillet W2 seat Having lived with a Tillet W1 seat for over three years in my Fisher Fury R1, my view is that a solid shell seat with no or minimal padding is the best option. Contrary to what most people think, these are by far the most comfortable and supportive seats, if they are properly shaped to the driver. Despite being a hard surface to seat on, your weight should be evenly distributed and thus, long journeys in comfort are easily possible. Being a hard surface, you get full and undiluted feedback through the seat. The Tillet W1 is a half-height seat. This was a compromise to save money.

Tillet B2 seat The B2 - Ultra Lightweight Race Car Seat is the sort of thing I have in mind. Both the driver's and the passenger seat need to accomodate a full 6-point harness.

The driver's seat in my Fisher Fury R1 is actually on runners and these added a little weight to the overall installation. Because ofthe tapering cockpit, the seats can only move about 3" in total. Despite being tiny, the Fury wastes a huge amount of interior space by having a large transmission tunnel and the deep side sills. The bodywork also wraps in at the top to take up a lot of space. With this new design, a lot more space will be freed up and the cockpit will be much more spacious. This means a wider choice of seats and more room for them to move.

I'm not planning to have seat runners though because of the additional weight. Instead, I plan to have multiple mounting points so that the seats can be fixed in a number of positions. This will be acheived by having 'runners' moulded into the floor. This massively will strengthen the floor too.

Harnesses

Schroth Profi II harness buckle The Schroth Profi II 6-point harnesses in my Fisher Fury R1 are just about perfect and with the additonal space in this car, will work even better.

Top • Last page update: 19/11/11