Tech Inspections - Serious Bidness (Page 2 of 3)

I don't think that they really care about relative seat stiffness. We run a tubular steel, FIA certified OMP seat that is not flexible at all, and they still required a seat back brace. So we put an Autopower brace on it and now we pass, until they change their minds about something else.

We have a Kirkey 43 Series Deluxe Road Race (discontinued). It looks like the 47 Series Intermediate but has milled panels instead of just sheet aluminum. It is strong and will not bend at the head rest. Picked it up used with the cover in good shape for $150.

I don't want anyone getting hung up on the manufacturer of the seat.  I always think of these seats as 'kirkey', but as Solman & Spank pointed out, these are "drag style" aluminum seats.... great, I've just introduced more semantics to my 'clear it up' post.

The issue is this: if you, with little pressure, can push the top of your seat in the headrest area and it gives/deflects/moves towards the rear of the car you likely have a tech fail issue with your car.  How much deflection is a fail?  I don't know, but my guess is that if you put a lot of pressure on it and it deflects a tiny bit you're probably okay.  If with the force of your arm (no body behind it) you can move the headrest portion of the seat 2" to 90 degrees you've definitely got a problem.

From what I witnessed at CMP: application of aluminum bracing to your alumininum seat with your fancy pants TiG welder is an acceptable solution.  Welding an armature to your harness bar or down from your main hoop to provide support rear support to the headrest area of your seat is an acceptable solution.  Bolting an I/O or Evil Genius type seat back brace assembly to your horizontal bar that provides support to the headrest area is also an acceptable solution.

The test is simple... does your headrest deflect a lot with little force?

That said, if this does not make perfect sense to you or you and your mad scientist team mates have concocted the mother of all lemony solutions for this problem out of bungie cords and penis pumps, I highly recommend you contact John Pagel - The Evil One - TEO.  Not only is he a party pooper, he's also the final arbiter of all things car safety related in Lemons.

No official word, just what I witnessed at CMP.  I figured John would jump in if this started going in the wrong direction.  John would be welcome to comment here. 

I think we'd all like some more hints at what's coming for 2013.  Rather, hints are a bad idea and will lead to HQ getting pummeled with questions.  If they know something is definitely coming down the pike - like the backstay termination at or before the axle issue - it would be great for teams to know now rather than in Dec/Jan.

John?

Quoting from the email reply I received from Jay. I asked about the Kirkey 43 Series Deluxe Road Race we have:

That seat has a few elements that make it a lot stronger than most cheaper aluminum seats--the extrusion around the edge helps a lot, the fact that the belt holes are in a wider area of the seatback helps, and the Vee bend down the middle helps. As a result, this one is probably a lot less likely to fold at the headrest than many others.

That said, there's nothing that says you CAN'T have a catch bar or some other element that will restrain the top of the seat if it fails backward. This is especially simple if the seat is fixed (ie, not on sliders).

I'm not sure the test is really whether you can flex it by hand. We're more concerned with how much meat and strength it has overall. Obviously, if you can flex it by hand it's a no-brainer that it won't pass tech, but even if it feels fairly rigid to your own arms, when you hit the wall going backward at 80 mph, your head and helmet hit that headrest with about 1500 lbs of force. Imagine hanging a 1500-lb car off the back of the headrest with a chain. If you think it will take it, you're probably going to be fine....

Hope that helps--best JL

I have run the Corbeaus and the UltraShield Spec Miata, the US are better by far. My Corbeau FX1 tend to be flex after a while, I am converting over to all USs.  Also going to start adding fire systems to all cars.

Nice looking fab work.

We have one of the kirkey seats - will it be a problem? It has the built in bracing on the sides of the belt hole

This exact seat was the seat in my example above.  Some were required to brace the head area at MSR.  Others were not.  I think it depended on who did the tech inspection.  I would have a plan in place if you do not address the BIGIF before the race.

It looks from the blurry photo that the 3-bar buckle is in front of the shoulder hole. If so, then aren't installed right.

If the belts are just hung there for show/fit, then never mind....

This thread has some pics you are asking for:

http://forums.24hoursoflemons.com/viewt … p?id=16932