Rules amendments 2013

[Myron Piatek]

Originally Posted by Rory McNeil

I wonder how much safer a lightweight, seat, with lightweight home made mounting brackets , installed by a hobbyist in his garage , would be than a seat and track system designed by SAE engineers, crash tested by the factory, and meant to last for many years. This seat deal kinda reminds me of the aftermarket brakes that were lobbied for years by racers who removed the heavy factory front disc brakes their cars came with, replaced them with tiny 4 or 6 cylinder brakes, and then complained they couldn`t stop safetly anymore.

The responsibility still falls on the owner/driver to do it "right" and hopefully tech can make sure. Same thing applies to stuff like roll bars. They can be exhaust tubing to save weight....fine until tech checks it or you crash.

OEM seats are fine as long as you're going straight. The real problems arise when the car is NOT going straight down the track. That's where the "sliding around" and possibly "slip out of the belts" comes in, when the car starts bouncing off walls, spinning, etc. Yes, it may not be common, but neither are trans explosions (shields), broken driveshafts (loops), roll-overs (roll bars), etc.

Aftermarket seats envelop more of your body plus provide belt slots to keep you in the seat. The faster one goes, the bigger the risk. Circle track cars require race seats and many of their lap speeds are slower than many stockers!

Now if one or two companies would step up as contingency sponsors..........!

It is unfortunate that Stock is getting further away from "stock", but sometimes it is a better idea.

I wonder if IHRA will follow suit.