Over the next 13 pages, we've assembled 74 seats for your consideration, ranging in price from $163 to $2,399. When choosing the best seat for your ride, there are many issues to consider, from the size of your own rump and the width of the seat (see sidebar), to the seats' construction, reclining mechanism, padding, adjustment, mounting type, appearance and sliders.
You'll notice a category under each seat marked "homologation type." The relevant definition of homologate is "to give official recognition to a...car component, thus allowing it to be used in a race." When discussing seats, this generally means FIA homologation. The French take their wine and racing seriously, and few sanctioning bodies on earth have standards as strict or as well researched as the FIA, or the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile. FIA is the most important motorsports sanctioning body worldwide, and its stamp of approval is recognized by the major sanctioning bodies in the United States. Seats that pass FIA's 8855-1999 test procedure have been bolted to a test rig using the manufacturers' provided mounting locations and hardware. With a test dummy strapped in place with a racing-type harness, the seat sees three impacts: A rearward impact with a deceleration of 20-plus g lasting 50 milliseconds; a side impact with a deceleration of 15-plus g for 50 milliseconds; and a final rearward impact with a deceleration of 10-plus g with a duration of 50 milliseconds to simulate a multiple impact. Inspection for cracks or damage decides whether or not a seat passes. According to the SCCA, most racing crashes produce impacts of 30g to 50g, although some open-wheel cars can produce impacts in excess of 100g. Having a seat that passes at least the standards set forth by FIA therefore, seems like a good idea. Don't bother looking for FIA homologation stickers on a reclining seat; they don't exist. Sparco and Recaro reclining seats do have TUV approval, the German governmental homologation, but this doesn't necessarily dictate that other reclining seats on the market are of lesser safety or quality.
SafetyMounting any aftermarket seat in a modern car is likely to compromise the design and operation of the safety systems put in place by the manufacturer. Modern multi-airbag supplemental restraints and safety belts were designed to work only with the factory seats.
Manufacturers spend huge dollars designing, testing and implementing these systems and even small changes will likely affect their performance. You have been warned. Even more important in the world of aftermarket seating is the way seats are attached to the car. Poor fabrication, inferior hardware or simple bad design are good ways to ensure that even the highest-dollar composite shell seat will finish you off in an accident. Remember this when you mount seats in your car. Detailing the specifics of correctly mounting the 74 seats in this guide is impossible. However, there are standards in place and a small amount of research goes a long way.
ConstructionSeat structures made with tubular steel are the most commonly found and cheapest to produce. Tubular steel seats offer a good strength-to-cost ratio, but suffer weight penalties. Some argue steel can result in greater pressures concentrated on the body in a crash.
Shell-type seats tend to be lighter than steel tube seats, and spread the force of the impact over the larger surface area, as the shell is the structure. Shell-type seats are made from aluminum or sandwiched composites like fiberglass, Kevlar, carbon fiber or a carbon fiber/Kevlar mix.
Aluminum seats are a long-time favorite of circle track and drag racers, although they're found in road racing cars as well. Aluminum offers high strength, it's fairly lightweight, and it has the ability to absorb tremendous energy through deformation without failure.
Fiberglass has the cheapest material cost of any of the composites, and is thus used in many seats. Because fiberglass is not as strong as carbon fiber or Kevlar inch for inch, more of it needs to be used to get the same strength, meaning the end product is often heavier.
Kevlar is extremely strong, but not horribly stiff, and is the best of the composites at absorbing energy. Carbon fiber is very light, very stiff, and strong, but it's expensive and brittle compared to Kevlar. When done right, carbon/Kevlar fabric can blend the strength of the carbon fiber with the energy absorption properties of the Kevlar to yield ideal protection.
Seat design, fabric layup, resin and operator skill all have tremendous bearing on the quality of a finished composite seat, of any material.
Race seat mounting-by the rulesWith as many sanctioning bodies as there are seats to choose from, how to mount a seat in your competition car can easily get confusing. The following is a synopsis of what the major sanctioning bodies for drag racing, road racing and rally expect in the way of proper seat mounting.
NHRA/IDRCWith the most specific rules outlining seat mounting and the most demanding regulations regarding seat design, the NHRA sets the standard for rulemaking when it comes to mounting aftermarket seats in drag cars. In fact, its rules are specific enough that the IDRC follows them, too.
The NHRA rulebook lays it out simply by saying "the driver's seat must be supported on the bottom and back by the frame or crossmember...seats must be bolted with four bolts (and nuts and washers) on the bottom and one bolt in the rear into crossbar; all bolts must go into frame or crossbraces."
The rules continue: "Properly braced, framed, supported and constructed seats of aluminum, fiberglas, carbon fiber or double-layer poly (accessory seats) permitted. Single-layer fiberglass seats must have steel tube framework, .5-inch minimum O.D. for support. Aftermarket aluminum seats must have a reinforced headrest."
Currently, it appears there's no provision made in the NHRA rules for FIA-homologated seats, which aren't designed for a backrest mount. However, since many of the highest-level outlaw cars use custom-built composite seats, this isn't a huge issue. Still, Pat Cvengros at the NHRA tells us exceptions are made in cases where caged cars (those running 10.99 second e.t.s and faster) are using FIA-homologated seats. Cvengros noted that a 4-inch square brace built off the cross bar behind the seat will suffice to keep the seat in place should its primary mounts fail under acceleration.
The NHRA rulebook also includes a few sentences on seat construction: "The driver's seat must be constructed, braced, mounted and upholstered to provide full back and shoulder support."
NDRAThe NDRA uses a fairly straightforward approach to seat mounting as well. We were unable to find anything in the NDRA's online rulebook but we did speak to Glenn Woods, the NDRA event coordinator, about the right way to mount your seat for competition in NDRA events.
In street classes, the NDRA prefers a stock-style bracket in the stock location. A minimum of four bolts is required. In tube chassis cars, the NDRA defers to NHRA rules for seat mounting.
SCCA Club Racing/RallyThe SCCA's General Competition Rules for road racing make it simple. The GCR says "a section of tubing equal to the roll bar shall be installed horizontally from the main hoop upright to the diagonal brace. This tube shall be no higher than shoulder height. The driver's seat shall be firmly mounted to the structure of the car. In cars where the seat is upright, the back of the seat shall be firmly attached to the main roll hoop or its cross bracing."
An exception is made for FIA-homologated seats. According to the GCR, "Seats homologated and mounted in accordance with FIA standard 8855-1999 or higher need not have the seat back attached to the roll structure. The homologation labels must be visible. Seat supports shall be of the type listed on FIA technical list No. 12 (lateral, bottom, etc)."
SCCA rally rules require seat mounting "to the structure of the car...per the manufacturer's requirements." The only caveat being that single-piece aluminum seats must "be installed with a back brace per the manufacturer's requirements."
NASANASA's online rulebook is extremely simple: "All seats must be securely fastened to the structure of the car such that they're strong enough to withstand a major impact."
NASA's Ryan Flaherty notes that next year NASA will add verbiage with regard to adjustable seat brackets attached to a FIA-homologated seat without a seat back brace.
The Goldilocks TestTo offer some insight into how well seats fit different body types, we gathered a group of five testers with different waist sizes and included their comments with each seat.
Many seat manufacturers have reached the same conclusion and have begun to tackle the sizing problem in different ways. Most simply offer a variety of models in varying shapes. Cobra, Sparco and several others, however, offer seats in varying widths. Sparco's EVO series is available in three widths. Cobra's Evolution, Imola and Suzuka are available in both standard and GT (wide) widths. All the Cobra seats tested in this guide are standard width.