Restraint System

[80porsche]

Hello all,

I am planning to go to the track for the first time this summer. 

I am on a very limited budget, honestly I am suprized my CFO is allowing my comittment at all.  I think my car will pass tech without issues, but I have a few questions I am hoping can get answered to help guide my remaining meger funds appropriately.

I have an 80 911 targa.  I want to install my newly aquired a BK harness bar.  The bar goes across the shoulder behind both seats and then down to the floor seat belt bolts.  I want Evo3's but currently have stock seats.  Is a 5/6 pt setup acceptable with stock highback seat and this harness bar?If it isnt, I will keep the stock seatbelts until I can get teh Evo3's.

I only have a few autocrosses of experience that I have been fairly aggressive attacking the course, as I think it is a relatively low risk environment.  I expect to be much much more conserved and expect to have a great learning and social experience.

Thanks,

Mike

[Wally]

Hi Mike, Welcome to the Forum.  In answer to your question about harnesses used with an approved harness bar, you must use a seat that is designed for harness use.  If your stock seat lacks the holes for the shoulder and submarine belts you may not use them.  Go to the club web site and print a copy of our tech form to get most of the information you will need.  If you have any other questions send me a PM.

Wally

[Tony356993]

Wally is right on! Glad your going to the track. It is a great time with great folks. Enjoy.

[catchacab]

Personally, I would not use a harness guide bar, and anchor the shoulder belts to the rear seat belt anchor.  Harnesses can stretch up to 1/3 of their length in an incident.  Better to anchor them to a harness truss or a roll bar.

[80porsche]

ok! thanks for the info!  I will use the stock seats and belts for this year. 

I didn't think this bar was considered a guide.  I thought this was where you were supposed to attach the should straps.  It is like 6 inches away from my shoulders.  This would guarantee the alignment of the straps and the drivers/passenger.  What you are saying seems logical, I will have to look at some peoples setups as examples.

[Darren]

80porsche wrote:

ok! thanks for the info! I will use the stock seats and belts for this year.

I didn't think this bar was considered a guide. I thought this was where you were supposed to attach the should straps. It is like 6 inches away from my shoulders. This would guarantee the alignment of the straps and the drivers/passenger. What you are saying seems logical, I will have to look at some peoples setups as examples.

The bars that attach to the b-pillar (back of the windows) are just there to create the proper angle between the harness and the driver (so the angle isn't too steep, which creates crushing stress on the spine in the case of an accident), they are not there to mount the harnesses to. There are some harness trusses, like the ones Brey Krause makes, but they usually mount to the strut towers or other structural parts, and/or are heavily reinforced. It sounds like this bar may be designed for the belts to mount to if it goes all the way down to the front lap belt mounting points, what's the BK part number?? Most people with harness bars attach the shoulder harnesses to the rear seat belt mounting points. But as Eric points out, this increases the length of the belts, and since they are designed to stretch, this isn't ideal because the total stretch will be more.

Most (almost all??) of us started out just using stock seats and the stock 3-point harness, which were designed by the manufacturer to work well together. As you get more experienced you may find that going to a combination of driver/passenger race seats and a roll bar will be a good solution, though it may be best to get into driving a bit first and seeing how far down the slippery slope you will go

When it is time to upgrade, it would be a great idea to post further questions here, there are many knowledgeable people lurking about

[Brian Minkin]

I know the BK harness bar that you are speaking of.  I had one in my car before I got a roll bar.  Although it may look and feel strong enough to mount harness from, It was designed and sold as a guide bar for use in Targa's. 

[michael lang]

Hello Mike and welcome to the group. I will pass along a piece of advice a PCA old-timer gave to me when I got my car 2 1/2 yrs ago that has done wonders for my driving skills, he told me to focus on my driving skills to make me faster than to focus on my car. He explained that the factory has done an outstanding job in building these cars and they were already fast enough and well engineered for safety. I followed his advice, I have enjoyed two wonderful seasons of autocross and am ready for DE. I have only done very minor upgrades to my car because things were wearing out and am thankful that I listened to that sound advice. I now pass it along to you. Again welcome, this is a very friendly group and you will have a good experience with them.

[smankow]

I agree the above notes about the bars and restraints.  It is encouraging to see that Mike is concerned with the safety aspects of DE before the "go fast".

Welcome to the Forum.

 

Steve