How should I be sitting?

[waremark]

Glosphil said:

waremark said:

Well, in those days if you crashed it was better to be thrown out than to be caught inside a squashed and potentially burning wreck. Bike racers often seem to survive high speed crashes, too.

Not many drivers of road cars wear the sort of 'armour' and helmets that are normal for bike racers to wear. A driver's protection is the car structure/interior not his clothing.

I don't suppose what Fangio was wearing (context of my comment) gave much protection by modern standards either.

[grumpy52]

Look how most saloon racers or modern rally drivers sit in the car these days, much more upright and closer to the wheel than the old days.
The majority of what has been said on here is pretty much what I was told by an A+E consultant who had an interest in this area.
Leg slightly bent with the clutch depressed ,back against the seatback , wrists resting on the top of the stearing wheel .

[RobM77]

I realise we've discussed already how I can't achieve that ideal driving position (leg slightly bent fully depressed on the clutch, small of wrist at top of wheel with arm straight and shoulders back in seat), but can anyone actually achieve that in a modern car? Really I mean - try it. I can't believe I'm that out of the ordinary and I can get nowhere near.

[jaf01uk]

RobM77 said:

I realise we've discussed already how I can't achieve that ideal driving position (leg slightly bent fully depressed on the clutch, small of wrist at top of wheel with arm straight and shoulders back in seat), but can anyone actually achieve that in a modern car? Really I mean - try it. I can't believe I'm that out of the ordinary and I can get nowhere near.

Yes

[sjmmarsh]

Some advice on seat adjustment from Recaro (you would think that they should know!) http://www.recaro-automotive.com/fileadmin/CONTENT...

Steve

[JDMDrifter]

I cant seem to get comfy in my car, i'm getting bad lower back ache and sore knees on long journeys.

The pedals seems to be at odd angles when depressed which causes odd angles at the knees.

I'm gonna have to have a major seat adjustment after flicking through the recaro page.

Being 6"4 in a small car doesn't really help!

[SK425]

sjmmarsh said:

Some advice on seat adjustment from Recaro (you would think that they should know!) http://www.recaro-automotive.com/fileadmin/CONTENT...

Interesting. I can relate to all of that except setting the seat height as high as possible. I don't want to feel perched up on top of the car when I'm driving it and my starting point if I'm going to fiddle with seat height is often to try lowering it, maybe as low as it will go.

[RobM77]

SK425 said:

sjmmarsh said:

Some advice on seat adjustment from Recaro (you would think that they should know!) http://www.recaro-automotive.com/fileadmin/CONTENT...

Interesting. I can relate to all of that except setting the seat height as high as possible. I don't want to feel perched up on top of the car when I'm driving it and my starting point if I'm going to fiddle with seat height is often to try lowering it, maybe as low as it will go.

I usually feel far more able to control the car if I sit low. It's also slightly safer and quite a bit better for your lower back, so I'm not sure about their advice there!

[7mike]

A couple of links if they are of any use to anyone;

http://drivingergonomics.lboro.ac.uk/downloads/tak...

http://www.farnborough-chiropractic.co.uk/driving-...

[jaf01uk]

RobM77 said:

SK425 said:

sjmmarsh said:

Some advice on seat adjustment from Recaro (you would think that they should know!) http://www.recaro-automotive.com/fileadmin/CONTENT...

Interesting. I can relate to all of that except setting the seat height as high as possible. I don't want to feel perched up on top of the car when I'm driving it and my starting point if I'm going to fiddle with seat height is often to try lowering it, maybe as low as it will go.

I usually feel far more able to control the car if I sit low. It's also slightly safer and quite a bit better for your lower back, so I'm not sure about their advice there!

That could be why you can't get comfy? Full contact with the seat along thighs to hips and all the way up the spine is the ideal, Recaro employ ergonometricists, I know this to be fact as I was a guest of theirs a few years ago and am actually sitting on a Recaro A8 as I type Why are you so ready to discount (expert) advice?
Gary

[MC Bodge]

RobM77 said:

I usually feel far more able to control the car if I sit low. It's also slightly safer and quite a bit better for your lower back, so I'm not sure about their advice there!

Me too

[RobM77]

jaf01uk said:

RobM77 said:

SK425 said:

sjmmarsh said:

Some advice on seat adjustment from Recaro (you would think that they should know!) http://www.recaro-automotive.com/fileadmin/CONTENT...

Interesting. I can relate to all of that except setting the seat height as high as possible. I don't want to feel perched up on top of the car when I'm driving it and my starting point if I'm going to fiddle with seat height is often to try lowering it, maybe as low as it will go.

I usually feel far more able to control the car if I sit low. It's also slightly safer and quite a bit better for your lower back, so I'm not sure about their advice there!

That could be why you can't get comfy? Full contact with the seat along thighs to hips and all the way up the spine is the ideal, Recaro employ ergonometricists, I know this to be fact as I was a guest of theirs a few years ago and am actually sitting on a Recaro A8 as I type Why are you so ready to discount (expert) advice?
Gary

I have full contact with my leg, spine etc if I sit low - the height doesn't really alter that. The advice is sound, I think you'll find that if you understand the advice properly then my driving position is actually very good for the back. I find the most crucial thing is to adjust the bottom part of the seat to give that full contact - not all cars allow this, but if you can then it's great, and no, it doesn't really matter how high or low you sit. I have a rather unfortunate advantage in this, in that I'm in permanent pain due to my bad back, so I can feel which seat adjustment is best for me pretty easily, both short term and long term. Often I find that what's best for my specific problems isn't quite what's best for most people, that's in terms of both short term pain benefits and long term health.

[Hooli]

RobM77 said:

I realise we've discussed already how I can't achieve that ideal driving position (leg slightly bent fully depressed on the clutch, small of wrist at top of wheel with arm straight and shoulders back in seat), but can anyone actually achieve that in a modern car? Really I mean - try it. I can't believe I'm that out of the ordinary and I can get nowhere near.

Snap.

I drove a VW Caddy recently, it's acutally almost impossible to touch the wheel without leaning forwards if I have the seat far enough back to use the pedals. Move forwards to where I can use the wheel & I struggle to get my foot far enough back to swap from the accelerator to the brake. I can only assume it was designed for gibbons.

[RobM77]

Hooli said:

RobM77 said:

I realise we've discussed already how I can't achieve that ideal driving position (leg slightly bent fully depressed on the clutch, small of wrist at top of wheel with arm straight and shoulders back in seat), but can anyone actually achieve that in a modern car? Really I mean - try it. I can't believe I'm that out of the ordinary and I can get nowhere near.

Snap.

I drove a VW Caddy recently, it's acutally almost impossible to touch the wheel without leaning forwards if I have the seat far enough back to use the pedals. Move forwards to where I can use the wheel & I struggle to get my foot far enough back to swap from the accelerator to the brake. I can only assume it was designed for gibbons.

Good to hear I'm not the only one! To achieve the correct leg position as advised on all these links etc in my Elise I had to have the seat one notch from the rearmost setting. In a Boxster I'm actually on the rearmost setting. In that position I can't reach the steering wheel without leaning forwards quite significantly.

[Muffsy]

p1esk said:

I ensure that I can press the clutch pedal full travel, and that gets me a suitable fore and aft position of the seat.

As for hand positions on the steering wheel, I prefer 9-3 rather than 10-2, as I find it more comfortable and less tiring.

I prefer a right handed finger grip at 6 or a palm grip at 12 and the Left hand would be permanently holding the Gear Lever...
With the same grip on the rare occasions when driving an Auto, guess its habit...

[ORD]

RobM77 said:

Hooli said:

RobM77 said:

I realise we've discussed already how I can't achieve that ideal driving position (leg slightly bent fully depressed on the clutch, small of wrist at top of wheel with arm straight and shoulders back in seat), but can anyone actually achieve that in a modern car? Really I mean - try it. I can't believe I'm that out of the ordinary and I can get nowhere near.

Snap.

I drove a VW Caddy recently, it's acutally almost impossible to touch the wheel without leaning forwards if I have the seat far enough back to use the pedals. Move forwards to where I can use the wheel & I struggle to get my foot far enough back to swap from the accelerator to the brake. I can only assume it was designed for gibbons.

Good to hear I'm not the only one! To achieve the correct leg position as advised on all these links etc in my Elise I had to have the seat one notch from the rearmost setting. In a Boxster I'm actually on the rearmost setting. In that position I can't reach the steering wheel without leaning forwards quite significantly.

I think you've got your height wrong, Rob... You must be 6'4 or so to have that problem in a Boxster. It is easy for men our size (I am 5'11) to sit as suggested in a modern Porsche.