Tips on proper seating position
Discussion
lakebum said:The single most important thing is that, with your hands clasping the wheel as normal, your arms should be relaxed and bent at something like 120-140 degrees. Normally one can find a position that will allow that while also allowing grasp of the gearstick without stretching.
Any ideas about proper seating position? 
Any good videos about it>?
The leg position is less important, but you want to be able to press down the clutch fully without having to straighten your knee or extend your foot.
Avoid getting so close to the pedals that you might get cramp in your right foot or ankle.
The main thing, however, is to get the arm position right.
It depends on what the seat is like.
With 90 deg bend you're quite close to the wheel. If you keep both hands fixed on the wheel during a bend, the 'inside' arm will be coming in towards your ribcage and the side of the seat. If the seat has a squab that protrudes forwards your elbow can bang into it, making further steering lock impossible.
The idea of the bent arm is that when you are, say, turning left, and your right hand is at 9 o'clock (or even further around), you need your right shoulder still to be held in by the upper part of the seat. If your right arm were straight, as you added more lock that would pull your right shoulder away from the seat, and this would allow your body to head off towards the right rather than remaining fixed in the centre of the seat.
In the same left turn, if you were too close to the seat, although your right shoulder wouldn't pull away, your left elbow might well bang into the left side of the seat or into the left side of your ribcage.
If you were driving a rally car, where the steering actions are both extreme and lightning-quick (and where they often steer with one hand), maybe 90 deg would work. On a circuit, however, that's usually too far forward.
With 90 deg bend you're quite close to the wheel. If you keep both hands fixed on the wheel during a bend, the 'inside' arm will be coming in towards your ribcage and the side of the seat. If the seat has a squab that protrudes forwards your elbow can bang into it, making further steering lock impossible.
The idea of the bent arm is that when you are, say, turning left, and your right hand is at 9 o'clock (or even further around), you need your right shoulder still to be held in by the upper part of the seat. If your right arm were straight, as you added more lock that would pull your right shoulder away from the seat, and this would allow your body to head off towards the right rather than remaining fixed in the centre of the seat.
In the same left turn, if you were too close to the seat, although your right shoulder wouldn't pull away, your left elbow might well bang into the left side of the seat or into the left side of your ribcage.
If you were driving a rally car, where the steering actions are both extreme and lightning-quick (and where they often steer with one hand), maybe 90 deg would work. On a circuit, however, that's usually too far forward.
Im tall & with the seat back on max on many cars even with teh seat back very upright- my arms are in a far too straight a position.
This is far from ideal as when strapped in tight in the harness it makes it difficult to wind on opp lock etc when in a hurry & that coupled to my general ineptness nearrly saw me off on one occasion.
Thus for most cars an aftermarket steering wheel on an extended hub gives a far far far better control over the car for me, Ive also lowered the steering columm on present car as with lower non standard seats the wheel sat a bit too high.
Both of those are an amazing difference- its like a different car to drive.
This is far from ideal as when strapped in tight in the harness it makes it difficult to wind on opp lock etc when in a hurry & that coupled to my general ineptness nearrly saw me off on one occasion.
Thus for most cars an aftermarket steering wheel on an extended hub gives a far far far better control over the car for me, Ive also lowered the steering columm on present car as with lower non standard seats the wheel sat a bit too high.
Both of those are an amazing difference- its like a different car to drive.
The BEST tip is the inside of the wrists as mentioned above, but aside from that...
Does depend on the seat a lot. I start with height and get it as low as it will go. I then guess a starting point for forward/backward by playing with the clutch - leg needs to be still slightly bent with clutch dipped, otherwise going to totally straight leg for every downchange will start aching pretty quickly. Then tip the squab back if possible (so you're being pulled into the seat, not tipped into the footwell) until it's JUST clear of interfering with pedal use.
Then I tip the backrest forward until it's actually doing what it says on the tin, and when possible, the headrest is resting the head, although in some cars you'd have your face planted on the steering column if the headrest was actually supporting your head
Then move the steering until you pass the wrist test - height will depend on if you use 10-to-2 or 15-to-3, you want your arms in front of you, not miles down.
Then because when you're doing all this sitting still with the engine off, I move everything a fraction closer because I always seem to need to do that after some actual driving anyway. (So bit more upright, seat a bit further forward.)
Then you'll find one of those is wrong, and you change it, which then means another one of them is wrong... so it's a bit of a feedback loop for a while. Or you find you have to compromise it a bit because of helmet clearance, or because 3rd is a bit of a stretch, or whatever.
A lot of my height is legs, so I find if I'm close enough to the wheel to have more-than-180 of lock control, the wheel in most cars occasionally gets in the way, usually if I make a mistake and need to swap foot on the brakes. It's rare for me now to need more than 180 lock even on hairpins, though it used to happen a lot! Like the other poster I need a slight extension really, and a smaller wheel with a flat bottom, which are next on the list, unless a seat subframe for an RX8 crops up on eBay
OTOH if I leave the seat in circuit position when motorway driving, things start to ache because you're not moving so much, and a more relaxed posture is a bit more sensible.
Does depend on the seat a lot. I start with height and get it as low as it will go. I then guess a starting point for forward/backward by playing with the clutch - leg needs to be still slightly bent with clutch dipped, otherwise going to totally straight leg for every downchange will start aching pretty quickly. Then tip the squab back if possible (so you're being pulled into the seat, not tipped into the footwell) until it's JUST clear of interfering with pedal use.
Then I tip the backrest forward until it's actually doing what it says on the tin, and when possible, the headrest is resting the head, although in some cars you'd have your face planted on the steering column if the headrest was actually supporting your head
Then move the steering until you pass the wrist test - height will depend on if you use 10-to-2 or 15-to-3, you want your arms in front of you, not miles down.
Then because when you're doing all this sitting still with the engine off, I move everything a fraction closer because I always seem to need to do that after some actual driving anyway. (So bit more upright, seat a bit further forward.)
Then you'll find one of those is wrong, and you change it, which then means another one of them is wrong... so it's a bit of a feedback loop for a while. Or you find you have to compromise it a bit because of helmet clearance, or because 3rd is a bit of a stretch, or whatever.
A lot of my height is legs, so I find if I'm close enough to the wheel to have more-than-180 of lock control, the wheel in most cars occasionally gets in the way, usually if I make a mistake and need to swap foot on the brakes. It's rare for me now to need more than 180 lock even on hairpins, though it used to happen a lot! Like the other poster I need a slight extension really, and a smaller wheel with a flat bottom, which are next on the list, unless a seat subframe for an RX8 crops up on eBay
OTOH if I leave the seat in circuit position when motorway driving, things start to ache because you're not moving so much, and a more relaxed posture is a bit more sensible.
Gassing Station | Track Days | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff