Race seats: date validity?

[Harris_I]

I'm intending to run in the CSCC New Millennium and realise the harnesses and probably seat on my car are out of date given that it last raced 5 years ago.

With harnesses it's easy enough: they have a label that says "not for use after 20xx". (Which is a shame: the colour-matched Schroth harnesses are fabulous and still look brand new).

With my old race seat, it's not so clear. I have a Cobra Suzuka S with the label FIA 8855-1999 and what appears to be a manufacturing date of October 2008. There's also a code "CS.163.06". So how many years is this seat valid for?

Thanks in advance,

Harris

[Harris_I]

77racing said:

Your seat I think ran out of date in 2013.As I understand it the seats are governed by FIA not MSA. seats are valid 5 years after manufacturers date plus the year you are in effectively 6 years. please correct me if I'm wrong. Does your seat sticker look like this which runs out in 2016..............

Edited by 77racing on Monday 27th April 21:12

Yes, it looks like that so you're right, so 2013 would be the last year.

[Harris_I]

andy97 said:

I am fairly certain that the date validity for seats is not a requirement in UK club Motorsport. It will be if you race with the CSCC at Spa though.

Interesting, I was not aware of that. I'm not intending to race at Spa, but am intending to be at Brands on the 31st. Where can I get confirmation of this?

Also, presumably the same does not apply to harnesses (my Schroth are rather gorgeous and silly expensive to replace)?

[Harris_I]

Thanks everyone. This is surprising. Looks like my seat is good to go....

[Harris_I]

Been having a read through of the MSA Blue Book on seats and fire extinguishers. I must say it's surprisingly lax. Seats we've already mentioned above, but extinguishers are not even required to be periodically serviced (other than the possibility that they may be dismantled and examined by the scrutineer).

I have a 2012 sticker on my electrically discharged extinguisher which seems not to matter in the UK. Can this be right?

[Harris_I]

That's what I thought, but the Blue Book doesn't stipulate this.