Porsche GT3 Harness - street legal ?

[343bhp]

Watching the Chris Harris video on the GT3 got me thinking: are you allowed to use the standard clubsport Porsche harness on the public road ? Besides practicality are they street legal.

[monthefish]

Why wouldn't they be?

[keep it lit]

yeah legal...

[majordad]

Legal to use, but not for an MOT by themselves, IIRC the wording says you must be able to belt up using one hand. Cant do that with a harness. My GT3RS came with both and I reckon this is why.

[pikeyboy]

Harnesses on the road are a night mare as you casnt lean forward at junctions etc to see whats coming. Inertia reel for the road every time for me.

[Ekona]

As long as the harness is E-marked, it's road legal and doesn't need a seatbelt as well. Any harnesses using the rotary dial mechanism aren't E-marked, but most using the seatbelt-style black clip with the red button are.

[keep it lit]

boy said:

Harnesses on the road are a night mare as you casnt lean forward at junctions etc to see whats coming. Inertia reel for the road every time for me.

why would you lean forward at a junction?

[343bhp]

This is helpful - thanks. So yes you can wear them on the public roads. Downside perhaps is restricted movements. Any safety concerns ?

[BertBert]

well, the majority of road going caterhams have regular race harnesses and seem to have no problem. There's certainly no mention of single handed doing up in the MoT tester's handbook.

[monthefish]

majordad said:

Legal to use, but not for an MOT by themselves, IIRC the wording says you must be able to belt up using one hand. Cant do that with a harness. My GT3RS came with both and I reckon this is why.

I'd not heard of this before (that's not to say its not true).
Can anyone else confirm?

[neil-f]

majordad said:

Legal to use, but not for an MOT by themselves,

Nope this is not the case, my 360CS only has harness belts and passes MOT.

[keep it lit]

neil-f said:

Nope this is not the case, my 360CS only has harness belts and passes MOT.

same here, mk1 gt3 with full cage & no seatbelts and passes mot.

[fergus]

I think the requirement is that the harness has a rotary buckle, not a lever type buckle, i.e. cannot be accidentally undone.

[neil-f]

fergus said:

I think the requirement is that the harness has a rotary buckle, not a lever type buckle, i.e. cannot be accidentally undone.

Nope no rotary buckle!

[squirejo]

As with many MOT issues, average tester may not know the specifics. Harnesses for road use ( without inertia reel belts also eing fitted) must have a button not a rotary lever for car to pass mot. Can't for the life of me remember why but it's something to do with 1 hand use and the button, remembering that the inertia reel seatbelt clip has a red button too.

Hence lotus ones are this type when fitted without belts ie 340r

http://www.msar-safety.com/detail.asp?p=111&o=...

[DiscoColin]

If it came down to it, Schroth (the OEM for the thing that we are talking about) make a CE approved push button version of the GT3 harness buckle and it can be retrofitted to your existing setup. So whether or not your MOT tester will let it go, using harnesses only is an option. Personally I wouldn't as I find them restrictive around town and uncomfortable for long cruises (remember kids - they are only fully effective if done up properly tightly. By definition, uncomfortably tightly).

[BertBert]

According to the MoT tester's manual, a harness must have an "E" or "e" marking (specifically not CE). Here's some regs...
http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trans/main/wp29...
Bert

[graemel]

I'm guessing a lot will depend on how well the test station knows the rules. I run a six point harness in the SSE and have not had any issues. A mate had a 993GT2 with an inertia reel harness system fitted. Never seen that before. Not sure I would trust it for serious circuit work though.

[h_____]

As always life isnt simple on these things. Both my Caterham and my RS clubbie have twist to release (non-button harness), both pass MOTs at different places. Of course both were fitted with those as standard equipment too.

Never been an issue. I wouldnt worry.

Harnesses are a pain on the road, in the same way a lhd drive is. Not enough to worry me, but maybe in a daily driver. Neither are barriers, so work out what you want and go with it.

[birdcage]

I have them in mind but how do you stop the seatbelt warning going off when you use them?