Best shop

[Zoki]

Could anyone point me towards a good shop to buy a couple of bucket seats and subframes for them. I'm looking into turning my Focus into a track day car. I'm on a budget so would like to try a find a good deal on all 4 items if possible, hopefully buying them all at the same time will get me some discount.

Sorry if I posted in the wrong section, this one seemed most appropriate.

Thanks

[Zoki]

Ok I've been up doing a bit of research, so far best price is roughly £300 for 2x Bucket seats and 2x sub frames with delivery. Seem quite reasonable. Is there a certain make I should avoid or aim for, also what's this FIA approved thing, and do they need to be FIA approved to be legally able to take my car onto a track day?

Thanks. Also any other advice for first time track day person would be nice.

[sniff diesel]

If you're on a budget then try a used set on a owners club forum or Ebay.

[tertius]

Simplifying a bit but FIA approval basically means an item is approved for motorsports use. Its not required for track days, but might be if you decided to go racing at some point.

The only comment I would make about seats is you will be sitting in them for long periods and comfort matters rather a lot. I realise its difficult but if you can possibly try some out first - maybe by going on track days and checking other cars?

[A.Wang]

Zoki said:

Ok I've been up doing a bit of research, so far best price is roughly £300 for 2x Bucket seats and 2x sub frames with delivery. Seem quite reasonable. Is there a certain make I should avoid or aim for, also what's this FIA approved thing, and do they need to be FIA approved to be legally able to take my car onto a track day?

Thanks. Also any other advice for first time track day person would be nice.

What seats come in at 300 quid a pair + subframes chucked in?!

Chances are, they are the steel-framed ones, which I was told explicitly told to avoid as they tend to kebab you if you crash heavily!

[Zoki]

It was:

Auto Style seats for £199 (pair) http://www.sportseats4u.co.uk/auto-style-type-buck...
with Sparco subframes at £42.99 + £23 for focus which is £131 http://www.sportseats4u.co.uk/product_info.php?pro...

That adds up to £350 with delivery, I miscalculated before, thought price was for 2 subframes.


But anyway, do you think I should just spend that much on 1 seat and subframe for now, then buy a passenger one later if needed?
If so which make should I go for? Sparco? Recaro? Cobra? Any other decent ones????

[Zoki]

Also are you saying to get fibreglass seat over steel? If so the cheapest fibreglass shell seat is a Momo FIA one for £220.

Also these are only fitted using side mounts, now how hard is it to fit these, is this a diy job or better take it to the shop job?


Thanks again, sorry for being a noob.

[A.Wang]

Yep, fibreglass/Kevlar is always going to be safer (and ligher) than steel-framed seats.

I have a couple of these Corbeau Sprint XLs in my race-prep'd Porsche 944: http://www.nickygrist.com/corbeau-sprint-521-p.asp - best value for money I could find after delivery costs, VAT etc.

They are side-mounted, so you'll need to either find sub-frames for it, or have some custom-made. Most proper race seats are side-mounted though...

Auto style seats are for decoration and Max Power readers only!

[A911DOM]

I spoke to Andy (Wang) about this beforem but due to my budget constraints (and only prepping for track fun rather than competition) I opted for a couple of Cobra Buckets incl harnesses off ebay.

They cost me around 160 quid for the pair, and they seem to go for cheaper buying in pairs, I guess some people only want one and dont want to bid for a pair and have one laying around doing nothing.

Mine have been mounted on rails so I can adjust the seat still - but again this is for convenience and comfort - not for competition. Again - this is in a 944

I appreciate there is a slight compromise on safety, but my budgets didnt allow the lighter more expensive carbon jobbies etc.

I had mine fitted by the mechanic at the same time as having the GAZ suspension out on, so dont know how you'd fair DIY'ing it.

[Zoki]

Ok I can just about afford one seat and mounting brackets with Nicky Grist. Any idea how much a garage would charge to fit them properly with side mounts? Even better anyone know a NW London or near central London area garage?


Thanks again!