[Eric]

I discovered a little trick over the weekend at Buttonwillow. If you pull the shoulder strap really tight, and allow the reel to take up the slack while cornering (probably braking too), the reel will lock and keep the belt tight until you release the belt. I was able to really get myself locked in tightly with the stock belt. Keep one hand on the wheel and watch where you're going for obvious reasons.

 

[djo715]

I've obtained decent results by moving the seat back a little further than normal. Then put the belt on, pull the shoulder strap tight so that the reel locks, and move the seat forward so it holds the lock.

May be a bit safer than doing belt adjustments while the car's moving... Some of the 90-93 model 300ZX's have their belts attached to the door of the car - I always wonder how safe that is. I can just see the door flying open while the car's coming down that hill after Turn 5 at Thunderhill...

-Darryl

 

[JoshTSiV]

I always use the 'move the seat up' trick. Even in my cars that do have harnesses, I'll move the seat back, strap in, then tighten up with the seat. Course this doesn't work well with non-adjustable race seats...

 

[Nick 95 6sp]

When some of us local Sup's go to lapping sessions at Pocono road course (like on Oct13 soon!!) they specifically tell you about the "pull belt tight move the seat" routine, so that's def good advice.

This time I'm bringin along some very stiff foam which I cut to shape to fit between door and center console to keep my butt and thighs tight on both sides... a bit getto, but no $ and I think it'll work fine.

 

[carcnoid]

Does anyone have harnesses with stock seats and no roll cage?

I have seen a few of them around, but I am wondering if there is some way to do it a bit more perminatly without losing the back seat and asthetics of the car...

Jon
'94 SP60 .70 A/R

 

[Eric]

Does anyone have harnesses with stock seats and no roll cage?

I have seen a few of them around, but I am wondering if there is some way to do it a bit more perminatly without losing the back seat and asthetics of the car...

Jon
'94 SP60 .70 A/R

Running harnesses without a roll bar/cage is a bad idea for a couple of reasons.

1. If the car rolls, your head becomes the roll bar since you're locked into place by the harness. http://www.bigpimphustler.com/mustang/car2.jpg is a picture of a car that rolled at Willow Springs recently. Both of the occupants walked away from the crash. If they had been wearing harnesses, that probably would not have been the case.

2. It's hard to mount the shoulder straps properly without a roll bar to mount them to. Having the straps at more than a 45 degree angle (which happens when you mount them to the rear seatbelt mounts), causes spinal compression in a frontal impact. You could probably attach them to a bar between the shock towers or to that crossbrace already built into the car around the subwoofer to alleviate that problem though.

 

[carcnoid]

Yeah, I don't think I'll be trying that any time soon.

Need to get a roll cage; now I'm really paranoid!

Jon
'94 SP60 .70A/R

Its interesting how being paranoid has never stopped me from speeding:

85/45
94/55 construction
97/70
61/45
65/45

...and that's only speeding.

Age 19 - clean record

 

[TRiAD]

Running harnesses without a roll bar/cage is a bad idea for a couple of reasons.

1. If the car rolls, your head becomes the roll bar since you're locked into place by the harness. http://www.bigpimphustler.com/mustang/car2.jpg is a picture of a car that rolled at Willow Springs recently. Both of the occupants walked away from the crash. If they had been wearing harnesses, that probably would not have been the case.

I was going to argue your point, until I saw the pic...damn!