Help keep me Rallycrossing

OK, I'm a 68 year-old crusty, retired guy who needs advice on how to overcome some physical problems to keep racing.. I rallycross and hillclimb a Doge Neon with a stock seat in the Northeast. I've got no spinal discs in my lower back and the constant pounding of our off-road sites puts me on my back for days after an event. Is there a race seat or other solution that will save my back and let me keep racing. Be kind, you'll all be old one day too. Thanks for any and all advice.

So guys like the tube frame seats as they are suspended and have a little more cushioning than a traditional race seat.
I've seen some side mounts that have rubber bushings to give them a little more cushioning.
You might look into offroad race seats, they are sometimes suspension style to be less fatiguing.

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Grant Hughes

Thanks for the suggestion of suspension seats. I'll look into them.

Mastercraft and Beard are popular suspension seats used in off road trucks.

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Opel is a 4-letter word...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10498579@N07/sets/

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jayflea22
Thanks for the suggestion of suspension seats. I'll look into them.

Look at them carefully..

Be ready for more back and even shoulder injuries..

I'm older too. And had I don't know how many serious operations in the last 5 years to fix old chronic injuries..

Hit a BIG bump with nothing but bungees under the butt and your body will go downward..Big bump it'll go waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down... belts get loose, maybe slide off your shoulders...Then what goes down on elastic bands must come UP with near equal force...Wham for undamped upward return...I've head all kinds of horror stories from that.. talk of spine and shoulder injuries...

When I had heard those stories and had tube frame seats, and had banged shoulders into belts a few good times, and I thought about it I added a 1/32 sheet of aluminum under the seat...a travel limiter..Mo better


Let me ask this: what travel in your suspension?
What spring rates?
What dampers..

The technicians at Bilstein asked me once--in obvious frustration---"Why is it that EVERYBODY ALWAYS wants waaaaaaaaay over-board stiff springs and shocks? EVERYBODY! Roadracers, conesquishers, rally guys, circle track EVERYBODY!!!! ARRRRRRGH! WHY!!!??"

Me "I thought you said desert truck guys have a grip on this?"

Him "OK OK them but EVERYBODY else!!!"

Me ""Me, too?"

Him "No no you're the only one. Why is that?"

me "You know i learned everything on moto-cross bikes, and you know how I say "suspension is supposed to move"? And you know how many times I did it wrong in learning and how many times I was injured---LOTS! Lots and lots...suspesnion is supposed to move, I guess that's it"

I should note that in the course of learning suspension I lost 40mm of height in about 4 years.
Lots of chronic injuries. Lots of operations..
It sharpens the concentration...

So you asked about seats, but that's only one thing, lets look at the next questions.

Finally, on this forum the one non-discussable rule is "a real name and a real location".. Somewhere there's a "Read this First, Noob" message for this site's owner..Find it, read it, add you real name somewhere under your screen name or in the 'signature" that ends every message..
I know there are a few who think they're clever who skirt the rule but they're not important.

Anyway cool you're still out mixing it up at your age..I'm not far behind and finally have some time to work on my own things so who knows "next year in Jerusalem!"

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

The Mastercraft seats are very comfortable. Many SCORE racers have been using them successfully for years in cars with primitive suspension. I would check with your sanctioning body to check that they are legal.

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Robert.

"You are way too normal to be on Rally Anarchy." Eddie Fiorelli.

Kinda pricey but could help.
http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/seat-mounting-frames-universal/omp-damped-alloy-side-mounts

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Grant Hughes

I am younger than you but have had back issues. I find that running more recline in the seat and having a true high sided race seat like the Racetech 4009 series that I have now really cuts down on the amount the bumps seems to impact by back.

Good luck, and hopefully you are able to find a solution that works for your back.

i planned to buy a set of these before that BS fia seat rule that NASA has

http://www.mastercraftsafety.com/3g-1022.html

i may log book my car with RA instead.

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I would rather drive a slow car fast as a fast car slow!
first rule of cars: get what makes you happy, your the one paying for it!

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tdrrally
i planned to buy a set of these before that BS fia seat rule that NASA has

http://www.mastercraftsafety.com/3g-1022.html

i may log book my car with RA instead.

I don't think it matters who log booked the car as much as the rules of whom you are rallying with (RA or NASA).

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Don Kennedy

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imnotcrazy
I don't think it matters who log booked the car as much as the rules of whom you are rallying with (RA or NASA).

Refer to your rule book, talk to your local tech inspector. Lots of internet hearsay on this topic and I'm sure thousands $$$$ spent on "thinking" vs "knowing".

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Dave Grenwis - DG Rally - www.dgrally.com

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tdrrally
i planned to buy a set of these before that BS fia seat rule that NASA has

Which one is that? That they don't enforce a life on them? I'd like to see all the sanctioning bodies enforce the five year rule. I'd sell more seats to rally guys and seat brackets to rallycrossers buying the used seats from the rally guys. We all win.
PS> That was facetious. My seat is probably from 1998. I should replace it, but it's not required to yet and I at least know it's whole history and life spent mostly sitting inside of a garage, albeit in four or five different rally cars now.

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Grant Hughes

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NoCoast

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tdrrally
i planned to buy a set of these before that BS fia seat rule that NASA has

Which one is that? That they don't enforce a life on them? I'd like to see all the sanctioning bodies enforce the five year rule. I'd sell more seats to rally guys and seat brackets to rallycrossers buying the used seats from the rally guys. We all win.
PS> That was facetious. My seat is probably from 1998. I should replace it, but it's not required to yet and I at least know it's whole history and life spent mostly sitting inside of a garage, albeit in four or five different rally cars now.

last time i looked NASA required FIA seats and RA did not. i do have an older sparco FIA seat for the Mustang but it is a fiberglass shell seat, i would prefer the Mastercraft 3g-4 suspension seat having spent some time in the desert offroading with both types. i still not sure why they don't like the aluminium racing seats they are not any harder than any other shell seat. (but then again the wrc folks don't use them so they must be wrong) .

i check a couple years ago on the 3g seats and they exceeded the FIA specs but Mastercraft was not willing to pay the FiA as it would raise the price of the seat by 2-3 hundred dollars according the the folks i spoke to.

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I would rather drive a slow car fast as a fast car slow!
first rule of cars: get what makes you happy, your the one paying for it!

Quote
tdrrally
last time i looked NASA required FIA seats and RA did not. i do have an older sparco FIA seat for the Mustang but it is a fiberglass shell seat, i would prefer the Mastercraft 3g-4 suspension seat having spent some time in the desert offroading with both types. i still not sure why they don't like the aluminium racing seats they are not any harder than any other shell seat. (but then again the wrc folks don't use them so they must be wrong) .

i check a couple years ago on the 3g seats and they exceeded the FIA specs but Mastercraft was not willing to pay the FiA as it would raise the price of the seat by 2-3 hundred dollars according the the folks i spoke to.

That's always what the manufacturers say. But there has to be a standard. I'm honestly surprised Rally America still doesn't require the seats. I thought they were going to years ago.

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Grant Hughes

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NoCoast

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tdrrally
last time i looked NASA required FIA seats and RA did not. i do have an older sparco FIA seat for the Mustang but it is a fiberglass shell seat, i would prefer the Mastercraft 3g-4 suspension seat having spent some time in the desert offroading with both types. i still not sure why they don't like the aluminium racing seats they are not any harder than any other shell seat. (but then again the wrc folks don't use them so they must be wrong) .

i check a couple years ago on the 3g seats and they exceeded the FIA specs but Mastercraft was not willing to pay the FiA as it would raise the price of the seat by 2-3 hundred dollars according the the folks i spoke to.

That's always what the manufacturers say. But there has to be a standard. I'm honestly surprised Rally America still doesn't require the seats. I thought they were going to years ago.

i would take my chances in a trophy truck seat long before i would in an fia seat

we ran stock seats with a bar that limited lay back for years with little or no issue why an fia seat now?

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I would rather drive a slow car fast as a fast car slow!
first rule of cars: get what makes you happy, your the one paying for it!