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Fitting short legs into a rental car


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Hello all,

 

I will soon be taking part in my first Champ race by renting a seat in an old friend's car. I was able to make it by his garage to test fit the car last weekend, and we had a bit of a situation... My legs are quite a bit shorter than the rest of his team. Surprisingly, the seat to wheel ratio was much closer than I expected.

 

We put some stiff roughly 1" thick foam he had laying around behind my back and this made full throttle possible, braking is most likely okay, getting full clutch disengagement is the biggest concern. stacking the foam 2" deep has a few concerns:

 

1) pushing my ribs too far out of the containment of the seat. I'm not sure if I was out enough for this to actually be a problem, but have read it can be a concern in an accident. 

2) pushing my pelvis that far forward put the steering wheel pretty close to the harness cam lock due to his (IMO) low vertical separation between the seat and wheel. I'd hate to accidentally catch the latch and un-belt myself mid turn

 

I'd feel more comfortable if I could get a bit more reach than what the single layer of foam allowed. Does anyone else have suggestions on how to fit short legs into a fixed seat car?  Would pedal extensions of some sort be allowable? would attaching something to the sole of my clutch foot to get another 0.5" of reach be allowable and if so would it also need to be fire retardant? 

 

 

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Troy of Biohazard fame is something like 4 foot 8, or 5 foot 4, I forget. But he is a dainty guy. He fits well into his MR2 because he made a slider that is 36" long. When he races in my MR2, my seat is bolted to the cage and does not move. So we have stacked pillows and seat cushions in the seat so he could fit. But he was never happy. Troy is NEVER happy. But he is my best friend, so I just yell at him and tell him to be happy. 

 

This weekend I am dropping my car off at his house and then going to Cape Hatteras, NC, and prep for the Utah 24 by doing some surf fishing. 

 

But before I do that, we will be making him a form-fitting seat cushion from 2-part expanded foam.

 

here is a good manual - https://racinggenesis.wordpress.com/2012/03/22/making-a-race-seat/

 

https://www.kirkeyracing.com/category/MOLDED FOAM INS/molded-foam-seat-insert-kit

 

 

 

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