Getting out of the Car, newbie question

Poorvette Racing

Well-known member
I'm in the final stages of prepping my car for my first novice race at pacific next weekend and have a question about window size and the guidelines on a drivers ability to get out of a car.

I'm currently running cobra Sebring seats (got them with the car) with the head restraint wings in a 99 corvette. After my cage has been installed the window opening has become small enough that It is close to impossible to get out of the car with my door closed. I can get out with the door open with relative ease but with the door closed my helmet just won't fit.

Have any of you had this problem? Is this a "stay off the track" issue or is this pretty common?
 
Consider the possibility of a shunt that jams your doors shut, and you want to get out... maybe in a hurry. If it becomes necessary, we'll just cut the car up around you.

We may have to wait for the fire to go out first.


It's your safety, be responsible for it.
 
When I took delivery of my Ground Pounder (see sig) it had a Kirkey full containment seat installed. I really like the evident safety of seats of this type, but in my case the previous driver was a very small guy so they had mounted the seat high in the car and forward in the window opening. Even if the seat had been big enough for me to use I wouldn't have even considered it for exactly the reasons you have stated. If the car is on it's lid or stuffed into a tire wall on fire you are going to want to be out of it RIGHT NOW! Hopefully that never happens in your entire racing career, but take it from someone who has been in a lot of different race cars - if you have to ask yourself the question "is this really safe?" then you probably already know the answer.

After having a close look at the setup in Randy Blaylock's car and a conversation with him about it I realized a containment seat was not a problem for my car - I just needed to set it up so I was lower and farther back in the car because of the way I am built (just like Fernando Alonso without the eyebrows, only multiply the recipie quantities x2 and substitute recycled concrete blocks and old rusty rebar for most of the ingredients then stir in a liberal dollop of BS to fit your personal taste). That leaves the window opening unobstructed for use as an exit as intended. I know it is probably not quite as easy with something like a Corvette becasue you have less room to make those adjustments, but I wouldn't include anything that would keep me from getting out of the window with my helmet on. Between a Hans and the window net you would probably limit head movement in that direction adequately - I'd trim the head restraint until I had a good exit path. Just my opinion, others may vary.

Hope that helps - lots of us ranging from amateur to professional fabricators here who are always willing to help if you need guidance. Your safety is always the first concern. Thanks for asking and good luck on taking the big step into the Novice program!
 
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As a novice with a corvette too, I would put that nice seat on ebay and sell to some lucky individual. Then pick a new seat that allows easy entry and exit with all of your gear and a hans device on. ( It would make it easier for relatives to drive your car too!)
 
I don't believe there's any actual requirement here, but it's definitely something you need to do something about. If it were me, I wouldn't worry about it for my first Novice week-end (you have enough to deal with!), but do something about it ASAP after.
 
I don't believe there's any actual requirement here......

This, is an oft debated point. In fact, I do believe SCCA (per the GCR) has a requirement that you be able to EXIT the race car from a position of FULLY belted in with helmet on, all other safety gear and steering wheel in place... in 10 seconds or less. I KNOW NASA has this same requirement on their tech inspection form.

IF you are wearing and SFI or FIA 3.2A/5 suit (as is very popular with amateur racers).. that is ALL the time you have (10 seconds) before you sustain 2nd degree burns.

It's also why F1 drivers suits are usually 3.2A/15 (30 seconds) or 3.2A/20 (40 seconds).

You just don't want to spend any more time then necessary in a burning race car and...

P.S.: Corvette's seem to enjoy burning/fires. If you don't believe it just ask Rick Stark. Seemed like for a couple of years, Rick couldn't take that Vette on the track at a SOVREN event without it spewing flames.
 
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Ken pretty much stated the question--door jammed and car's on fire, you can't breath, and you've got about 5 seconds--you're going out that window NOW.
Note: you should practice with all your gear on, including your HANS, and with the window net up and the steering wheel in place. Know if you can do it with the wheel left on or do you have to remove steering wheel.

I really like the idea of the shoulder and head restraint wings on my seat. We did have to trim back the left head-restraint wing though (yes, it's hardened and a real pain to do but...) so the HANS wouldn't catch, and I still have to twist a bit to make it out.

We see people walk away from dramatic accidents because they have all the right gear and know how to use it correctly.
(Tighten your belts as much as you can stand. :)
 
Thanks for the feedback!

Taking a look at the construction of the seat I should be able to remove the cover and cut the the head restraint off of the driver’s side pretty easily. I could do this without much of an aesthetic penalty being that I won’t have to cut the upholstery. My only apprehension is the simple fact that it's a pretty expensive seat to "ruin" with my modification. Keep me posted if you know of anyone who would be interested in trading for a pair of comparable seats!

On a related note, does the ICSCC keep track of the FIA dates on seats? I know this is a requirement in some other orgs but I have read the ICSCC manual pretty thoroughly and cannot find any mention of this. I am relying on my FIA tag being that I am not using a seat support and if I end up needing to make a replacement it would be good to know.

I don’t see anything in the rules regarding family drivability accommodations?? Am I missing something?
 
Perhaps mount the containment seat on a set of robust racing sliders such as what Sparco sells? If you need to bail out of the car through the window, undo the belts, slide the seat back, and climb through the window opening.
 
One can never be too fast gettting out of a burning race car. He can only be too slow. There have never been enough people or equipment to get to a burning car in a hurry unless it crashed at the workers feet. At most tracks, you will be on your own with a fire for a minute or more depending on the location. People will run to help and the trucks will be coming, but a minute in a fire is an eternity. Make sure you can bail in a heart beat or two. Please. Yanking a driver out of a burning car in a hurry is going to be painful for ALL involved, not just the patient.
 
Seat Help

I have a Corbeau FX Pro seat I would be willing to loan you as my car is not ready if you want. Or we could trade seats if that suited you.
It is a side mount seat so should bolt right in.
http://www.corbeau.com/products/fixed_back_seats/fx1_pro/
Note: This seat is NOT FIA approved so I use a seat brace that is adjustable if you need to borrow this also. It clamps to the roll cage so install is easy.

I am just under 6ft 5" and currently 185 lbs x 34 waist. This also fit me when I was 220+lbs and 38 waist although was quite snug.

Reply here or email me if your interested.
 
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Thanks for the offer! I'll keep it in mind as I loom over my seat with a saw on Saturday. Because of the wierd interior dimensions of the corvette I really want to stick with an FIA seat.

Im new to this crowd so I am going to stay far far away from any waist line conversations. . . .
 
from instructing in C5 vette's i would not fit in one with a cage and a stock seat and im only 5'11" so i can imagine a winged seat and a cage in that small opening of a window.
 
I would caution you against cutting up an FIA seat even if it is just a side of the head restraint. Come take a look at my seat and brace before you do this. I am sure it will fit your car/cage. You can get the seat back with the brace mounted to the seat right up to the cage crossbar no problem.

You can borrow the seat and brace and mock it up to see if you want to borrow it. Or just take a look at them mounted in my car first.
Give me a call I am in Edmonds. 425-471-4776
 
I agree with Scott on really thinking before you cut up your seat too far. In Karen's case, I looked at it for a long time before we cut, and even then we only had to cut about 1" off the length of the head restraint. I would try every other option of adjusting the location of the seat before you make a cut. Also, make sure there is room to get the required padding on the roll cage up by your helmet; this is an often overlooked area, and you do not want to smack your helmet into an unpadded bar.

As yet another option, I am selling a brand new (still in the plastic bag) Sparco Circuit FIA certified fiberglass seat for $500. The sizing was smaller than expected, so you would want to be on the thinner side. My guess is a 33inch waist or less as a guy would fit fine.

We all look forward to seeing you at the race.

Mike
 
There is another option in these really tight roll bar, window cars and that is; Cut a "trap door" with a hinge in the ROOF! In an emergancy toss the wheel in the pasenger seat and go out through the top really FAST. It's what Funny cars do and it works really great when the car is a ball of fire!

That way you can keep the seat as one piece complete.

With the proper design it won't 'pop open' even at 300 MPH on the Pacific straight.
 
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That's a great deal on the Sparco seat but the head restraints look just as bad as mine.

Comparing my seat to the similar seats without head restraints in the Cobra line it looks as though I would be essentially making a half Cobra Sebring half Cobra Suzuka seat. Other than the obvious ridiculousness of cutting a $1200 seat what would be the negative impacts of cutting that portion of the seat off? From an design standpoint the lower portion of the molds look essentially identical.

I truly appreciate your feedback, thanks again.
 
There is another option in these really tight roll bar, window cars and that is; Cut a "trap door" with a hinge in the ROOF! In an emergancy toss the wheel in the pasenger seat and go out through the top really FAST. It's what Funny cars do and it works really great when the car is a ball of fire!

That way you can keep the seat as one piece complete.

With the proper design it won't 'pop open' even at 300 MPH on the Pacific straight.

I like the idea of a roof door. I don't recall seeing any rules against this but I have never seen a road race car with one installed. Can this be done?

As it turns out, the sunroof hole in my CRX is plenty big enough for me (and I'm not exactly thin) to easily climb through.
 
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