Tall guys & Miatas: HPDE edition

Another speedbump in the plan of using the E46 as a HPDE car is that at 6'3", with a helmet on I have to hunch to fit in the car...I can get through it for two events but it's nearly killed the lasting appeal as a HPDE car.

As I look at Miatas to replace it, I wonder how much better I'd fare and if I would be able to pass the broomstick test. I have planned on one of the super low race seat mounts and probably a Recaro SPG seat, along with a Hard Dog bar. Since the goal is to be HPDE legal, I really need to make sure this'll work before I buy a car. I am looking at both NA and NB cars.

Is it possible to get a 6'3" guy with a helmet far enough under a roll bar to be track legal?

Tall guys can fit pretty easily in an RX7. Just saying....

SlickDizzy wrote: Is it possible to get a 6'3" guy with a helmet far enough under a roll bar to be track legal?

In my experience, it will be pretty near impossible if you want the seat to be on sliders and to use the OEM mounting points. Exception being if you don't ever want a top - then you can make the bar as tall as you need.

If you're willing to go without sliders and cut out the mounting points and bolt the seat right to the floor, then I think it's probably do-able (this is second-hand from friends of mine who have done it rented cars to drivers that were as tall/taller than you).

I'm 6'0" and needed a seat on sliders so my GF could drive and I didn't want to cut out the OEM mounting points. I made custom brackets for the seats and built my own roll bar that just fits under a stripped-out hardtop. Even so, it took a lot of work to get everything set up so I would pass the broomstick test with my helmet on.

Thin seat + bolted to the floor = you'll just make it.
I'm 6'3 and mostly torso and can almost pass the broomstick test while still having (non stock) sliders, after dehumping the rear... if I bolted direct to the floor I'd get another inch or two.
Disclaimer: I cut the feet off my F1X, and run without the butt cushion for spirited driving

I was planning on using the Pro-Car Innovations non-sliding mount, probably with Recaro SPG seats. Think this'd get me where I need to be? Nobody but me will ever drive the car. I do need to use a top but it probably won't be a hardtop and I don't care about a glass rear window. The car would be an 80% track 20% street sort of deal.

I just made my own bracket for my kirky. Two strips of steel ran down from the front hole to the bottom. My buddy wo is 6'1 fits fine. Dunno if he has 2 inches tho. Eithr way, custom fab>bought.

I am 6'1" and with a bride lowmax seat rail and seat I pass broomstick IF I pull the cushion out of the seat. The cushion raises you up almost to stock seat height with the seat mounted to the sliders. Day to day I use a motorcycle seat pad I had in the garage instead of the thick stock pad. So bolting to a bracket on the floor especially if you remove the rear "bump" on the floor board the stock seat mounts to you will be able to fit fine.

See the humps that bracket is mounting to in the rear. Guys remove those and gain another inch or so plus it will layback the seat slightly

SlickDizzy wrote: I was planning on using the Pro-Car Innovations non-sliding mount, probably with Recaro SPG seats. Think this'd get me where I need to be? Nobody but me will ever drive the car. I do need to use a top but it probably won't be a hardtop and I don't care about a glass rear window. The car would be an 80% track 20% street sort of deal.

Probably not. There's a lot of room to be gained by cutting out the factory rear seat mount and fabbing a custom bracket that bolts straight through the floor, and you probably need that room.

SlickDizzy wrote: I was planning on using the Pro-Car Innovations non-sliding mount, probably with Recaro SPG seats. Think this'd get me where I need to be? Nobody but me will ever drive the car. I do need to use a top but it probably won't be a hardtop and I don't care about a glass rear window. The car would be an 80% track 20% street sort of deal.

I'm 6' and my custom mounts put the bottom of my very thin Momo Start below the level of the rear humps. I barely fit under the hardtop and would probably not exactly fit the broomstick test. Doubt the Pro-Car will work for you.

YMMV

What organization lets you HPDE with a soft top? Only ones I know of are factory hardtop or nothing.

You can HPDE with a soft top but you have to have a roll bar. I think he is saying they make you run with the top up even if you are running the roll bar and no hard top