I have done 3 track nights with my 99 Miata. I plan to focus on track time from now on. I have installed Xida adjustable shocks, Eiback springs (700 lbs. front, 400 lbs. rear) and 205mm BFG Rival tires. Now I want to get racing seats and harnesses. The car is my daily driver so I need the seats to recline. Do any of you NB owners have aftermarket seats and/ or harnesses that you like/dislike? I'd like to hear from you about your seats and harnesses.
At my next track night, I plan to sit in as many different seats as I can to try them out. By the way, if you live in the northeast, I highly recommend Palmer Motorsports Park (aka Whiskey Hill). It is highly technical and amazingly fun to drive.
IMHO, seats that recline are not racing seats.
A quality fixed race seat that fits you properly and is properly installed can be comfortable enough for DD duty.
Thanks. I agree, but I don't plan to race. I think track days/nights are inherently safer than all out racing. My wife drives the car occasionally. It's a small concession which I understand my have some safety implications.
I've DD'd Miatas with bucket seats and harnesses in them. Trust me, you don't need to be able to recline the seat, although you do want it on a slider.
The main issue you'll run into is to find a seat that actually fits in an NA/NB Miata, doesn't hit the door card and still fits you. Recaro SPGs just about fit if you hammer the tunnel, there are some narrower Bride seats that do as well, but you better only have a 32-33" waist to fit those things. Also, with very few exceptions a seat on sliders will put you higher up than the stock seat. Most people who want/need to sit lower need to bolt the seat directly to the floor.
Re the harnesses, you'll probably have to install a roll bar to get a good way to mount them, IIRC there is no harness bar worth having that doesn't require a roll bar. Do not mount the harnesses to the bar that is going between the seat belt towers, that's not strong enough to hold you in if you hit something.
Oh, and the other problem is that most roll bars will restrict seat travel somewhat - in my case, a little too much to get in and out of my NA comfortably.
Thanks. The car has a roll bar. I must say I'm disappointed to learn that no one makes a racing seat that will fit in a Miata. Also, I thought that side mount brackets were available. Well that's why I posted to the forum, to learn.
There are lots of seats that fit in Miatas. They just take some work to fit exactly to your liking, they're very compact cars.
Even though they look like E36 M3, this really is your best option if your not short and thin:
paulbishop1946 wrote:
Thanks. The car has a roll bar. I must say I'm disappointed to learn that no one makes a racing seat that will fit in a Miata. Also, I thought that side mount brackets were available. Well that's why I posted to the forum, to learn.
Yes, you can get side mount brackets and they're the way to go in my book. A lot of them still don't drop the seat by that much if they're mounted on sliders. For me the Bride super low rails worked best for that. Nagisa also makes some low rails with sliders and sidemount brackets that worked very well for me in my MR2 and I just bought a set for the RX8. They're not cheap (the NB ones are around $250 from more-japan.com) but in my book they're worth it.
The usual issue with fitment of non-Kirkey type seats is that the "ears" around the shoulders are too wide and hit the door card. The usual remedy for that is to take a hammer to the transmission tunnel or for more drastic action, cut the tunnel and move the side in by a little if you have the sheet metal skills.
If you don't mind the seat hitting the door card or are willing to modify the to part of the door card a little, you can fit a Recaro SPG or one of it clones easily. Or, as an alternative, find a seat that's not quite as wide across the shoulders or modify the outside "ear" where it hits the door card.
FWIW, Recaro Pole Positions fit pretty well. That's what I have in mine. No tunnel mods were required, although mine have the rear seat mount cut out and are bolted to the floor in order to gain the height that I needed to put my helmet under the roll bar. The ears do touch the door card, but have self-clearances it a bit.
I have a 97 with the roomier door cards from a 90. My seat is a MOMO Corsa on factory miata sliders. It lowers the seating position a couple inches from a factory seat and at 5'9" that's fine.
The above mentioned "ear" of the seat hit the door badly when first installed so I peeled the fabric back and refined the shape with some aggressive dremeling before gluing it back together. It's not the prettiest setup but it holds me in place amazingly well for autocross and track use.
KyAllroad wrote:
I have a 97 with the roomier door cards from a 90. My seat is a MOMO Corsa on factory miata sliders. It lowers the seating position a couple inches from a factory seat and at 5'9" that's fine.
The above mentioned "ear" of the seat hit the door badly when first installed so I peeled the fabric back and refined the shape with some aggressive dremeling before gluing it back together. It's not the prettiest setup but it holds me in place amazingly well for autocross and track use.
How did you mount the race seat to the factory sliders? I'm working on that issue right now, for my '99 Miata.
Wow! Thanks so much for all of the useful comments. It will take me a while to digest them.
In reply to dyintorace: honestly, the seat came (used CL find) with the sliders attached already. Bolting it in to the car did take me 5 minutes though...... 
