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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - what racing seats fit our midgets the best

Does anyone have a recommendation for aftermarket racing seats that would be easy to install and not look too dumb in my 73 midget. My stock seats are pretty worn out (I have to sit on a cushion in order to see over the steering wheel). I might restore those seats but since I was thinking of trying some racing seats eventually anyway, perhaps I should just try that now.

I was thinking that what you do is remove the seat tracks from the stock seats and install them on some other seat that has an appropriate size bottom. Is this how it is done or do I have to use seat tracks/supports supplied from the seat manufacturer and modify the floor of the car to install them? I would prefer to use the stock tracks so that it would be easy to change the seats back to stock ones when I want.

What racing seats do people recommend. I am looking for some that fit our cars and will make it easier to install a racing harness.

Thanks,
Rebecca
R Harvey

MX5s (miata) are a popular choice almost a direct fit and have built in headrest speakers to blow the ear drums out. What! Did you say something

for actual racing seats ask for bill young, he is replacing a carieo ?? seats with a better upgrade, you might beable to score his older racing seats ... not to old maybe 3 years?

Prop
Prop

Rebecca, I uses some modified Nissan seats in my Midget to start with. They worked ok with a 5 point harness after I cut a slot in the seat pan and cover for the crotch strap. The same would have to be done to Miata or Fiero seats for the crotch strap, the shoulder and hip straps should fit fine. I now have a Kirkey ProStreet drag seat installed and love the support when I autocross the car. I also needed to sit lower in the car because of my height, so I bolted it directly to the floor pan, if you're under 6' I'd suggest using some type of raised mount. http://www.kirkeyracing.com/index.php?link=browse&code=Series41
The down side is that the higher seat sides make exiting the car a bit more difficult, especially with the top (hood) up. Might now be as bad for someone of less height though, I'm 6'4".
You're going to be limited to about a 18" seat pan width to clear the tunnel, I used a 17" seat in my car and it's a very tight fit in a few places against the tunnel, but my car's tunnel is modified, should have a bit more room with a stock chassis.
If you plan on using the seat for regular daily driving as well as competition, then you'll want some additional padding, especially lumbar support.
I did shop around and the Kirkey was pretty affordable as well, around $250 per seat including upholstery.



Bill Young

A better view of the base seat. Beware of the later type "street racer" seats with the shoulder support wings near the top of the seat back, they'll rub on the cockpit surround and not fit. Lesson learned the hard way a few years ago.


Bill Young

OMP do a fantastic seat that fits - I will try and get details for you

but we manage to spend 3 days solid in them on the CircuitRetro rally without too much in the way of back ache or blood loss to the legs - and thats even with a constant back injury ;)

PeterJMoore

We use a 'Cobra Monaco S' in the racer on fabricated fixed mounts. It fits perfectly, even with door bars, and doesn't rub anywhere.


Deborah Evans

search for some cobra classic bucket's if you want a classic sports look
Onno Könemann

if you had a sprite these would have looked very cool!


Its a race-seat that fits a big healy and the tekst was embroided on.
Then the wife of the Healy owner didnt like them...
I think they look cool and comphy.


Arie de Best

From what ive heard Big-Healy seats are smaller then spridget seats.
I believe they were Sparco's.


Arie de Best

Recaro Profi SPG

Better than any of the recent porn being posted - or maybe im just strange.

May i suggest a google search, I fear I may get lost in a world of self pleasure if I do it.

Pete
PeterJMoore

Always been a fan of the Corbeau GT4 (cloth head rest and fronts with the brass vent rivets).

Had one in my midget in the seventies and it was great - see they are making them again - tempting !

R.
richard boobier

"Recaro Profi SPG"

Oooooof @ the price!
Deborah Evans

I had Sparco in the old race car and Corbeau in the current one, but there's no way I could live with them in a street car. MX5 seats probably offer you the support you'd like without the dramas of standing in the car then sliding yourself down into the seat.
Mike Allen

well, at autocross I sat in a lot of other seats today to get an idea of what they were like. I think that the ones in the Miatas would fit my Midget.

Rebecca
R Harvey

Hi

What is the current view of what available seats fit please for circuit racing or hillclimb/sprints?

Do I need an in date FIA seat for hillclimb/sprints in UK now in road going car if not using the original seat?

Thinking of using a replica Donald Healey Motor Company Sebring seat with a helmet pad on the roll bar, or a Mk1 Lotus Elise seat. The former would not be FIA certified seat, but car is 1961 year so might be a period modification and period exempt for any requirement for an FIA seat?

Any difference between ModProd, Sports Libre and racing requirements on seats?

Thanks
Mike



M Wood

Further to my message posted today in May 2021, what made me thinks of Lotus Elise Series 1 seats was this car: https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1327673

Pic uploaded.

Aftermarket Lotus Elise seats: https://www.corbeau-seats.com/product/le-pro-lotus-elise-exige-s1-s2-seat/

I would go for secondhand one if I could find one.

Cheers
Mike






M Wood

Hi Mike

I don't think seats need to be FIA compliant for speed events and I don't think the dating regs apply - the Blue Book will confirm.

I have a Sparco Sprint in my Sprite. It was the narrowest affordable seat that I could find when I bought it in 2014.

I recommend trying a few for size if there's a dealer anywhere near you. We are only 30 mins from Demon Tweeks so we paid them a visit and were able to try quite a few for size. Although I bought mine some time before Christmas their normal practice at that time of year is to deliver some time in the New Year so that you get maximum time if dating applies in your class. It was a toss-up between the Sparco and a Cobra. The Cobra was a bit more expensive but if I had realised that Cobras are made just up the road in Telford I would have gone for that one.

I felt I needed a race seat as my head was proud of the rollover bar with the standard seat. I don't think I'm quite compliant with the clearance rule but rollover bars aren't compulsory for my class so it has never been checked.

The seat is bolted direct to the floor with obligatory 3mm plates beneath and additional ones on top. Also, to maximise the seat to wheel distance, the front is raised on 1" square steel tubing to tilt it back a bit. One advantage of the Sparco's narrowness is that it can sit at an angle which brings your legs and feet in line with pedals. As it holds you better at the hips I think it could be quite uncomfortable if your legs were forced to accommodate the angle needed to reach the pedals.

There is next to no padding beneath you, so a long run on stiffened and lowered suspension could be a bit of an ordeal, I sometimes add a piece of Karrimat for a bit of cushioning for road runs but for a long run I'd be adding something thicker and softer! A seat from a production car may well be more comfortable if the majority of your use is going to be on the road rather than the track.

Colin
C Mee

Seats for speed events don't need to be in-date FIA homologated for UK national events. Unless the series Supplementary Regulations (SRs) mandate it which is pretty unlikely.
Daniel

Tagging onto this thread in a similar vein... who has harnesses and if you are doing sprints/hillclimbs in road going classes:

1. Are non-FIA spec harnesses OK (I assume yes, if a standard seat belt is OK).
2. Do they have to be four point or are three point OK?
3. How have people gone about mounting them?

Mike, I have done a couple of hillclimbs with non-standard, but non-FIA seats (Toyota MR2 seats). Nothing I could see in the regs and no questions asked. But as I understand it, speed events (against the clock) are different to racing (multiple cars at the same time and more things to crash in to!)

Cheers,
Malc.
Malcolm

It's Mee again!

Malcolm, I use a Safety Devices four point harness. It's not a full race-type harness as it has a normal seat-belt type clip and normal 50mm straps. MGOC offer a similar one made by Securon.

My understanding is that race-type harnesses requiring two-handed fitting are not allowed for road use but the normal clip makes it acceptable. Others may be able to confirm or correct me on this.

The harness lower clips into ring bolts in the normal seat belt mounting. This has allowed me to retain the original three-point belt which is sometimes better for road use as it's easier to lean forward to check the road at blind junctions.

The rear straps can be clipped into ring bolts and I believe can be fitted in the rear floor above the axle and still be within the correct angle range. My roll-over bar has a harness bar fitted, so the straps are wrapped round that and secured with the threading plate. Attaching the belts to the harness bar means that the straps are mounted higher so sit at a better angle.

This set-up has never been queried by scrutineers or MOT testers.
C Mee

Hi,

In reference to Mike's comment about circuit racing seats, I have a Tillett B6 screamer which is used by a fair few of the racers in the MGCC midget championship. Also used by plenty of other historic racers. Good fit for the midget. It's very good and reportedly (not by me fortunately!) to be very safe in the case of a shunt.

They are expensive but it is FIA certified. They are also pretty firm and a a tight fit so worth checking if the model fits before buying. Certainly only for race use and would be horrible in a road car.

The FIA thing for seats is very confusing. My crude understanding is that for circuit racing in the UK, only a MSUK/MSA cert is needed, and this is the case for many of the cheaper seats. However, if you want to race on the continent, the FIA rules apply and as I have aspirations to take the car to Spa at some point, this is why I chose a FIA-certed seat.

Happy to be corrected if I've interpreted this wrongly or if regs have moved on.

James
J Fettiplace

It’s my understanding too that for sprints the seat requirements are pretty flexible. I have gone for. Sparco Sprint as they are pretty affordable especially if you get one past it’s FIA expiry date . I have tried to improve my harness mounting too to get it to a better angle from the current set up and go for a 6 point so I used an MSA spec door bar as a harness bar . I have to say it’s not been scrutineered yet but it looks ok according to the blue book .


Mike Fairclough

Hi all

Very belated thanks for all the helpful replies!

I will check the UK Blue Book regs for this year and then hopefully rummage in shed for an old Corbeau seat or a padded ali American seat that I got from a Frogeye racer.

I have got some road car three point belts made up (great folk at Quickfit Safety Belts) that use the original twin bolt upper fitting which misses my Aleybars rear bar with a removeable diagonal but with a clip in fitting to an eye bolt for the lap section (I can then easily clip in a competition harness using the lower eye bolts plus two extra eyebolts for the upper mount).

Talking of harnesses, Schroth make something that could be acceptable to MoT testers with a push button but also to FIA spec: https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/p/schroth-profi-ii-fe-asm-saloon-harness-20271
(expensive but could be good for my Locost when goes to SVA testing and could be used on the Sprite too).

Cheers
Mike
M Wood

I had problems finding any narrow enough - even for an mgb roadster, which of course is wider than a Midget. I wanted a kind of GT40 look, so bought these relatively affordable 55mm wide ones (most sports seats are 60mm wide - but that's too wide) from BB Seats http://www.bbclassics.co.uk/BB2seats.html
I use them with three point harnesses and an Aley National roll bar. They're pretty comfortable. To make them fit I didn't use the runners (to get them lower), but used a couple of flat adaptor plates underneath the seats that picked up the seat mounting holes and also the existing MG floor holes.
Peter Allen

This thread was discussed between 24/06/2010 and 23/01/2022

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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