Hiya James,
I sat in Greg Malaure's race car today, his is bolted to the floor on Sparco or Momo sidemounts, it fits me to a T...

I'll see U at Wakefield- but I've got to pull the head off, fit new valve seals and adjust the ports a bit bigger first! And I have yet another secret weapon too....

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Man, this Cobra seat is great compared to what I had (Alfetta GTVs). When I first got it I thought it might be a bit `hard', if you know what I mean.. (think skinny butt...) but after driving from my place to Wakefield Pk and back I was fresh as a daisy.. well, no backaches..

It doesn't have any springs in the seat to bounce you in the air on Hume Hwy ripples either. Ausminis4u knows what I mean- he was riding shotgun in the Alfa seat....

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

I went through the Revolution racegear on friday.........and had a chat to the bloke about the legalities of it all etc....he was saying something about if the seats fixed its not really legal as passengers cant get passed etc.....

cause the Cobra Monaco/Tropheys look very good indeed:)

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[Maverick] 1971 Mini K

Mini T ti is my understanding that you can have fixed seats, just that it is illegal for passengers in the back if you have them, due to the reasons you mentioned.

If there are no passengers in the back... I *think* it is legal

I've only got 1 Cobra Trophy seat.
Car is a 1970- no belts in back, so I don't carry people there.
Front passenger's seat IS a tilt forward, so no problem I can see. It's an Alfa one and bloody heavy, so next week i'll bung a stock 850 one in there...

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

thats probably an idea.....if u fit one drivers seat e.g cobra trophey/monaco etc and leave the standard seat in there, the legalities of the seats fitting may be overcome. I.e they can get in one side but not the other.

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[Maverick] 1971 Mini K

I'll weigh the friggin' Alfa seats tomorrow, but I reckon they're 35-40 Kg each. Drivers one had height adjust...!!

The Trophy weighs 9.8kg, and an 850 one weighs f'all too, so it's like losing one passenger.. you can feel the difference off the line!

<edit> anybody want some Alfa seats, real cheap??

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

I dont think it works like that. Far's I know if the rear seat is fitted and existed in the car originaly it has to be accesible no matter what, even if you dont carry any passengers. And it has to be accesible from both sides coz if your left side if blocked/ on fire in a crash passengers still have to get out somehow.

I think its basicaly down to the cop as usual, they can be as lax or tough as they want.

Hmmm.. I'll just lose the back seat too then, more weight loss!
My bro's got a half cage in the 323 rally car, no back seat, 4 point harness, Saas fixed bucket, no worries. He's had it like this for years...

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Anyone sat in a Sparco Ultra?

http://www.modyourcar.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=15&products_id=1121

or any Sparco seats for that matter, I'm looking at getting some race type seats, and was looking at the Cobra Imola or Monaco, but found these and they look pretty cool.

I'd love to test some out, but I'm in Perth and there's a serious lack of places to see them.

Any help?

BTW, drmini, hows the seats going? worth the money?

Cheers

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GP

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http://www.reflectionsindigital.com/RID/Mini/Mini.html

I sat in a few Sparco seats. They do look nice but are all out of my price range.. (I'm `between assignments'...)

The Cobra Trophy is great. It is a little wide for my butt, but on a daily driver you don't want it too tight. Yes it is comfortable.

Mounting is solid as a rock. I made it up from RHS tube- 30x2 for the front X-piece with the 2 mounting lugs, 25x1.6 for the rest. 4 tubes are welded thru the RHS to carry the seat bolts. All the welding was done with oxy and nickel bronze rod.. as I used to use for making Formula Vee and Ford spaceframes years ago..
It mounts on the Mini seat brackets at the front, the back I haven't bolted down- another welded X-piece sits flat on the floor. I don't really want to drill holes thru the carpets and the floor... Doesn't need it.
Although the mounting frame is only bolted to the stock mounts it doesn't move about at all.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Just reading the length of this thread, as I'm always interested in better seats. Nobody mentioned engineering though - it was my impression that any seat that isn't factory has to be engineered. Not sure about Cobras with custom subframes, but I thought DIY frames need engineering as far as I knew. Anyone engineered their mods, or is it legal, or????

Anto.

As far as i know(from secondary sources), any fabricated rails need engineering approval. I still havent found any backup to say its true though. Ring Revolution Racegear...im sure theyd know the ins and outs of it all.

I should of asked while i was there.

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[Maverick] 1971 Mini K

Those TX5 seats are pretty wide. I fitted a pair of them to my old GTS monaro, and they were about as wide as the original seats. I think you'd be struggling to get em in a mini.

REG's in QLD last time I read them stated that seat mounts must be constructed by a "COMPETENT WELDER". I have my welding ticket, so i'm competent. But I cant weld for crap. I dunno, I made mounts up for my old seats, and never had a problem with them, they were nice and solid and went through the original mountholes.

EDIT..... I was looking through seats the other day, and found one with the model name CLUBMAN. CORBEAU is the manufacturers name. Reasonable pricing by the look of it on their entire range. Cept the fact I just realised the prices are in Yank dollars.
http://www.wickedbodies.net/Cor-index.htm


EDIT...........as of may 2004 The FIA has recently issued a notice withdrawing the homologation of all Corbeau Competition Seats, previously homologated to the FIA 8855-1999 standard. As the seats no longer are considered to comply with the standard, they may no longer be used in any competition where compliance with the 8855-1999 standard is compulsory, with immediate effect.

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"He's always been a dickhead, He always is a dickhead, He will always be a dickhead. So stop complaining when he acts like one."

There is a bloke in the ACT mini club who just bought a copy of the ACT regs, I'll get him to have a look and see what local regs are. I believe he also had some MR2 seats he wanted to fit to his car. And apparently Mirage seats fit but they aren't exactly very racey seats.
I would have thought that using the original mount holes on the cross member with a seat that is designed to be bolted down at the back aswell would not be allowed.