Quote Originally Posted by Reeceracer View Post
Well here's a story I just have to relate which will probably cause some conjecture....
A few months back a good friend of mine bought a racecar which had Racetech Halo seats fitted. Now being an older gentleman he is not as limber as he used to be and although not a small car he really struggled to extricate himself between the seat wings/roll cage and roofline. Another real obvious problem was that you lost all peripheral vision with these particular seats. Not a good thing when going into Turn 1 at Puke/Hampton and there's a car alongside......
So we sold them and put some "standard" race seats in it and now not only can he get in and out safely and quickly but there is a lot less chance of causing an accident as he can see and sense other cars around him much better.
I drove this car before and after and agreed with the issues.
Does the whole cotton wool theory just go too far sometimes?.....
I would hesitate to blame the seat, as there are clearly installation issues in this case for which, perhaps, the seat is taking the brunt of the blame, whereas there are other things to consider. The head restraint system clearly has side vision issues, all the manufacturers mention that.
I'm personally unsure about the applications in which some of the HR type seats (they are not halo) have been used, especially in cars where vision is an issue, however they have been shown clearly in testing to give a large margin of neck safety. Proviso, exit and entry times are actually mandated, would it have complied in this case?
Yes, I do work in the industry now.