Does any one make a hard bar and 5 point harness system for our cars?

 

I have seen nothing specific for the F-Type. You will need to custom fit and reinforce the attachment points. Unfortunately, a lot of trim work to cut through for the shoulder straps.

 

What about the fifth point? The only five point harnesses I've used come up through the seat base. That means replacing the seat with one set up for it, or cutting the existing and doing whatever upholstery modifications are necessary.

Perhaps I'm missing something.

 

No you aren't. That too if you want to do it right.

 

I was more wondering how one might do it wrong. Is there any way to get five points without seat modifications? Significant seat modifications?

 

You shouldn't cut or modify a seat for the submarine hole. A seat without it is not designed for the forces encountered when the harness is "used" for safety. You would also need what is sometimes referred to as a tank plate to mount the harness to.it usually goes behind the seat at the rear mounting point and has connections for all five/six belts.
I am a little surprised a the lack of off the shelf racing gear for these cars. I have only been an owner for a month but looking for things like springs, wheels, sway bars for handling and then safety equipment like harnesses and bars or even roll bars/cages, especially since there seem to be so many convertibles,has been disappointing. Perhaps I am just looking in the wrong places. That stuff for my other car was plentiful.

 

If enough force is placed on that strap to deform the seat, a destroyed seat is the least of your worries.

These cars are too severely overweight to be considered viable track contenders. There just isn't enough market demand to warrant additional products on the aftermarket. With H&R and Velocity AP, we certainly have adequate spring options.

 

I'm not surprised. The car is more GT than Sports.

I'd really like to see a Superlight version. I think the Miata I picked up while my F-Type is being repaired is something like 1200 pounds lighter. I'm not saying that the F-Type should be 1/3 lighter than it is, because the Miata is tiny and pretty austere, but 15-20% weight reduction would really be exciting. There were some luxury options I couldn't exclude that I really didn't want. Weight, weight, weight.

 

I guess I should have said you should not modify a seat to accept a harness if it is not designed with that in mind. I know we have the shoulder pass throughs but are they really functional?

 

Without a harness bar the point is moot.

 

No, what you have are overstuffed wingback armchairs with hole in the backrest. It takes two mechanics to lift them off the workshop floor.

Just no...

 

Thanks for the discussion. I can agree that the F-Type, as is, is too heavy to be really comptitive. However, if I want to do an HPDE just for fun, I still want to be strapped in pretty tight.

 

Just get a CG Lock.

 

I was just going to say that. Use them in both my other cars and they work really well.

 

I tried a CG Lock a few years ago and it was OK until it the mechanism on the release lever failed.