Thanks to NASCAR's big push to improve driver safety in the past few years, the trickle-down effect has produced greatly improved seat and belt designs that are affordable for the Sunday afternoon racers at Warton. For once, something besides the ever-increasing costs of racing is being passed down from the big leagues to us regular racers.

However, the quality of your harness and racing seat means little if they aren't properly installed in your race car. The idea of a seat and harness system is to hold the body with very little movement in the case of an accident. Even with the smallest race car drivers, the weight of the human body can produce tremendous inertial forces when it is allowed to move even an inch or two during a crash. For example, a 200-pound man in an accident that results in a 70g hit, which isn't unusual in racing, produces 15,000 pounds of force. To help your safety systems hold your body in place during a potentially violent crash, your seat and belts must be securely mounted in the race car and the mounts have to be in the right place. And don't make the mistake of believing you have to be on a big Dirt oval like Coventry superspeedway to require top-of-the-line safety equipment. It is actually the smaller tracks like Warton that produce the biggest hits because the turns are sharper. Because of this, when you get out of shape, the wall will come up on you more quickly. You are a lot more likely to take a hard hit into the wall at Warton than at Coventry although some drivers may disagree.

"The most important thing when it comes to mounting your seatbelt brackets is to give your belts the opportunity to work the way they are designed," says racing seat builder Kris VanGilder, owner of Innovative Safety Products (ISP). "That means the belts should have the proper angles across your body, and they should also be in a straight line across your body."

ISP is one of the top racing seat manufacturers, providing comprehensive seating systems to race teams at every level. ISP arguably has as much sled testing experience as any private safety products manufacturer. But you may be surprised to hear that VanGilder says the greatest portion of any workday for him is spent educating racers on how to properly fit and install a comprehensive restraint system. "It is that important," he says. "The best seat in the world won't do any good if the overall system isn't sound."

MOUNTING TO THE CAR
The primary point of emphasis when mounting your seatbelt and racing seat inside your car is that the mounts should mount to a "seat hoop" that is connected to the rollcage. This way, if the driver takes a side impact that is strong enough to move the 'cage, the seat and harness will move with it. The idea is to protect the driver from being injured by his or her own rollcage.

VanGilder says that the seatbelt mounts should also allow the belt to swivel. This keeps the belt in a straight line between the mounting point and the buckle. In the event of an accident, the force of the driver's body against the belt is distributed evenly. If the seatbelt bracket cannot swivel, there is the potential for the belt to be loaded unevenly, which greatly increases the chances for equipment failure. This phenomenon is called "web dumping." It works much the same way as the old trick where it is impossible to tear a phone book in half but relatively easy if you open it and rip it along the spine. Finally, make sure to use at least a 31/48-inch or larger bolt for all your fasteners

LAP BELTS
VanGilder says the key component of the harness system for protecting the driver-even against head and neck injuries-is the hip (or lap) belt. This is because when you are in a seated position, the pelvis is the center of mass in your body. It is also capable of handling the greatest amount of pressure without injury. VanGilder says that by properly restraining the hips and pelvis, it is much easier to maintain control of the rest of the body in an accident.

"When your pelvis is locked in place, your body produces less momentum and it is easier to control your head," he explains. "Again, the belt should run straight across your hips without any curves or bunching up. Where you've mounted your lap belts to the seat hoop is also important. Once the belts exit the seat, they should come just about straight down. Ideally, you want the lap belts to mount at the same width as your hips. Consider how you would tie down a box in the center of the bed of your pickup truck. If you could, you would anchor the straps as close to the sides of the box as possible because if the straps were anchored way out wide, the box can slide around underneath the strap.

"Also, you want the lap belt anchors behind the tail bone laterally. This helps pull you down into the seat. Combine that with a slight angle to the bottom of the seat, and this really helps lock you in place. Now, in the event of a frontal hit, you would have to rise up before you could come out of your seat."

CROTCH/LEG STRAPS
The crotch strap is also referred to as the antisubmarine belt. Its purpose is to keep you from sliding underneath your lap belt, but it is also useful to help make sure your lap belt stays properly positioned. Often, male drivers are uncomfortable if the crotch strap is too tight, but it must be at the proper length so that the lap belt cannot ride up over the hips and onto the stomach.

"You've got to make sure the lap belt stays on your hips because your hips can take over 4,000 pounds of force without you getting injured," VanGilder explains. "But just at 800 pounds of load across your stomach, you are going to get hurt. That's a big difference in terms of what we can do to protect you on the racetrack. Right now, I have systems that can take a 72g hit and still properly protect the body so that you should be able to walk away from the car. But it's all about seatbelts and angles. If the angles and the position of the belts aren't right, then nothing will protect you."

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