Seats -suspension or not?

[xterra]

Politics. Plain and simple.

Worst argument. Now every crappy seat not passing FIA can blame politics.

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[hoeker]

Check out Ross Hoek's crash from redbud two weeks ago. Watch how he stays put in the seat and not tossed around. A crash like this would have resulted in broken collar bones at the very least like other drivers have experienced in the last couple of years in a suspension seat. Ross was the first to use an ISP seat in off-road and has a few pretty good crashes, all very different types of crash's and forces on his body and has walked away from every one barely even sore.

Thanks for posting that, i hadn't even seen it myself yet.

-In the RedBud roll last week i actually bent my shoulder supports a little but i only had some minor bruises and seat belt "hickies"

-At Charlotte last year i landed very hard and flat on the drivers side of my truck. the force actually "blew out" the side of my seat scrapping it and my belts but i only had a sore elbow and broken foot from hitting the roll cage. Kris said it takes 8,000 lbs of force to bend the side of his seat. my thigh generated that force. this was my oldest seat and his new ones are tougher in that area. My Charlotte wreck took my truck out of the next 5 rounds of racing but i was at work the following Monday.

-my first season in pro-lite i took another hard tumble in one of the fastest parts of the track at Crandon, truck went end over end then barrel rolled, we took it home on a flat bed, i was fine.

- Kris has a couple videos of me on the ISP website, my first crash in an ISP seat in Texas and a lap at Crandon. the lap at Crandon looks really boring because i don't move in my seat but watch the back ground to see what the truck is going through. Compare this video to footage of drivers in suspension seats and the difference is clear.

- there isn't a much rougher ride than a pro-light, i get out of the truck fresh every time because of my ISP.

before i switched to ISP i was injured several times in different wrecks in my suspension seat, i will never go back.

i love Robbie and the crew at Mastercraft and Impact but i don't believe suspension seats belong on the race track. i have a set for my dune truck as they work great for that but in short course racing if you're fast its not about if you will crash, but when and how bad. Kris at ISP has the sled testing and SFI certifications to back up his seats, call him. Unfortunately i have plenty of real world tests of his seat and i am a believer. i also don't believe the testing that supports the use of suspension seats to prevent injury in the case of a land mine crosses over into a real world racing crash.

Become one with your seat and your truck and you will be amazed how good your body feels after every race no matter how rough.

http://ispseats.com/id6.html

Pat, Talk to Kris at PRI next fall....

[GunnSlinger]

Being as there are different kinds of seats all around out there .. here is a good video that Lucas Oil and Robbie Pierce made regarding his crash at Glen Helen



He emphasizes on containment (do to portions of his body exiting the truck while in the air) and oddly enough he wasn't using the seat that he makes that has the most containment.

.. maybe thats where we have it all wrong??.. maybe it's the "smaller" suspension seats (the ones that look like they are a shooting target silhouette) are the ones causing the problems and should be in question and not the high end 3g seats??

wonder what seat Rob Mac was using when he got into his accident last year? I believe barlow (i THINK) has added his own supports to his seats to help his containment after a couple of his bad wrecks.

[jsp95]

ISP, the only seat that should be used in short coarse, All the monster truck drivers use them-Why??? I have C5 and C6 fused and the only way I can race is with a full containment seat. We also bring all the safety parts all the way down to the floor, Myan and Dondel had leg injuries, so we made leg and knee safety parts for our truck. We need to use black boxes to record the info, so we can learn from these crashes, but that would cost money and the racing bodies wont pay- until someone is killed ( and that would have to be one of the big stars of the sport). Mastercraft is building a hard seat????Why, that would go against their claim that their seats are the best. Maybe they should figure a way to mount the belts to the seat, no more loose belts when your moving up and down. This guy just wants answers and is not trying to wreck mastercraft. Help and improve the industry.
Ross,thanks for helping me with my seat choice-Jeff

[Desert68]

We need to use black boxes to record the info, so we can learn from these crashes, but that would cost money and the racing bodies wont pay- until someone is killed ( and that would have to be one of the big stars of the sport).

A number of years ago following a few serious incidents in IndyCar GM/Chevy/Delphi stepped up and developed a black box program that was successful and a number of driver safety improvements came as a result. I think it'd be a bit much to expect a sanctioning body or an aftermarket manufacturer to implement such a program, but it's certainly something Toyota, Ford, etc, could put in place. Another example would be Ford stepping in with R&D resources after Eric Medlen lost his life while testing in a John Force Racing funny car.

[jsp95]

And what seat does the NHRA use?????? ISP

[D-rek]

My partner and co driver in this crash were in Sparco's walked away with minor bumps and bruises that is enough for me...

[pdailey]

My partner and co driver in this crash were in Sparco's walked away with minor bumps and bruises that is enough for me...

I've been through plenty of hard g outs and crashes in my suspension seat. Again, different strokes for different folks....

[CaptinCrash]

Dezert people 4 thiers footage of a prolite rolling and the driver geting thrown around like a rag doll in a sparco

[Jimmy8]

Just seems to me like every time someone gets hurt in a crash it's immediately, the suspension seat did it. They don't take into account many other factors. Not all suspension seats are the same. I race in a Mastercraft 3G. I wouldn't be caught dead in another brand suspension seat. I have seen the difference, and believe me there is one. Lets not group all suspension seats in the same catagory. I will endorse the 3G, which is considered a suspension seat. I won't endorse some of the other crap brands that pump out "Suspension Seats". Grouping all in one is not fair to a company like Mastercraft who spends millions of dollars in research to help keep us safe, then these copycats pump stuff out that is not the same, but show similarities, but internally is a completely different seat. Kind of like these Taiwan made 50cc dirtbikes. They look like a Honda, but they damn sure aren't one!