I drove my brother's mini a few times in auto-X and got hooked; so went out and bought a S2000. I find myself in auto-X holding myself in place with the steering wheel -- not so good for steering-- or pressing down hard on the dead pedal, again trying to hold myself in place. Neither works very well. My brother's car had a harneess and it made a bigger differeence than I would have thought. That and I'm going considerably faster. I considered just putting in a harness but heard that it wasn't a smart thing to do without a higher rollbar. How do you experienced drivers keep yourself planted in the seat without adding a rollbar to safely use a harness? Any tricks of the trade anyone willing to share? I've tried jerking the shoulder strap so it locks then sliding the seat forward. This doesn't seem to work so well. It always lets go.

 

Here's exactly what I do:

1) position the seat where I want it
2) using my foot on the dead pedal, press myself back and down into the seat as hard as I can.
3) pull up on the shoulder belt with my right hand, making it as tight as possible across my lap and close to my chest.
4) while holding 2 & 3, breathe out
5) holding the shoulder belt at my left shoulder with my left hand, jerk the belt down so that it locks.

At that point, the belt is squeezing me into the seat and it can't develop enough slack to release.

You can buy a racing lap belt if the above doesn't work.

 

Shoulder harnesses are not legal in stock class in convertible cars not equipped with an SCCA-approved rollbar/cage.

Lapbelts are legal and can help quite a bit.

If you don't care about keeping with stock-class rules, the best solution is a good race seat. Makes a huuuge difference in one's abillity to detect feedback and control the car.

 

I now have a rollbar to solve this exact problem. What I did before the rollbar was to twist the belt near the latch before clicking it in. Has the same affect as a lap belt, although the latter is probably a little easier to adjust to the right tension.

 

I do care about staying in stock-class.
I'll try the orthonormal 1-5 steps and see if this works.
Thanks.

 

Tedster turned me onto a belt lock for child seats. They cost about $2 from Toys R' Us. Basically, its a hunk of metal that locks the lap and sholder belts together, locking them into a static position.

 

Can you post a pic of that belt lock?

 

I don't have a picture handy and I couldn't find it listed on their website. Its basically a flat H-shaped piece of metal and you loop both belts through it. Tension alone locks it into position. I can take a photo of the thing but the damn Photo Album feature is busted.

Here is a product that achieves a similar result, but is not the same design.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00...0456971-8794559

 

Looking at that link you might think I'm nuts, but these things actually work.

 

I will certainly go to Toys R' Us, which will further confirm to my wife that I bought a toy not a car.