Page 64 - April 2023
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Track Rat s continued from page 63
Sadly, there was one more hitch in my get-along.
Hubby is driving my car now. As far as I have been
t
able to find, they don? make safe, adjustable racing
seats that would leave enough room for his helmet.
It?s not my fault that he?s 10 inches taller than me.
Sigh. What a terrifying drag. I was ready to push
Aarrrggghhhh!
the ?Checkout? button on the seats I had been
assured would fit me and my car, allow me to see I shared this sad tale with Andy Pilgrim, Pro Racer and
over the dashboard and side mirrors, and still leave coach. He just laughed and said he had co-driven an
room for my helmet. All that excitement for endurance car with a teammate that was a foot taller
nothing, and I had to go back to braking with my than him. You just need a custom-molded seat insert.
right foot to avoid getting trapped under the To prove the point, he walked over and pulled his out
steering column again. of the Corvette he was using to lead us around the
track to show me. He said it made him a lot more
A couple of years later I was sharing this
stable in the turns in a standard, somewhat worn out
intellectual journey of disappointment with an
Corvette seat.
instructor for the Alabama Region of PCA. [Did I
mention that those guys run great events?They do ? I am delighted to report that after all this up and
t
you should check them out if you haven? already.] down, I think we are back in the hunt for harnesses
and seats. I just have to connect with a place to have
He has access to extensive information on crashes
my rear modeled for a custom seat insert. I wonder if
t
and runs with a harness bar. Don? quote me on
it is like getting custom footbeds for my ski boots
t
these numbers because they aren? exact, but they
where they put my foot in a heavy-duty plastic bag
are in the right ballpark. In hundreds of Porsche
with a heated footbed and a tube to pull a vacuum on
roll-over crashes there were fewer than a handful
it. Maybe my seat will shrink! Or maybe not.
of examples where an A-pillar collapsed. This
t
sounded like great news to me. I can? even envision how this is going to work, but I?m
looking forward to finding out.
As an aside, he mentioned that the numbers were
not nearly that good for Corvettes. So much for my Go fast and have fun! Sharon
idea of adding a Z06 to my track collection ? they Bonus: Update on Fast Feet Practice Results
are still blisteringly fast, and relatively inexpensive
Recall our discussion of ?Fast Feet? last month. At right
though.
are the results of my first day back at the track after
This was great news for my Porsche. I could go practicing this over the winter months. This picture is
back to shopping for a harness bar, harnesses, and worth 1,000 words to me, or FOUR SECONDS
racing seats. [PCA requires you to have the same whichever comes first. Then, I spent the entire next
setup in both front seats. They used to allow day trying to get the 2:19 again. The work never ends.
harnesses in one and 3-point in the other, but no
more.]
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