doug in nc
Spectator
I've been asked to provide some information regarding seat and harness specs used in Pro-Am. The harness and Seat ratings will be pretty cut and dry per the FD Pro-Am rule books and even the positioning of both items are described a bit in some other areas of the rules and readily available online. However, seat brackets and means of attaching the harnesses can be a different story all together so I'll try to address these issues one by one.
Disclaimers: I'm not speaking for anyone or as a representative of any organization. I'm taking a few rule books, doing some homework and spitting out a tech article for your enjoyment. I reference certain rule books but I'm not speaking on behalf of that sanctioning body. I'm using pictures and links to vendors and parts but I'm not endorsing them or suggesting anything of that nature.
With that out of the way some rule books can be found here:
2009 FD Pro-Am Rule Book (Complete)
http://www.evergreendrift.com/wp-content/uploads/20092_pro-am_dcs_crr.pdf
2010 FD Pro-Am Rule Book Supplement (read that as "update")
http://streetwisedrift.com/pdf/10-FD-Rules-2010 ProAm Baseline 100223-2.pdf
2011 SCCA General Competition Rules (AKA GCR, I use this simply as additional reference material, the FD PRO-AM rules are what should be enforced at an FD Sanctioned Pro-Am event)
http://cms.scca.com/documents/2011 Tech/2011 GCR-printed version.pdf
Your conventional 5 point harness is the bare minimum harness required for Pro-Am racing. It is required to have a lap belt portion that is three inches wide. The crotch belt(s) must be a two-inch wide belt and the shoulder harnesses can be a three-inch wide section of webbing OR a two-inch wide section with three-inch "professional padding". Unofficially speaking, I would say that "Professional padding" means it's purpose-built for racing and not something you pick up at Wal-Mart to prevent from chaffing your neck (even though chaffing is bad)
The "Y" harness shown above does not pass Pro-Am tech because it's specifically prohibited in Appendix B.6.
While the rule book doesn't mention a "V" harness, if you count the mounting points in this picture then there is only four. Adding an additional crotch belt will still not pass. It's my understanding here that the intention is to have two separate mounting points to retain the upper body against the seat. As such, the "V" harness will also not pass Pro-Am tech.
There are two types of certifications we run across the most when tech'ing these cars. SFI and FIA being the two most common certifying entities. An SFI rated harness will have a label that appears like this:
Noticeable differences between the two labels will be the way they identify the age/expiration date. An SFI label will have punch marks indicating when the harness was made. Many manufacturers will NOT have harness sitting on a shelf and will actually be made to order. This may delay shipping time a little BUT it's better to wait a week or two than have a harness that harness that is shorted by several months on it's permitted livespan. Which brings me to another difference. SFI certification expires on December 31st of the second year, after the year of manufacture.
So the year of manufacture for the harness above is 2010, the first year after manufacture is 2011 and 2012 is the second year after the year of manufacture. Therefore, the harness pictured above is good until December 31 of 2012.
An FIA label on the other hand will give an expiration date on it. It's pretty cut and dry, the label above indicates that the component it's on is no longer valid after 2014. The FD Pro-Am book says they recommend replacing the harness every 3 years but it's mandatory after the 5th year (basically, when it says it expires).
Each portion of a harness should have it's own label on it so it's important to look at a harness you're about to purchase USED to see if you're getting the whole story. It's also possible for a harness to have both an SFI and an FIA rating on it. In that situation I've personally defaulted to which ever gives the driver more time.
On that note, it's important to understand why a harness expires and what sort of issues come up as the harness ages. UV light and moisture deteriorate a harness which are the two biggest problems for harnesses that are properly installed. Per the Simpson race products website "Nylon loses approximately 12% of its strength when wet and has a propensity to absorb water." The link below shows a comparison of their Platinum series belts vs a standard nylon belt but after 12 months of ultraviolet degradation, the belt rating was given a "Fair" rating where as their Platinum was given a "Good" rating. Now, I'm sort of comparing apples to oranges since it's two different composition belts but you've got to figure at some point the nylon belt had a "good" rating.
That information was sourced from here:
http://simpsonraceproducts.com/safety-restraints-platinum-restraints-vs-standard-nylon/
After addressing the issue of belt age and the natural wear and tear of a harness system, I'll go in to placement. The Pro-Am book is pretty clear regarding the angles for the harness attachment points. See Appendix B, pages 40-42 of 09FDPA rules, there's pictures in there and it's pretty self-explanatory. The shoulder harness portions must attach to the main hoop horizontal bar OR a dedicated harness bar. The driver should be sitting in the seat and the harness extend straight back OR downward by no more than 20 degrees. They should mount as close to the back side of the seat (but not to the seat) as possible but NO MORE than 12 inches. Additionally, the harness must pass through the openings in the seat which, if you've got an FIA seat that's kind of a no-brainer.
The lap belt mounting points are to be rearward and downward of the driver's pelvis. If you look at figures 1, 2 and 4 then this will make sense as to where you can mount the harnesses. The crotch belt should be mounted below the seat and not off to the side, do not run the crotch belt over to a lap belt mounting point.
They go over the harness and angles pretty well so I'm going to move on to the next area of concern with harnesses which is the means of attaching it to the chassis, frame or roll cage. I saw a number of guys who bolted their harness right to the floor or seat brackets which is really bad.
I meant to print out some of Simpson's website for RA but didn't get around to. The page in question can be found here:
http://simpsonraceproducts.com/safety-restraints-mounting-brackets/
The biggest thing you want a harness mounting fixture to do is be moveable. It needs to allow for some movement changes throughout the driver's range of motion but also not strain the harness in manors it wasn't meant to be in the event of an accident. Most guys see an eyelet at the end of a harness and assume "Insert bolt here, tighten to floorboard" which is seriously bad. A metal triangular plate is meant to be held in to a bracket which allows movements OR bolted to a roll bar in such a way that the bracket can still flop around but NOT come off. See figures 1 and 2 in the link above.
Some harnesses come with clips on the end rather than an open eyelet. These clips can easily latch in to an eyelet that has been properly welded or bolted in to a fixture point.
When it comes to a harness, the more movement at the fixture point the better. However, keep an eye out for potential snags and opportunities to tear a harness. I've seen some really nice harness be put in harms way because they were bolted behind the driver yet laid across a seat track corner. This would have been bad if they fella got in a wreck but even regular use would have frayed his perfectly good harness.
Fatigue can come in any number of ways. Repeated direct sunlight exposure, water absorption, tears on edges inside the car or exposure to human oils and dirt/debris. Ultimately, having a harness that can be removed quickly and stored in a dry, safe place should be something you put in place. The harnesses may expire in 3-5 years but the damage may come a lot sooner if you aren't careful.
Thanks for reading,
Doug Moseley
Disclaimers: I'm not speaking for anyone or as a representative of any organization. I'm taking a few rule books, doing some homework and spitting out a tech article for your enjoyment. I reference certain rule books but I'm not speaking on behalf of that sanctioning body. I'm using pictures and links to vendors and parts but I'm not endorsing them or suggesting anything of that nature.
With that out of the way some rule books can be found here:
2009 FD Pro-Am Rule Book (Complete)
http://www.evergreendrift.com/wp-content/uploads/20092_pro-am_dcs_crr.pdf
2010 FD Pro-Am Rule Book Supplement (read that as "update")
http://streetwisedrift.com/pdf/10-FD-Rules-2010 ProAm Baseline 100223-2.pdf
2011 SCCA General Competition Rules (AKA GCR, I use this simply as additional reference material, the FD PRO-AM rules are what should be enforced at an FD Sanctioned Pro-Am event)
http://cms.scca.com/documents/2011 Tech/2011 GCR-printed version.pdf
Your conventional 5 point harness is the bare minimum harness required for Pro-Am racing. It is required to have a lap belt portion that is three inches wide. The crotch belt(s) must be a two-inch wide belt and the shoulder harnesses can be a three-inch wide section of webbing OR a two-inch wide section with three-inch "professional padding". Unofficially speaking, I would say that "Professional padding" means it's purpose-built for racing and not something you pick up at Wal-Mart to prevent from chaffing your neck (even though chaffing is bad)
The "Y" harness shown above does not pass Pro-Am tech because it's specifically prohibited in Appendix B.6.
While the rule book doesn't mention a "V" harness, if you count the mounting points in this picture then there is only four. Adding an additional crotch belt will still not pass. It's my understanding here that the intention is to have two separate mounting points to retain the upper body against the seat. As such, the "V" harness will also not pass Pro-Am tech.
There are two types of certifications we run across the most when tech'ing these cars. SFI and FIA being the two most common certifying entities. An SFI rated harness will have a label that appears like this:
Noticeable differences between the two labels will be the way they identify the age/expiration date. An SFI label will have punch marks indicating when the harness was made. Many manufacturers will NOT have harness sitting on a shelf and will actually be made to order. This may delay shipping time a little BUT it's better to wait a week or two than have a harness that harness that is shorted by several months on it's permitted livespan. Which brings me to another difference. SFI certification expires on December 31st of the second year, after the year of manufacture.
So the year of manufacture for the harness above is 2010, the first year after manufacture is 2011 and 2012 is the second year after the year of manufacture. Therefore, the harness pictured above is good until December 31 of 2012.
An FIA label on the other hand will give an expiration date on it. It's pretty cut and dry, the label above indicates that the component it's on is no longer valid after 2014. The FD Pro-Am book says they recommend replacing the harness every 3 years but it's mandatory after the 5th year (basically, when it says it expires).
Each portion of a harness should have it's own label on it so it's important to look at a harness you're about to purchase USED to see if you're getting the whole story. It's also possible for a harness to have both an SFI and an FIA rating on it. In that situation I've personally defaulted to which ever gives the driver more time.
On that note, it's important to understand why a harness expires and what sort of issues come up as the harness ages. UV light and moisture deteriorate a harness which are the two biggest problems for harnesses that are properly installed. Per the Simpson race products website "Nylon loses approximately 12% of its strength when wet and has a propensity to absorb water." The link below shows a comparison of their Platinum series belts vs a standard nylon belt but after 12 months of ultraviolet degradation, the belt rating was given a "Fair" rating where as their Platinum was given a "Good" rating. Now, I'm sort of comparing apples to oranges since it's two different composition belts but you've got to figure at some point the nylon belt had a "good" rating.
That information was sourced from here:
http://simpsonraceproducts.com/safety-restraints-platinum-restraints-vs-standard-nylon/
After addressing the issue of belt age and the natural wear and tear of a harness system, I'll go in to placement. The Pro-Am book is pretty clear regarding the angles for the harness attachment points. See Appendix B, pages 40-42 of 09FDPA rules, there's pictures in there and it's pretty self-explanatory. The shoulder harness portions must attach to the main hoop horizontal bar OR a dedicated harness bar. The driver should be sitting in the seat and the harness extend straight back OR downward by no more than 20 degrees. They should mount as close to the back side of the seat (but not to the seat) as possible but NO MORE than 12 inches. Additionally, the harness must pass through the openings in the seat which, if you've got an FIA seat that's kind of a no-brainer.
The lap belt mounting points are to be rearward and downward of the driver's pelvis. If you look at figures 1, 2 and 4 then this will make sense as to where you can mount the harnesses. The crotch belt should be mounted below the seat and not off to the side, do not run the crotch belt over to a lap belt mounting point.
They go over the harness and angles pretty well so I'm going to move on to the next area of concern with harnesses which is the means of attaching it to the chassis, frame or roll cage. I saw a number of guys who bolted their harness right to the floor or seat brackets which is really bad.
I meant to print out some of Simpson's website for RA but didn't get around to. The page in question can be found here:
http://simpsonraceproducts.com/safety-restraints-mounting-brackets/
The biggest thing you want a harness mounting fixture to do is be moveable. It needs to allow for some movement changes throughout the driver's range of motion but also not strain the harness in manors it wasn't meant to be in the event of an accident. Most guys see an eyelet at the end of a harness and assume "Insert bolt here, tighten to floorboard" which is seriously bad. A metal triangular plate is meant to be held in to a bracket which allows movements OR bolted to a roll bar in such a way that the bracket can still flop around but NOT come off. See figures 1 and 2 in the link above.
Some harnesses come with clips on the end rather than an open eyelet. These clips can easily latch in to an eyelet that has been properly welded or bolted in to a fixture point.
When it comes to a harness, the more movement at the fixture point the better. However, keep an eye out for potential snags and opportunities to tear a harness. I've seen some really nice harness be put in harms way because they were bolted behind the driver yet laid across a seat track corner. This would have been bad if they fella got in a wreck but even regular use would have frayed his perfectly good harness.
Fatigue can come in any number of ways. Repeated direct sunlight exposure, water absorption, tears on edges inside the car or exposure to human oils and dirt/debris. Ultimately, having a harness that can be removed quickly and stored in a dry, safe place should be something you put in place. The harnesses may expire in 3-5 years but the damage may come a lot sooner if you aren't careful.
Thanks for reading,
Doug Moseley
