Category: Road Racing

Installing Corbeau Seats in 2001 Z06 Corvette

While continuing my saga of preparing for my 2009 MARRS/SCCA season, I have completed another step of transforming my 2001 Z06 Corvette to meet the SCCA GCRs.  I now actually have put the passenger side Corbeau Racing Seat into the car along with the fire extinguisher.  While none of this applies to my future attempt to drive over 200 MPH, it is all required if I am going to race my own car this summer while attempting to maintain that precious “work / race” balance.

There were nine (9) basic steps to this procedure:

  1. Remove the old seat
  2. Attach the bracket to the new seat
  3. Attach the safety harness connectors to the seat
  4. Connect the harness under the seat
  5. Install the seat into the car on the four bolts in the floor
  6. Install the fire extinguisher on top of the front bolts
  7. Install the “harness bar” between the seat bolt and the harness bar
  8. Bolt down the four bolts
  9. Connect the remaining harness belts

Please note that the “harness bar” that runs behind the seats for the top two belts of the 5 point belt was already installed for me at Tony’s Corvettes.  Similarly, the harness connections down by the lap belt connectors was also installed there.

I decided to capture some of this work here in the blog with a few pictures.  I was considering bottling some of the sweat as well just to show I actually do some of these things myself…

Step 1: Remove the old seat
I do not have any pictures of me removing the old seat. It was done long ago on the previous attempts of installing Sparco seats into the car.  Below is a shot of the car without the seat in it.  Note the four bolts sticking up from the floor.  These are the bolts that the new seat will bolt down on.  The fire extinguisher is attached to the two front bolts in this picture.

I do have a shot of the old seat next to the new seat before it went in though. This allows some comparison of height, width, etc.

Step 2: Attach the bracket to the new  seat
I ordered two different brackets (driver and passenger) for the identical seats.  The main difference between the brackets is a connector for the “inside” lap belt connector.  Clearly the inside of the bracket is different for a driver or passenger seat (left or right).  In this case “inside” means towards the middle of the car versus the lap belt connector out near the door.  The bracket simply bolts onto the bottom of the seat with four bolts that come with the seat.  Below is a picture of the seat after the bracket was bolted onto it.

Step 3: Attach the safety harness connector  to the  seat
The lapbelt and inside belt connector need to be attached to the seat.  They can be seen on the side of the seat below.  The new safety harness connector is the solid metal part and the block part is to the old lap belt.

Step 4: Connect the harness under the seat

The photo below shows the connector for the leg belts being connected to the interior side of the seat.  This has to be done before you install the seat or you will never be able to connect it.

The result below shows that the leg belts are now sticking out of the middle of the seat.  This is the main part of the 5-point harness system as it contains the buckle that all of the 4 other belts (2 shoulder, 2 waist) will connect into.

Step 5: Install the seat into the car on the four bolts in the floor

and Step 6: Install the fire extinguisher on top of the front bolts

and Step 7: Install the “harness bar” between the seat bolt and the harness bar

Bolting the system to the floor all happens at once.  The seat is installed onto the bolts.  The fire extinguisher is bolted to the front seat bolts and the harness bar support is connected between the outside rear seat bolt and the harness bar above the seats.


Step 8: Bolt down the four bolts

From there it is as simple as tightening the four bolts.

Step 9: Connect the remaining harness belts

This is as simple as taking the belts and attaching them to the connectors on the harness bar and the other connectors.

Finally! Sit down, buckle up, and hold on! Or at least pretend to since I am in the passenger seat and no one is driving.

Most of this was extremely straight forward – aside from the fact that the lapbelt connectors and harness bar were already done by Tony’s Corvettes.

Ted Cahall

Maintaining that "work / race" balance

Some years have been easier to get out to the racetrack than others.  As I prepare for the 2009 season with the SCCA, I began to realize this year might be a bit challenging.  When I moved to AOL back in January of 2007, I had the best intentions of moving from Novice to Regional member in the SCCA.  Somewhere between January and the end of the year my job took over…   AOL asked me to add the Technologies division to my then current responsibilities and it was December before I knew it.   So there were no trips to the racetrack for me in 2007.

While I did make it out to the racetrack at Summit Point twice, an AMG driving event in the Poconos, and the dragstrip once in 2008, I can see 2009 may begin to parallel 2007.   This year started out with a bit of a bang as the head of the Products business unit moved on to be the digital head of Univision.  Much of his responsibilities moved over to me.   This week the head of our International division decided to leave the company and I was tapped to add the EU and Asia Search business to my US Search responsibilities.   Additionally the EU publishing tech groups and 1,500 person Indian development center in Bangalore will now report to me.   I started 2007 with a great trip to Bangalore and it now makes sense that I plan a trip there again in 2009 to spend some more time with the staff.

So it is time to break out the race schedules and coordinate the 19 hour flights to and from Bangalore along with some quality time with the folks there.   Hopefully I can stop by and see the Search staff in Ireland as well on the way there.  38 hours of flights in one week – before you get any work done on the ground…   That requires “work / race” balance.

Ted Cahall

Preparing for SCCA Racing in 2009

2009 should represent the next step for me in the SCCA Racing program.  I am a member of the Washington DC Region of the SCCA and have my Novice Racing License.  I obtained my Novice license after taking training up in Kent, WA at the ProFormance Racing School at Pacific Raceways.  Other than a quick trip to the dragstrip, most of my recent race practice has been out of Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia.

To move on to my Regional license, I need to compete in two regional races in 2009.  There is a series of races called MARRS (Mid-Atlantic Road Racing Series) that are held in the DC region each year.

I have modified my 2001 Z06 Corvette to comply with the SCCA GCR (General Competition Rules) and will compete in the Touring Category Specification (TCS) T1 class.  This class allows mostly stock cars to compete with some safety upgrades such as:  seats, harness, fire extinguisher, etc.

The main issue I have faced is getting good seats that will fit into my Z06 Corvette.  I wanted to keep the stock belts in addition to adding in the required 5-point harness.  This caused quite a bit of additional complexity due to the very tight space between the doors and the transmission hump.  After a couple of expensive trips to Tony’s Corvettes in Gaithersburg, MD, I decided to attempt to complete the rest of the problem on my own.

After determining that the Sparco XL and standard Sparco seats are too wide, I have gone with a pair of Corbeau FX1 Pro seats.  I have seen these in a couple of other Corvettes with the standard belts still installed.  I will attempt to document this semi-arduous process as I undertake it.  The seats have arrived as seen below.

Ted Cahall

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