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.
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