Completed Racing Sim Seat

[ccage]

Everyone:

Ok, here are a few shots of the "racing sim seat" in the media room in action. Sorry about the blurry shots as it was hard to get the seat and the screen in the same shot -- it's a 110" screen -- and get the lighting on both. (The pictures aren't that great, but you can get the general idea.)

Also, please ignore the packing blanket I threw under it. I decided I didn't want to wait the full 48 hrs before bringing it in, so that's my carpet security. (Actually it's pretty dry and it's not shedding, but I'm a weenie.) And finally, I know, I haven't tied the wires down nice and pretty yet. Hey, I was ready to get in some GT3...









On the next one -- should there be one -- I'll use a different paint finish. The "hammered" paint in silver on my top racks looks awesome, but the black version looks not so great. Other than that I'm happy with it.

Chuck

[EvilSpeeder]

Thats awesome. I want one!

[Treibenschnell]

You have the same leather furniture I have!

[sammm]

Very nice! Looks like a lot of fun!

[channelmaniac]

Look awesome!

[gabkwong]

Nice! I have been thinking building one myself. Can you tell us the build?

Gab

[ccage]

Nice! I have been thinking building one myself. Can you tell us the build?

Gab

Sure! It's 5' long and 26" wide and it's made of 14 gauge 1" square steel tubing. (Plus a little cut angle and one piece of plate for the wheel.) It's MIG welded and painted.

The seat came from the junkyard. We got tremendously lucky in finding such a nice seat -- it's actually the leather passenger seat from a '96 Diamonte that got hit in the front and back. (We'd have taken the driver's seat, but it was powered. Doh!) I suppose the seat makes it heavier than some kind of purpose-built seating, but it's kinda cool to sit in an actual car seat!

The biggest concern was figuring the measurements such that the range of the "factory" seat adjustment (we took rails and all) would allow a reasonably wide range of people to use it. I don't know how well it'd work for small children, but I think it'd work for pretty much any teenager or adult. We used the "mock it up on the floor" technique to come up with rough measurements then comparted the ratios to two cars (Miata and PT Cruiser) to get a reality check.

If anyone's looking to build one, I'd probably consider tilting the wheel "table" down a little to give the wheel a little less up angle than it has when attached to a surface parallel to the floor, but that's just me.

It's definitely made GT3 more fun -- I'd kinda burned out on it and was waiting for GT4.

Chuck

[Kestrel]

What can I say... one of the most impressive setups I've seen -- or heard -- about! When do they go on sale, and how much will they be?

Seriously, well done ccage. Since I'm not a welder, I'm gonna have to fork over the $330 -- and get on the waiting list -- for one of these. It's one of the least expensive "sim racing chassis" I've found...

[ccage]

What can I say... one of the most impressive setups I've seen -- or heard -- about! When do they go on sale, and how much will they be?

Seriously, well done ccage. Since I'm not a welder, I'm gonna have to fork over the $330 -- and get on the waiting list -- for one of these. It's one of the least expensive "sim racing chassis" I've found...

That's the one I turned up in a search before building mine. It's a nice design and very portable. At first I was going to build in adjustable pedal and wheel mounts like that one, but then it occured to me, "Why not just use a real car seat? It adjusts." And it actually works great.

Of course, what would be REALLY cool would be a Miata seat, but I couldn't find one.

Chuck

[bigDstars]

I was at Fry's (spelled right?) the other day and noticed they had a pretty cool racing seat setup for $299.... Probably not as sturdy as the ones built by you guys... Don't know if it included the wheel and pedals or not...