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| After measuring, the tubing is cut using a chop saw and notched using a hole saw and mitering fixture |
Proper seating is also important for a race car. A lot of what a driver feels is communicated to his body though the seat. A proper seat is comfortable and supportive which helps reduce driver fatigue by holding the body in place under cornering load. It is much better to let the seat hold you in instead of trying to brace yourself with your arms and feet while trying to steer. A properly designed seat is also an important piece of safety equipment as well that helps absorb the shock of a bad impact while helping distribute the force of a crash over a larger area of the body.
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| A long ruler and a level is used to mark the position of the tube |
We selected a pair of Recaro Pole Position FIA approved seats for Project Scion TC. The seats are constructed using a sturdy but flexible fiberglass reinforced plastic material called GRP. The FIA approval means that they have been tested to FIA’s stringent impact standards. For racing use it is imperative that one looks for the FIA label to insure that you are getting a seat that is tested to withstand the stress of a severe accident. We have seen seats fail in racing accidents with tragic results so seating is not the place for false economy or making a JDM fashion statement. In addition to an FIA approval, the Pole Position seat is a feathery 11 kilograms in weight. This is pretty good as most FIA seats tend to be heavier than unapproved seats. Another advantage that FIA approved seat have is that they have properties of controlled flex. This flex helps absorb some of the shock of impact protecting the driver’s body.
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| The tube is held in a fixture that hold the correct angle then notched using a fixture that hold s drill with a hole saw |
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| Checking postion with a ruler and level |
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Finaly the tube is tack welded in place
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| This stout brace triangulates the strut towers and the firewall |
The best seat in the world won’t help you in an accident if it is improperly mounted. Technosquare mounted the seat to the Scion’s chassis using FIA approved seat sliders. FIA sliders have double locking mechanisms, one in each rail to assure that they won’t move in an accident. The seat was mounted as low and as in board as possible to get the driver as far away from the roll cage and the side of the car as possible to afford more protection for the driver. The sliders were mounted on the modified stock front mount and a new rear crossmember was fabricated for the rear mounts out of square section tubing with generous plates to make sure that the mounting point was strong enough.
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| NASA rules give penalty points if the cage extends through the firewall so this clever brace was built that bolts the cage to the triangulated brace through the firewall |
To further stiffen the chassis, a brace was built from light but stout aluminum tubing that ties the shock towers to the firewall. Since NASA gives penalty points for having a rollcage that penetrates the firewall, another brace from the cage bolts to the strut tower brace through the firewall to give extra stiffness while staying withing the rules.
Now that our chassis is complete, we will turn our attention to other areas of the car in the next segments of Project Scion TC
Sources
FIA
Safety Equipment Standards
http://www.fia.com/index_1024.html
Technosquare
Roll cage fabrication
http://www.technosquareinc.com
AIT
Carbon fiber hood
patrick@aitracing.com
Recaro
Pole Position seats
http://www.recaro.com
Toyota Racing Development
Parts Support, Limited Slip Differential
www.trdusa.com
The Progress Group
Coilover suspension, Adjustable racing antisway bars
www.progressauto.com
Kaminari
Carbon fiber roof
www.kaminari.com
DC Sports
Headers, exhaust
www.dcsports.com
AEM
Cold Air Intake
www.aempower.com
Nitto Tire North America
NT01 Tires
www.nittotire.com
Carbotech
Brake pads
www.ctbrakes.com
Tire Rack
Wheels
www.tirerack.com
Dezod Motorsports
Engine development, Scion tC performance parts
www. dezod.com
America’s Tire
Tire mounting/balance support
www.discounttire.com
G-force
Safety equipment
www.saferacer.com
turn3 Creative
Clothing
www. turn3creative.com
