further to previous discussions re. FIA approved seats - the suggested use of a Cobra Imola seat is now not viable as they have changed the design and now have a seat base at 505mm i.e. wider than the cockpit - in fact i cannot find any FIA approved seat on the market that has a base narrow enough to fit - let alone the side shoulder supports - has anyone solved this problem lately? 
Hi
Although the FIA regs state the seat should be either the original standard seat or FIA approved modern seats I have seen many Elans in FIA spec races with non FIA approved modern seats. Often they are Elise/ Caterham type seats, TTR now sells a high backed fiberglass seat to modern design but again it is not FIA approved. If you ever see pictures of the recreated Goldbug Elan that has raced all over europe you will see it has a not FIA approved carbon fibre seat .
regards
Batfish
True. It seems there is an agreement to accept this for Elans all over Europe. I race with the TT âoriginalâ 26R seat, but will change for the new high-backed fiberglass seat for safety reasons. As far as I know, no modern FIA approved seat will fit for the shoulder supports ! ( - with cage and side-intruder protection fittedâŚ!)
Dag
the main issues are that if you want to race at Spa the Belgian authorities require either the original seat for the car or an FIA approved one - at last years â6 hoursâ many people were caught out and the paddock was awry with cars having seats swapped over - i donât want to get into that situation and iâm sure taht in the not too distant future the regulations will be tightenend up for all catagories - e.g. next years requirement for FIA approved dry break coupling for fuel testing
HmâŚa pity that all of a sudden some scrutineers descide to make a statementâŚ! How was security taken care of with all these hastly fitted seats ??
If this is the case at Spa, I would go for the TT 26R seat. You sit quite well, but the back is kind of lowâŚ
Pls, what do you mean by fuel testing ? Sorry I donât follow youâŚ?
Dag
there has been a recent announcement by UK MSA for all competition cars (incl. hillclimbs, sprints etc) next year to be fitted with an FIA approved dry break fitment to allow scrutineers to take fuel samples -more details to follow from MSA - i was using it as an example really as to the way the regulations are changing more and more to come into line with those of FIA.
Typical missing the point move by a legislative bodyâŚ
making HANS a requirement has more merit - on this forum we know , that in the case of our cars, an FIA approved seat will have no benefit if it is not propeller mounted /integrated to/with the car . we also know the upholstered âstock seatâ is NOT properly mounted for racing -
The John Sheldon Elan advertised on the link appears to have got around the problem of a modern racing seat in an Elan by putting the FIA sticker from a Sparco homologated seat onto an nonhomologated seat.
classicdriver.de/uk/find/410 ⌠lerid=1337
I do not think you are supposed to do that ! makes you wonder what else may be suspect about the car.
Regards
Andy
Sebring,
In 2007, at the Spa 6h meeting, I saw and photographed an Elan who was again there in 2008. It had a âReverieâ racing seat and some of them are FIA approved (as seen in Demon Tweeks catalogue).
This car is now for sale at mroks.com.
If you like I can look for the picture and send it to you. (or post it on the forum).
Olivier.
Unforunately the Reverie homologated seats are ?1600 each which is a ridiculous price to pay for a seat, no wonder Sheldon just stuck a sticker from a Sparco seat onto his non homologated seats.
regards
Andy
expensive! and i hear there are new FIA seat standards on the way - so already nearly out of date. hence even more reason to cheat. But
on the plus side, i have found in the new demon tweeks catalogue a new narrow Cobra design FIA homologated which they say is designed to fit â7âsâ and Elises and from the dimensions given it looks v. promising.
Unfortunately it looks as if it is only available in vinyl but i am contacting the manufacturer to see if cloth coverings will become available.
watch this space
Update from previous discussions:
Demon Tweeks have just got in a showroom display model of the new Cobra Racer 7 seat which looks v. promising - tried it at the w/end and took the following dimensions:- width at seat base= 420mm (widest point); width at shoulder âpadsâ = 510mm.
Available in cloth or vinyl and FIA approved, on the âdown sideâ it has lower sides so doesnât offer the same support as ânormalâ / wider models and they couldnât confirm the cost; but if anyone is interested it could be worth a visit to try.
Sparco also do a steel framed seat with slightly wider base but similar width at shoulder pad. D/Tweeks have let me have one of these to try - i will let you know how i get on.
I spoke to Pat Thomas at the recent Race Retro about the situation regarding homologated race seats for Elans and he expressed interest in looking into getting homologation for a modern race seat which would fit the Elan.
Regards
Andy
Nobody has news from the tillett carbon seat that TTR wanted to go for FIA approval !?!
I personnaly saw this nicely made seat last year but didnât hear about so farâŚ
Christian.
I visited Patâs stand at the Lotus show at Donnington and spoke to them about FIA seats, but they made no mention of any proposals - the only one they do is described as a âperiodâ seat - low backed similar to TTRâs but mounted to the roll cage.
I have seen the Tillet seat before - but it is not FIA approved so Iâm afraid itâs no use to me.
Sparco seat didnât fit either - pretty close though - but still too wide at shoulder âpadsâ - I am picking up the ânarrowâ Cobra seat next weekend to try, so will report back again - fingers crossed.
Well the saga continues - but with light at end of the tunnel - hopefully.
The Cobra seat fits but is very narrow in the seat sqaub area - OK if you are the size of Johnny Herbert but for the likes of us in the 6â / 90+ kg size range it is definately âhip huggingâ with very low sides offering limited support/restraint.
However, I have found a small UK company that make FIA compliant/homologated seats and they have sent me an untrimmed shell to try AND IT FITS! (the car and me) 
.
OK, it needs a bit of fettling around the edges and I need to double check it clears the rear roll cage hoop and door bar (not fitted at present) but the signs are very, very promising. Specification is: fibreglass shell, side mounted, 5 harness slots, cloth covered (usual colours: black, red, navy, and blue).
On the downside they are not a stock item (i.e. batches made to order); so they say if i can get several people interested then it would be economical to do some - so over to you guys - anyone interested? - approx cost in the region of (UK)?300 + P&P - but the more orders the cheaper they become. Let me know.
Any pictures !?!
Christian.
Update: apologies for delay since last post but i have to work for a living. Anyway, the roll cage is fitted (another long story) and the bare seat shell clears all bars and sits nicely in the cockpit area - albeit not much room to clear, there is even potential to squeeze in a door bar if needed.
It will not be an easy job to fit an seat adequate seat frame - i think it will need to be a one-off special - but then i am finding out the hard way that nothing seems to fit an elan without some modifacation and/or compromise - even products made specifically for it!
I have arranged a visit to the company who make the seat a week on Saturday to discuss further, so will report back after that.
For those of you who have expressed an interest, the attachment is the image/photo the company have sent me - pretty generic i know, but then most seats are âmuch of a muchnessâ.
Sebring
Just a couple of points that may be worth discussing,
the seat mounting frame has to be homologated with the seat,
are the safety harness holes suitable for use with a Hans device
is the seat back raked back enough to give clearance between a crash hat and the roof?
regards
Andy
Greetings,
Whatâs a âBABY ELANâ ? Are you guys talking about a Miata?
Eric