Sabelt 3" carbon harnesses

[Deanspoors]

As above, nothing to do with me, but cheap!

https://racecarsdirect.com/Advert/Details/85981/sabelt-4-point-3-inch-harnesses-with-carbon-b

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

Will these fit a Westfield or do the side straps need extending.

I have been wanting to upgrade my harnesses but the last time I sat in a car with this type of buckle, the buckle would not lift above the seat sides and I found it very uncomfortable when getting in.  At present my seat belt style strap will lift over the sides of the seats so that I drop down into an empty seat.

[CraigHew]

Geoff,

Its not so much the side straps as most will be extendable enough but the main shoulder straps you need to check.  The kit car ones are normally shorter terminating in a clip buckle that clips into an anchor point behind the seat at shoulder level. Most rally / race cars have much longer shoulder straps that terminate by wrapping around a roll cage somewhere in the back of the car.

I'm guessing these are the longer type, given the forum, but perhaps worth texting the seller to check.

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

Thanks for the advice Craig.

I will text them.

 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Nope, I don’t think so.

Theyre the wrong type of fixing for the waist belt straps, clip in not bolt in, there’s very little room in a Westfield cockpit to adapt to clip in, specially if the seats still move. 

However, they’re also pull up waist straps, from the look of the photo. I know exactly the problem you mean, getting in and out. I’ve had this with similar types of belts, and it resulted in damage to both the seats and the cockpit interior panel. (It affects larger drivers as opposed to skinny racing snakes, so if you don’t suffer from it great, but if you already do, it WILL be a problem).

Even going for longer lower straps that will put the buckle outside the car doesn’t completely solve the issue. It also then potentially makes adjustment for slimmer drivers impossible. Especially if they’re set up for use in a seat forward position. A taller, slimmer driver, who moves the seat back, can then simply not tighten the harnesses properly.

Then you have the shoulder strap problem. Can’t tell for sure, but they do look like they could be the long type.

There are just some combinations of driver, harness, seat and car that don’t work. Been there, wasted time and money and damaged the interior trying to force the square peg through a round hole.

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

Thanks for the detailed reply Dave.

I have also spoken to these people today and going to discuss further tomorrow.

It says that the harnesses “pull up” to tighten them. I presume that that is a good thing..

http://www.primamotorsport.com/prima_motorsport_products/kit_car/kit_car/4kit_car_harness.html

 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

No, pull up is the problem in certain specific cases!

To be fair, it is easier to tighten them, if they suit your car/seat/body shape. If they don’t, then they’re the work of Satan.

Once in the car, and sat down strapped in etc, they’re usually ok, though if you get the lower part of the strap “wrong”, the adjuster buckles wedge between your hips and the tunnel/outside panel of the car, bring the adjusters further up, by having longer lower straps, and this is avoided, plus they don’t trap between the sides of the car and your hips while getting in and out. BUT, because the fixed length is so long, there is now very little adjustable length left, fine for the driver that the belt length and seat position is designed around, but as said previously, no good if someone of the opposite stature is going to drive the car.

Because of where the buckles sit, If great care is not taken getting in and out of the car, and they slip down, if there’s any sort of edge to them they will cut into the vinyl trim of the car.

This is part of the damage done to my car in one trip to Stoneleigh, with the pull up lower belt buckles. This is with extended lower straps, capable of hanging on top of the tunnel and outside the car.

the strap pulled down while getting in and gouged the tear in the seat. I had to have it recovered.

You can just about make out some of the tears and scuffs in the side panel trim and arm rest here. Note, the second photo is with the Schroth harnesses I fitted in place of the originals.

Note.

There was NOTHING wrong with the original harnesses, and on someone slimmer than me, or with different seats they’d be fine. But for me, I was having exactly the problem you mention in your first post, and as said, it just got worse. So I suspect you’d be in the same boat as me, and simply wouldn’t get on with pull up lap belts.

[Terryathome]

You could consider the Schroth adjustable belt system where you can put the adjusters where ever you want. They are a bit pricy but you get what you pay for.

 

This give you the idea

 

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

Thanks Guys.

Looks like Schroth it is. 

[Terryathome]

13 hours ago, Geoffrey (Buttercup) - North Yorkshire AO said:

Thanks Guys.

Looks like Schroth it is. 

Geoff, I'd be a bit care full before jumping in with both feet. The Schroth system needs a bit of room to get the buckles in and have the adjuster reachable and with sufficient adjustment. As already mentioned if you have the seat forward this increases the room for these things. If all the way back then you will run out of room fast or not have any form of adjustment.

I do have the Schroth system and it works fine for me. I do adjust for say hot and cold weather/track days with jackets and jumpers and its so easy. 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Not sure which version you have Terry, but mine has a huge range of adjustment with the seat all the way back from skinny right the way through ahem, large, to plain old fat, like me.

However, I do slacken the waist belts off, while getting in and out so that a. there's no risk to my seats, and b. I can adjust them when getting back in, so that they're always spot on.

[Terryathome]

It's the position of the waist adjuster that I'm getting at where it's adjustable both at the chassis fixing point and at the twist buckle.

Maybe this will help.

 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

That's not the recommended one's though. They do a Westfield specific fit with the right lap strap and shoulder strap fastenings. Granted, they're not adjustable in the way those are. But they fit and work, and cover a large range of driver sizes.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Here we go, 'scuse the Demon Tweeks link, Merlin and other usual motorsports outlets do them too.

These are the Westfield specific Scroth harnesses, as originally recommended to me by Stu ( @Stuart Faulkner - Shows & Events Coordinator ) and numerous others.

https://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/harnesses/schroth-westfield-ii-asm-harness

Not cheap, but a very good piece of kit. Note though that due to the anti-submarining feature, as well as the catch location, they are handed left and right.

[CraigHew]

Another nod for the Westfield II ASM by Schroth.  Feels so much better than my previous Westfield harness.

The extra inch makes all the difference