Seat shape

[Jay48]

Is lumbar support (or artificial support ) viable for FSAE seats. Have anyone tried them? or a flat seat shape is the preferred one ?

[Racer-X]

Bolsters are important to help keep the driver in place without having to rely on the uncomfortable belts. Meaning a totally flat seat would suck.

As far as back support goes we actually just mold the seat after our top driver. So that means it fits his, and coincidentally my back very well. The other drivers complain a little, but its foam so it gives some.

Our theory is the longest the driver is in the car is his half of endurance. So long as the seat "fits" it should be fine.

[Will M]

Jay48,

I designed a couple of seats for FSAE and I recommend making (or buying) a seat that will easily fit your biggest driver and then use two part foam to make custom inserts for each driver.

Here are two sources for said foam.
https://www.pegasusautoracing....tails.asp?RecID=1038 (https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productdetails.asp?RecID=1038)

http://www.racerpartswholesale...duct/1951/Chemicals2 (http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/product/1951/Chemicals2)

Also don't forget to add lateral (rib) support and to think about how the seat will react under load or during a crash. Just like (nearly) all the loads on the car go through the tires, (nearly) all loads on the driver pass through the seat!

(I consider this a safety issue so I am happy to help as best I can)

Best,
William

[Dash]

We have made a molded seat and a totally flat seat. I will say the molded seat felt better, but not by a whole lot. The easiest thing to do is make seat inserts as has been mentioned or buy some 1 inch foam ( maybe cut out multiple layers) and velcro it into place.

[Jay48]

Thanks all of you for your opinions. so far in my analysis it seems to show that a slightly curved seat (in lower back) seem to reduce spinal fatigue. i am guessing we should try to maintain atleast some of the natural curvature of the lower back . ( trying a concave back curvature rather than allowing it take a convex curvature) take a look at my maninkin. http://imgur.com/a/vjjwT .

[Markus]

Our seat was designed by industrial shaping / ergonomy faculty students and it featured a slightly curved part of lumbar support. Additionally we used foam to create lateral support for ribs and shoulders, with the latter being extremely important!

I have to say the lumbar support was really comfortable and made sleeping in the car easier but I'm not sure if it's required for racing... http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif