Customer Question: The Best Bucket Seat For A Tall Driver With A Slim Waist
Customer question, seat fitting
A customer rang this week with the most specific fitting question we have had in a while. He is six foot five, he is a bodybuilder, and he has a thirty four inch waist with a much larger upper back and chest. He wants a fixed back bucket and he wanted to know which one is going to work.
It is a better question than it sounds, because the obvious answer is wrong. Reaching for a bigger seat gets you a bigger waist as well, and he does not need one. Here are the four we would put him in, cheapest first.
- Three measurements matter here, not two: height, waist and how the shell wraps at the shoulder
- XL and XXL shells are sized bigger at the waist as well, so they are the wrong answer
- Our four: OMP WRC-R, Sparco Evo L, Momo Daytona Evo XL and Recaro Profi SPG
- All four are FIA 8855-1999, so all four suit timed competition
- Prices run from £525.60 to £1,182.00, seat only
- Shoulder wrap is published by nobody, so that part comes off the showroom floor
Why bigger is the wrong instinct
Seat makers size a range by scaling the whole shell. When a maker adds an XL, the extra room arrives at the shoulders and at the hips together, because that is how you mould a bigger seat. For most bigger drivers that is right, since a wider chest and a wider waist usually turn up on the same person.
This customer breaks that assumption. He needs the shoulder room of a much larger man and the hip room of an averagely built one. Put him in an XL and the back fits while the base leaves him moving about in the one part of the seat that is supposed to locate him, which is the part that matters most when the car is loaded up.
| The obvious choice | Waist it is built for | Why it is out |
|---|---|---|
| OMP WRC-R XL | 36 to 42 inch | Solves the back, far too loose at a 34 inch waist |
| Recaro Profi SPG XL | 36 to 40 inch | Same problem, and dearer than the standard Profi SPG |
| Momo Daytona Evo XXL | Wider than the XL | Garreth has sat people in both. Too wide at the waist for this build |
Every one of these is a good seat. None of them is this driver's seat.
The measurement nobody publishes
Height and waist are on every size chart, including ours. There is a third thing that decides whether a broad backed driver fits, and no manufacturer prints it: how much the shell curves forward at the shoulder.
A seat can be wide enough on paper and still be wrong, because the sides wrap round the top of the back and push a wide set of shoulders forward. You end up perched on it instead of sat in it, which is uncomfortable in ten minutes and unhelpful in an accident.
OMP WRC-R: the one that buys you headroom
Start here, because a very tall driver usually meets the roof before he meets the sides. The WRC-R has no built-in head restraint, which keeps the top of the shell lower than the seats that do, and in a car with limited headroom that is the difference between fitting and not.
It is also the most adjustable of the four once you are in it, with an adjustable lumbar and a removable split leg cushion, so you can tune how it carries a long back. High side bolsters, gel coated perforated fibreglass, trimmed in OMP’s Airtex.
- £525.60 inc VAT, single seat, part OMPHA0-0773-B01-071
- FIA 8855-1999 and HANS compatible
- 32 to 36 inch waist
- Five harness slots, 4, 5 and 6 point compatible
- Adjustable lumbar and a removable split leg cushion
- Side mount at the standard 290mm competition spacing
Sparco Evo L: built for exactly this shape
Sparco make the Evo in three widths and the L is the large shell. Our own description of it could have been written for this customer: what changes over the standard Evo is the shell width at the shoulder and hip, and if you are broad shouldered or carry weight in the upper body, the L gives you room the standard shell does not.
There is a second reason a broad driver wants the wider shell, and it is not comfort. A seat that grips you tightly across the shoulders gets in the way of feeding small inputs into the wheel. Room to move your shoulders is room to drive.
- £612.00 inc VAT, single seat, part S008013RNR
- FIA 8855-1999 and HANS friendly
- Wider than the standard Evo at both the shoulder and the hip
- 4 and 6 point harness compatible
- QRT fibreglass shell, velour trim
- Takes Sparco FIA steel side mounts, part SS004902
Momo Daytona Evo XL: the long stint choice
A rally seat, and rally is the clue. Rally drivers sit in the car for a long time over surfaces that throw them about, and the Daytona Evo is built to hold a driver without clamping him.
The upper section is shaped to cut sideways movement of the helmet, which is what pays off on a long torso, and it stays open across the shoulders. Momo describe it as HANS compatible, with five belt openings, Kinder Point inserts on the contact areas and Airnet on the seating and shoulder areas.
- £635.99 inc VAT, single seat
- FIA 8855-1999
- Listed for drivers over 6ft with a 32 to 36 inch waist
- 4 and 6 point harness compatible
- Fibreglass shell, side mount, seat only
Recaro Profi SPG: the one to sit in if the budget allows
Recaro’s entry into their FIA race range, and the right Recaro for this driver. Not the Pole Position, which is the model people usually name: that one is shorter in the upper body, so it suits longer legs and a shorter torso, and it is a road approved ABE seat, not an FIA competition one.
The Profi SPG is glass fibre reinforced plastic at 6.5kg, light for a seat this size, and it holds the shoulders with a friction grip surface instead of padding. It is the dearest of the four and it is the one Garreth would sit this customer in first.
- £1,182.00 inc VAT, single seat, part 070.91
- FIA 8855-1999 and HANS friendly
- Listed for drivers over 6ft with a 32 to 36 inch waist
- 6.5kg, lighter than the Pro Racer SPG and a narrower footprint
- 6 point harness compatible, side mount, seat only
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The four side by side
| Seat | Price inc VAT | Harness | What it gives this driver |
|---|---|---|---|
| OMP WRC-R | £525.60 | 4, 5 or 6 point | Lowest shell top, so the most headroom |
| Sparco Evo L | £612.00 | 4 or 6 point | Widest at the shoulder over the standard shell |
| Momo Daytona Evo XL | £635.99 | 4 or 6 point | Shaped upper section, best over a long stint |
| Recaro Profi SPG | £1,182.00 | 6 point | Lightest at 6.5kg, friction grip shoulders |
All four are FIA 8855-1999, fibreglass, fixed back, side mount and sold as a seat on its own.
What else the seat needs
All four are side mount shells sold on their own, so budget for a pair of side mounts and whatever frame your car takes. The Sparco wants Sparco’s own FIA steel side mounts, part SS004902.
On a tall driver there is a second thing to sort at the same time, which is how low the seat ends up. Gaining headroom is usually a question of the frame and the mounting, not the seat, so tell us the car when you ask about the seat and we will work the whole stack out together.
Common questions
I am tall and broad. Why can I not just buy the XL version?
Because the XL is wider everywhere, including at the hips. If your waist is genuinely large as well then an XL is right and we will say so. If your waist is average and only your back and chest are big, an XL leaves you loose in the base of the seat, which is the part doing the most work when the car is loaded up.
Is the Recaro Pole Position not the usual answer for this?
It is the model people name, and it is the wrong one here on two counts. It is shorter in the upper body, so it suits a driver with longer legs and a shorter torso, and it is a road approved ABE seat, not an FIA competition seat. A lovely thing in the right car and on the right driver, but not this one.
Would a Cobra Nogaro work? You usually recommend those for tall drivers.
We do, and for height alone it is a good call, because the long backrest puts the harness slots above the shoulder line. For a broad back it is not, because the shell curves forward at the shoulders and pushes you out of it. That is a showroom observation, not anything on a spec sheet, which is why it is worth coming in to sit in one.
Which of the four would you start with?
Sit in all four if you can get to us. If you cannot, start with the headroom question: measure from the floor of the car to the roof lining above where your head sits now. If that number is tight, the OMP WRC-R goes to the top of the list, because its lower shell top is the thing that buys you the room.
Do any of them come with the mounting?
No, all four are sold as a seat on its own. You will need a pair of side mounts and a frame for your car. Tell us what the car is when you order the seat and we will put the right parts with it instead of leaving you to work it out.
What if I am tall and broad and heavy?
Then the XL and XXL shells come back into play and the answer changes, because you need the room at the hips as well. Ring us with your height and your actual waist measured over your driving kit and we will point you at the right half of the range.
What we told him
Come and sit in all four. On budget the OMP WRC-R does the job for £525.60 and gives away the least headroom, and the Sparco Evo L is the one whose shape was drawn for a broad upper body. If he wants the best seat on the page and the budget is there, the Recaro Profi SPG is where Garreth would start him, and Cameron will have the set of them out on the floor when he arrives.
If you recognise yourself in any of this, whether you are tall, broad, or built nothing like the person seat charts are drawn for, ring the showroom on 0115 9893488. It is a five minute conversation and it saves buying the wrong seat twice.
