Motordrive sent us these: Ben Sharpe Racing’s Civics and the seats they chose
From the manufacturer
Motordrive sent a set of photos over last week, one of their own customers this time. Ben Sharpe Racing, who run a pair of Honda Civics, and who had just had two new seats delivered by hand.
Cameron got to them first. “That is a proper race car, that.”
Garreth scrolled past the cars entirely and stopped on the last one in the set. Two blokes in a workshop, a pair of brand new seats on the floor between them, one of them in a Motordrive polo shirt. “There you go. That is the one.”
So here they are, and here is which seat the team went for.
- The photos are Motordrive’s own, from one of their direct customers
- Ben Sharpe Racing went for the Club Race, £594.00 a seat
- Every Motordrive seat is GRP, FIA 8855-1999, in Standard, XL or Large
- The whole range is on the floor in Nottingham to sit in
The photo Garreth stopped on
Two new seats on the workshop floor, still on their wrapping. A race Civic up on stands behind. Motordrive stood there with the team, having driven over to hand them across.
“Nobody made them do that,” Garreth said. “Seats turn up on a pallet.”
Cameron is less sentimental. “They are also stood next to a car they want photographing.”
He is not wrong. Garreth still likes it though, and it is the same thing that keeps us running a showroom rather than a website and a stack of boxes.
Then the next one down, which is the driver sat in the car in a BSR beanie giving it a thumbs up, before a lap has been turned.
“He has just found out it fits,” Cameron said. “We get that face in here every week.”
The cars
Two Honda Civics, stripped and caged. The sills carry JAS Motorsport, JamSport, HRX and Joyce Design decals. There is a Schroth harness over the driver’s shoulders, a RaceLogic logger stuck to the dash and, in the workshop shot, a shelf of trophies going out of focus behind the door.
Everything in that cockpit is bolted to something. The driver is not. The seat is doing that job on its own, which is where Garreth ends up every time he looks at a car built like this.
Left, the workshop and the cockpit. Right, the shoulder wing that does the work, with the motordrive wordmark on its outer face, and one of the new seats before it went in.
Which seat they went with
The Motordrive Club Race. Garreth had it off the shoulder wing before he had finished the first photo, because the wing is the part that changes most across the range. Tall, wrapped hard forward round the driver, wordmark sitting on the outer face of it. That is the Club Race and nothing else in the range looks like it.
GRP shell, FIA 8855-1999, Standard, XL or Large.
In a car caged that tightly the wing is doing two jobs. It holds your shoulder still in the moment before the harness has taken up, and it keeps your head off the door bar.
Cameron wanted it said plainly that most people reading this do not need one. “It is a lot of seat. If you are on the road and out three weekends a year, the Club Pro will do you and you will be four hundred quid better off.” Garreth will not argue with the sums. He would put it differently though. Once you are caged and on slicks, that wing is the reason you are not steering with your shoulders by lap six.
They both agree on why the team bought two the same. Drivers swap. Knowing the seat already is one thing off your mind on the out lap.
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The rest of the Motordrive range
The Club Pro Cameron keeps pointing people at is £474.00, and it is where most road and trackday cars land. The Pro Classic and the Race Classic both add Motordrive’s Advanced Padding System, and both give you a low profile base cushion if the roof is close to your head, which in a lot of hatchbacks it is. The Pro with Head Support arrives with the headrest on it.
All of them are GRP, all FIA 8855-1999, all in Standard, XL or Large.
That last part is where Garreth gets twitchy. People pick the size off a screen, and a Large when you wanted a Standard is a seat you will spend every session shifting about in. Tell us your height and your waist and we will tell you which one. It takes a minute on the phone.
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From £594.00 Incl. VATPayPal CreditKlarna ReadyNew for 2026Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
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Come and sit in them
We have the full Motordrive range on the floor in Nottingham and you can sit in every one of them before you spend a penny.
Ten minutes here answers what a week of forum threads will not. Whether the Large is too much seat for you, and whether those wings land on your shoulders or halfway down your arms.
Cameron and Garreth sit in these every day and they will tell you when the cheaper one is the better buy, which happens more often than you would expect from a shop that could just sell you the dearer one.
Bring the car if you can. Bring your measurements if you cannot.
No appointment needed, though a call ahead means we will have the right sizes out and waiting for you. Ring 0115 9893488, tell us the car and roughly when you are coming, and we will do the rest. Thanks to Motordrive and to Ben Sharpe Racing for the photos.
Common questions
Are these the seats in the photos?
Yes, the Club Race. Same seat sat in our showroom if you want to try it. The photos came from Motordrive, of one of their own customers.
What size should I order?
Ring us with your height and waist and we will tell you. Guessing the size is the most common mistake people make buying a competition seat online. Coming in and sitting in all three is better again.
What else do I need besides the seat?
A fitting frame made for your car, and usually side mounts. Runners too if you want fore and aft adjustment, though plenty of race cars do without. Give us the car and we will price the lot.
Are they FIA approved?
All of them. FIA 8855-1999 on a GRP shell. Worth knowing that FIA seats expire on a date tied to when they were made and scrutineers do check, so ask us for the date if you compete.
Can I see one before I buy?
That is rather the point of the showroom. Call 0115 9893488 and come in.