Road sport and classic seats are sized the same way as a competition bucket seat, on your waist rather than your chest, but they are cut far more generously. Many are listed as suitable for all sizes, which you will never see on a competition shell.
Base mount or side mount: know the differenceThese seats are still bucket seats, but nearly all of them are base mount: four threaded holes in the underside of the seat, bolting down onto runners or a subframe. Competition shells are the opposite, almost all side mount, fixing through brackets on the sides of the shell. The two systems are not interchangeable, so if you are swapping a competition bucket for a reclining seat or the reverse, your existing brackets and subframe will not carry over. Budget for the right mounting as well, and see our seat mounting and fixing points guide for which is which.
Measure yourself sitting
1Sit on a hard, flat chairFeet flat, back straight against the chair back. No cushion.
2Measure across your hipsThe widest point, side to side, sitting down.
3Take your waist standingAround the natural waist. This is what our seats are listed against.
You have more latitude here than with a competition shell. A reclining seat with a steel frame and foam padding will settle to you over a few hundred miles in a way a fibreglass shell never does.
Waist bands
Nearly all of this range suits all heights, so unless you are unusually tall the height filter will not narrow things much. Start with the waist and the look.
Cobra seat dimensions
Cobra publish a dimension drawing for every seat they make, and these are their figures. Height is floor to the top of the seat with the base flat on the ground, width is across the widest point, depth is front to back. All in millimetres.
Every Cobra seat listing on the site also carries these figures, plus the base width, on its Additional information tab, so you can check the exact model and edition you are looking at. For other brands, dimensions are on the listing where the manufacturer publishes them.
Reclining or fixed back
Most of this range reclines, the rest are fixed back. A reclining seat is the obvious choice for a car you drive on the road, for passengers, and for anything with a back seat you need to climb into. A fixed back is lighter, stiffer, and holds you better on track, at the cost of being a nuisance every other day of the week.
If the car does both jobs, reclining is usually the right answer. A fixed back seat in a daily driver wears thin quickly.
How this range differs from a competition bucket seat
Only a handful of seats here carry FIA approval. If you need an FIA seat for competition, start in the bucket seat range, not this one.
What comes with it
Most of these are sold as the seat only, and some come with sliders. Check which before you order, because a base mount seat still needs runners and a subframe to get into the car. Where sliders are included it is usually the pairing the manufacturer intended, which saves working out the handle width yourself.
Trim, and how it wears
The trim is the part you will actually live with. Vinyl wipes clean and takes sun without fading, which is why it is the usual choice for an open car. Velour and cloth are warmer to sit on in winter and hold their colour indoors. Tartan and houndstooth are period correct for a classic and they are the reason a lot of people buy these seats in the first place.
Alcantara and suede look and feel the best of the lot and are the worst choice for a car that lives outside or gets used in wet overalls.
Tell us the car and what it doesWhether it is a road car, a weekend classic or something that sees track days, plus your waist and the car. The mounting is the part that catches people out and we would rather sort it before you order. Call 0115 989 3488 or email Sales@GSMPerformance.co.uk.
Waist and height bands are from our product data, checked 2 August 2026. Cobra dimensions and weights are Cobra’s own published figures, read 3 August 2026.
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