[pro-classic stingray]

I'm sure you've all noticed the Competition Seats that will be available late '13. The photos of these seats show openings in the seat back for individual shoulder harnesses.
Any thoughts on where the shoulder harnesses will be mounted? And shoulder harnesses are normally paired with lap belts and a crotch strap to give a 5 point harness set-up.
Most race sanctioning bodies have specific requirements for how and where these safety harnesses are mounted, even require certain angles for the shoulder harnesses.
And most of those sanctioning bodies have the mounting points being in metal (frame, roll bars/cages, etc.).
Hopefully, the Corvette Engineers have come up with an acceptable solution to mounting these 5 point harnesses. You can be certain this exciting new Stingray will be Autocrossed and used during Track Days (especially the Z51's!).
This info may not be available yet from GM but it's something to consider if you are going to spend the extra money on the Comp Seats. I'm considering ordering those as one of my options
since I'm an old NCCC Autocrosser from the hey days of the 70's!
If you've never sat in "competition seats", please do before you order them for your Stingray. They are VERY supportive and usually very firm and may not be comfortable for you, especially if you are used to the late model (C-5/6) seats. Whatever seats you get......I'd bet you'll love the new Stingray!

 

[autoxal]

Now without doing a lot of 're looking' I can't tell you exactly where I saw it... but I did see a photo of a C7 that had a harness bar installed. I don't recall if it was in the 'official' Chevy site or not... but that's my thinking. I had a Corbeau race seat, with a Sparco five point harness installed in my '93 1LE Camaro, for track events. But since it didn't take much modification, I put a Wolfe roll bar in the car in order to get a place to mount the shoulder harness (no one made a harness bar that car). Being clamped into place like that, let you drive without having to do a lot of hanging on, or bracing yourself, to stay 'one' with the car in hard cornering.

Prior to track events, I ran autocrosses, with a club that used SCCA Solo II rules... when you change seats and belts, without doing anything else, that runs you right up the line into classes that are not so easy to compete in (like 'prepared classes'). Nice thing about 'track events' (such as Summit Point, WV FATT events) you 'run what you brung', and bragging rights come from being a fast car on the track. No classes or trophies at the end of the day... just a warm fuzzy feeling from passing people that are running cars that are considered by most people to be 'faster' than your lowly Camaro. This C7, in the hands of an experienced driver, should be able to embarass many an 'exotic car'. Hope I get the chance to be one of them!!

Update: Go to the 'official' Chevy C7 page, scroll down to 'Driving', then go to the video on the second 'dot'... then see the harness bar, viewed from the hatch area, at 0:46 of the video... it even appears to have a manufacturers name pasted on it. Al

 

[pro-classic stingray]

Hi Al,
Thanks for the keen eye. I've been on that site many times and especially on the "Driving" section. I never caught that label so I replayed the video several times at the :46 second interval. The label reads "Brey-Krause" which is a manufacturer of fire extinguisher mounts and harness bars for C-4, C-5, C-6 Vettes. Here's the link: Corvette. They make quality items that fit.
Hopefully, they will manufacture one for the C-7. Then, we would have to come up with a crotch strap mounting plate/D ring so you could use the 5 point harness system to it's fullest.
Good luck with your purchase of the C-7! I can't decide whether to go for the LT-1 "base" model or wait for the Z-06. 450 hp is nothing to sneer at and would most likely run with just about anything at a Track Day, short of a ZR-1!
Thanks again!