Hold on! How much "arms", how much seat?

New to 206, only have only driven rental 206’s before. Went out for third practice. Obviously more grip and g’s, fit snug in seat, but feeling like I’m doing alot of “keeping myself in the seat laterally with arm strength when cornering”. Rentals I could just relax and drive. Knowing the additional g’s are going to be there… is the seat supposed to keep the lateral movement in check, or the arms with the steering wheel gripped doing most of the work. Im 6’ 235 so seat sides come forward maybe half way on torso.

I can share a bit in that I got a margay as well this year and I primarily race rentals, mostly.

The lo206 feels quite a bit peppier than our beloved 9hp gx270 engine. Also, they have a tendency to gear lo for easy corner exit for new guys which can make coming out of corners exciting compared to our heavy rentals. Finally, the kart is considerably lighter without all the safety bars, etc.

Yes, a proper seat for will deal with most of the lateral slip and slide (but you probably are used to sliding around from rentals). Your arms do help with all this but if you are feeling it primarily in your arms (I imagine upper arm), it’s conditioning and probably a little bit of technique: it takes a while to get used to holding a new kart lightly. You are probably holding on too tight as well, since you are fighting lateral forces.

Ideally, you want to hold on as lightly as you can, sorta like golf. Kart likes suggestions as opposed to commands.

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Didn’t move side to side in the rental kart seat, fit snug and it seems like I sat “down into” the seat more (sides coming up and forward more on my body).

Are there different seat shapes with larger (lateral) sides? Is my problem a common one that con be fixed with equipment, or does it just require more seat time and it solves itself?

Yup. Seats come in all shapes and sizes. Rentals tend to err on the side of larger since most of us adult males are 200lbs or more.

Some seats have higher sides and/or side padding. Some seats are deeper and wrap around your chest (rib seats). There is a seat out there for you. One that is angled as you like and the correct width.

Seat should be snug but not pinching. Your bottom half will sort of squeeze in at the pinched waist but not uncomfortably so.

Your seating angle may also feel different.

http://www.nekracing.com/en/

This is my favorite seat. 6’3" 220 lbs-ish.

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Pile on for seat brands if anyone can think of some brands that offer a variety of solutions

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Derek,
That low COG seat, does it need a full sized dude or do they make that for us skinnies too?

Also, I’m kind of surprised there aren’t women’s seats given shape differences.

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They have large and medium large. Buy pads, use the the seat, thank us later. :grin:

FYI: 5’9, 185lbs and I don’t have to pad an ML more than 1/2" up top.

I don’t think investing in tooling up a specific style seat for females would be profitable at all.

For the most part, you should not feel like you are going to fall out of the side of the seat. Body types differ, obviously, but there should be enough side bolstering to keep you in the seat. Sometimes driver posture can effect how stable you are in the seat as well. I often find my butt sliding forward due to the flat bottom seat I use. Ideally you want to put some forward pressure on the steering wheel to push your torso back into the seat. This serves two purposes. One, it keeps your upper body weight working with the chassis to hike the inside rear wheel and Two, keeps the rear end loaded under braking (single rear brake). When using good posture, you will find yourself steering more with your Lateral Back Muscles than your Biceps.

Another point to make about keeping you planted in the seat is using the Heel Stops. Those pegs your heels pivot on when working the pedals. They should be sort of a brace for your legs to help push you back into the seat and hold your butt/back into the seat. The more you are pushed back into the seat, the less upper body strength will be required to keep you planted. That will also help with control and handling of the kart.

See this article: Posture, and head movement

When I was heavier deep seat worked best for me. I think Ribtect looks good also

Agreed. Not enough folks racing.

Update… put in heel stops and made a big difference… being able to push myself back in the seat cornering made an (80% or so) difference.

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