I currently use a generic “Tillett” style seat, which I had purchased used without knowing the stiffness, since mine had cracked a day before a race and I could not get my hands on a new one.
Unfortunately, this seat has cracked again, and this time I thought that it would better to get a decent seat. I have sat in some ‘modular’ type seats, and while I haven’t actually driven any laps in them, they didn’t feel as natural/comfortable as the Tillett style shape.
Since the actual Tillett seats are rather expensive, I was wondering if they perform better, handling and comfort wise, than the generic ones you can get for half the price, such as this seat.
If I do get the Tillett seat, I was planning on getting the Tillett T11t, based on my research and Tillett’s own description. Does this seem like a good option? For reference, I am 180cm tall, 160lbs, and drive an X30 Senior with a 32mm CRG Road Rebel (which I find quite stiff for an X30 and as such would like to free up the rear if possible). If it makes any difference, I would be getting silver carbon model, as I cannot find any images of the black carbon installed.
I would really appreciate any advice on the difference between the actual Tillett seats and the generic ones. Thanks in advance!
Where are your seats cracking? I’ve never cracked one… At least, not due to driving. I use a fender washer against the seat when mounting to spread the stress. If it’s cracking at the mounts, I’d recommend that. If it’s cracking in the mid or edge rib, I’d look to see if your chassis is cracked or something allowing excessive movement or flex. Esp. on a 32mm chassis…
I am going to try a “greyhound” seat next…I’ll report back.
Both of these seats have cracked from the bottom. This is mostly my fault, as being a taller driver, I tend to mount my seat as low as possible, causing it to scrape in certain parts of the track (which has some rough areas).
I’ve seen a couple of Greyhound seats before, would love to hear your opinion on it once you get it.
Cracking at bottom due to scraping is somewhat common, and can be repaired with a fiberglass patch kit from your local auto parts or craft store… Cheap, if ugly, fix. And then if you epoxy a small aluminum plate on the bottom, that problem goes away too…
I have strapped on a grey hound seat for this year. Before now i had imaf and tillet. The grey hound feels great. Is very comfortable and is almost identical to the others.
Nothing is as ugly as our quick, but effective, patch job last season to get us through the feature. Surprised how well a number plate and duct tape can do in a pinch LOL
I just got a NEK installed in my KA while refreshing it for the upcoming season. Shaking it down tomorrow and will give my impressions. Sitting in it while sitting still, I like that it’s taller, a bit more deep, and the leg supports feel neat. Not sure if I like how large the flat area is for your ass. It doesn’t “cradle” your bum as much as a typical seat might. I’ve got some thin rubber padding to give some grip in the ass if I start sliding around any. I’m hoping this makes my KA a little less brutal on my ribs than it was last year.
Thought I’d give my impressions since I had about 50 laps in the KA today with the NEK seat.
The leg support doesn’t do as much on-track as I’d hoped. Perhaps because I’m in a size D3 seat so it’s a little larger than normal, but once you’ve got your feet on the gas and brake and properly extended, I rarely noticed my thigh touching the side of the seat. I even tried to use the support on one lap and it felt too far away to make a difference. I’m 5’8 so that could play a role. I have a small-ish waist but a broad chest that requires a little more rib room. Seat felt nice from a handling standpoint. I like that it’s deeper and a little taller, but I don’t like how big the flat section for the ass is. I have a pilonidal cyst and today was the first time I’ve irritated it in quite a while. The flat bottom area is just so large that there’s no way a normal person’s (I weigh 155 lbs) ass would be cradled by it, meaning lots of room for movement. Not only did my cyst get irritated, but my hip bones got destroyed as well. I think the seat is just a HAIR too big for me, but the next step down is about 1.5cm smaller which seems like a big jump. I was able to solve the ass issue by putting some 1/4" foam padding in the seat basin, slightly behind it, and a bunch in front (to effectively create more of a cavity for my ass), but the damage to my cyst and hips had already been done.
I’m going to pad the area by my hips and add a SLIGHT amount of padding to the rib area to make the seat fit a bit more snug. Unfortunately after how badly I irritated things today, I think I’ll only be driving the LO tomorrow in practice. I’d say, it’s not a bad seat… but man that ass area is WAY too fucking big. I’d love to follow up after the race this coming weekend, since I am hoping I’ve resolved the couple of issues I faced with it today.
Ribs are fine. But a lot of that is probably due to me losing 20 lbs over the winter and getting much more in shape for this season than I was for last season. It seems I’ve traded rib pain for hip and ass pain
We have chosen the Greyhound seats for the kart team and the truth is that they are working very well. We work with several brands that we also sell in our online store but in terms of quality and price they are quite good seats.
I’ve got a new Tillett T11 (I believe) flat bottom XL seat, and I absoluetly love it. It was new seat that was mounted onto a kart (but never used) so I picked it up for $100.
I cut out a 1/8 inch neoprene and race tapped it to the bottom for some extra cushion. So far I really like it.
I like IMAF seats, even the softest ones hold up well in a shifter.
The OEM CRG seat is really comfortable but it cracks around the rim and little patches don’t work, so I’ll have to repair mine with a vacuum bag and carbon fiber.
I went from a Tillet T11T to a Greyhound VRK and really like it. It’s a combo of the kevlar seat and the standard seat. Picked mine up from Precision Performance Karting
