Well, I just ordered an XXL RibTech seat. I am going to look at mounting it with less rake than my current set up… and then I’m going to wear out several sets of tires practicing.
Thank you all very much for the quick and insightful feedback!!!
Best,
Bryan
If you’re talking about making the seat sit you more vertical, I highly recommend against that. Get specific seat mounting measurements from Roberts Kart Shop for your chassis.
You already look too vertical and too far forward for your size, imo.
Your legs and arms need to be straighter. You’re in a position where you’re over transferring the chassis and probably over leveraging the steering wheel when you turn.
I think you will really like it! I had their competitor, the deepseat and loved it. It solved all my back problems.
I would argue against this. It depends entirely on a persons physique and weight where arms and legs are. Seat position is set for balance of the kart, not for comfort. When it’s balanced, you are where you are comfortable or not, there does come a point where you’re so uncomfortable it slows you down then you make a compromise comfort vs optimum balance, but start with balance. You’re looking for around 43% front 57% rear weight distribution to kick off with.
Just my opinion 
Also looks like the steering shaft is rather long, so that could be bunching up his arms a bit.
ok good, I was thinking the same thing. My wheel only sticks out maybe 1" above the front fairing.
It very well could be an extended shaft for a laydown seat. 
Yes, you want the seat in a position for balance, but this one is WAY forward based on the pictures.
There’s some good information on the dichotomy of comfort vs performance when it comes to seat position here: Let's talk about Seat Position
On the what now? 
While we on subject of higher edumacation…
James I intend to thoroughly read this. Thank you so much!
Dom and Warren, I teach in higher ed, and today my TA counted me saying the following phrase seven times: shit’ll buff out… hopefully with all the help I have received my seat issues will buff out too!
Hey, Bryan, just watched your video. Would you say you have a lot of racing knowledge or are you very new to the whole concept of where to be on the track? Like the guys say, everything you were doing on your very first day in cold weather has to be factored into how you looked on track. What I’m asking is do you fully understand how to find the correct racing line through a turn? If not then be sure to spend a few minutes with somebody who races your class.
Being completely new to karting you have to expect to be slow compared to seasoned guys. But you will find that slowing down even more but going through corners on the correct line will immediately improve lap times. It might sound odd to slow down to go faster but in some corners you lost huge time being in the wrong place. Perfectly understandable first time out.
I read where you were having fits keeping yourself seated in the kart and I assume you had to hang onto the steering wheel to maintain body control. That would account for why your hands were in such bad places on the wheel. You want your hands at 3 oclock/9 oclock rather than the 10:30/1:30 I saw and even worse when your right hand jumped up to 12 oclock to corner. Unless your hand position was to keep yourself in the seat then you need to spend time correcting that. However, you seem to be fully aware now that how you sit in the seat and where you are in the kart have to be correct in order to both enjoy karting and improve.
Just think, soon you’ll look back on your first day and first race and chuckle while you’re having a great time this summer.
I think this is because you’re pulling the wheel with your inside arm rather than push with your outside? Push with your outside arm, hands on wheel at 3-9. That will also help keep you in the seat.
Quick hand guide and then a disclaimer.
Hands low: takes the “power” out of your hands. Wheel is primarily turned by “pulling” down and towards body.
Hands high: Here your arms become poles almost and you are more braced to the wheel. Your ability to influence the wheel is very powerful. Your arms become the lever in an Archimedean sense. Small inputs have big effects.
Hands in between: sorta both.
So what’s correct?
Sorta whatever you need when you need it. Personally, I move my hands around quite a bit. But I am comfortable in my driving and am doing things for a reason.
Maybe I am nervous and overdriving: I take my arms out of the picture, I hold the wheel super lightly.
Maybe there’s a turn I set a certain angle at entry and it makes sense for me to have hands high there every time, but then I shift to a neutral position.
Sometimes I get tired and my arms need a break and I drive more with my feet.
Anyways, it can vary.
But yeah, a neutral normal 10/2 with you more pushing into the wheel, rather than pulling at it, is the general idea.
If you want to get a good understanding of this go into a sim you are competent at. Drive with only one arm until you can do laps at pace. Then do same with non dominant arm.
You will very rapidly understand a whole bunch of stuff that would otherwise take a while to explain,
This is probably not the recommended way to go about this. Generally, my coaches have found this behavior perturbing. But, the student persists. So, there must be a reason. It might be old age and pig headedness but I don’t think so.
I actually found the opposite. Hands lower on the wheel gives me more leverage and power on the steering wheel, while higher up hands reduces the leverage I have pushing on the wheel, making my motions on the wheel are weaker. I’m not sure if it is different for individual people, but I certainly find it easier to drive with my hands on the bottom half of the wheel, with more strength on the wheel versus up high.
Agree with Aaron. Hands low gives more leverage. Hands high takes away your biceps and forces you to drive with your shoulders. That’s why I always coach to move your hands up if you’re a sloppy driver.
Let’s not overwhelm and derail our friend’s topic with a discussion on hand placement. He’s been on track once and we don’t even know if his seat is correct yet. Long way to go before worrying about hands.
Wierd! Low to me means you are tugging at the wheel with the arm feeling low relative to the rim.
In a sense it’s more powerful because it requires you firing your forearm more explosively (pull or push) but it’s therefore easier to “overdo”.
So, in my case, hands low is paired with very light grip and is mostly a resting state. I’m deliberately being light and weak.