Project Evo IX - Tech

The simplest solution
for those wanting to
keep their stock seat
and belt is the CG-Lock.
This little contraption
allows you to pull the
lower lap portion of a
three-point belt tight
and then lock it in
place, giving you
holding tension across
the waist. It's not the
same as a full harness,
but it's much cheaper
and works quite well.

For autocross use, we found the combination of a six-point driver's and four-point passenger's (stock Evo seats don't have a pass-through to mount crotch belts correctly) safety harness and harness bar to be the best compromise of safety, cost, and ease of installation. We went with Takata and M1 because of the quality of craftsmanship in both brands. The only real snag with installing safety harnesses into a Lancer is the center console and the lap belt mounting. We used a set of three-bar brackets from old scrap harnesses to convert the Takata's shoulder harnesses from snap-in to wrap-around, and used Takata's included eyebolts (with appropriate Takata backing plates where required) to mount the crotch belt and lap belt. All these mounting points must be attached to the chassis-not to the seat. Harness anchoring points cannot be bolted onto the seat bracket, holes must be drilled into the car itself. This is a big pain, one we weren't especially looking forward to, because we had to break out the tape measure and right-angle drill to tackle Project Evo IX's center tunnel lap belt eyebolt, whose normal position is hidden by the center console's trim.

After installing our new Sparco seat and Takata harnesses, we had Project Evo IX tinted. But not with that hip, darkened, drug cartel leader look. We went with 3M's new Crystalline window tinting film (used with great success on Project WRX V.08). Prescription Windshield's Jeffrey Kalmar made the trip from Arizona to California and applied the now-released 3M tint. The Crystalline tint is perfectly clear, yet blocks over 99 percent of UV rays. This is important because UV rays from sunlight will deteriorate harness belt webbing and fade racing seat upholstery over time. It's a bonus that the 3M Crystalline tint is invisible and imperceptible when applied-useful for avoiding unnecessary police attention and for a clear view of whatever cars we happen to be leaving in our rear-view mirror. Even the front windshield of Project Evo IX is tinted with the 3M stuff, if you can believe it.

Autocross courses will not typically exceed freeway speeds and will often run much slower than that. The real fun of SCCA Solo events is adjusting to a new course layout quickly and feeling the constant, at-the-limit loading of the car's suspension and handling. There is also minimal risk of a rollover, due to the flat, open areas favored by SCCA regions.

Entering open track events, time trials or time attacks with a street car is a whole different proposition. Factory cars are designed and tested in rollover situations with street speeds and conditions in mind. But hit a racetrack with a fast car, where speeds can easily top 100mph, and you're looking at something OEM engineers didn't plan for. If you're barreling down the front straight at 120mph and suddenly get a little bit more than 'too sideways', there's really no way to tell how the roof structure will hold up if the car rolls. In these cases, we can't honestly recommend a harness bar over a roll bar or roll cage. If you're going autocrossing or just want to install a harness, at least get a harness bar and a five-point. Don't just grab an eBay special and run it to the back seat. If you go on the racetrack quite a bit, get a roll bar. If you're truly scared for your life and can make the full commitment, cage your car and buy a tow vehicle. If everything in this article sounds like too much for you, buy a $42 CG-Lock seatbelt locker (www.cg-lock.com), keep the stock seat and seatbelt, and blow the rest on tacos.