NZ racecar seat maker leads new world safety standards

The governing body of world MotorSport, the FIA has just approved the first racecar seats under the new 8862-2009 safety standards, and four of the six are made by Racetech in Lower Hutt.

Racetech Managing Director David Black says: “I have worked closely with the FIA in developing the new safety standard and to have four Racetech seats amongst the first six seats to meet the standard is recognition of Racetech’s commitment to driver safety.

“Racetech is uniquely qualified to lead seat safety development. We seat drivers in the World Rally Championship, the British Touring Car Championship, Grand Am, Speed World Challenge and ALMS in the US and the winners of Bathurst and the V8 Supercar Championship here in Australasia. Our experience is multi-formula and worldwide.

“New Zealand has a proud and remarkable history at the forefront of world MotorSport – drivers, car and component manufacturers, team managers. It is gratifying to join that group and to make a significant contribution to keeping the drivers safe,” Mr Black said.

“The speed of development of the vehicles in the various formulas is very rapid. Lap times, stage times come down year on year placing ever greater demands on componentry in the cars. Race teams and drivers have long recognised that a seat is not simply a tool to allow the driver to drive – they know seats are a critical part of weight reduction, safety, ease of operation and comfort for the driver.

“Combining all those requirements into Racetech’s seats is as critical, and difficult, as the advances made in engine management systems,” Mr Black said.

Backgrounder on RACETECH NZ

RACETECH started in 1992 as manufacturer and supplier of racing equipment based out of Christchurch NZ; in 1996 the company produced its first FIA homologated race seat

In 1998 RACETECH moved to Petone Wellington under the new ownership of Black Arrow Limited and managing Director David Black.

An Architectural draftsman by trade, Black has been actively involved in high level motor sport and is well aware of the potential dangers. He has made it the company’s mission to design and build the lightest safest commercially available race car seats in the world.

Since the late 1990’s Racetech has gone from strength to strength and in 2001 they launched in the USA at the Performance Racing Industry show in Indianapolis. It was at this event that Racetech were introduced to Daimler Chrysler and began their involvement on the Dodge Viper Coupe project.

Their contribution to this project was recognised by the head of research at the FIA, and Racetech was approached by Hubert Gramling of the FIA Institute who was interested in using the viper seat for development testing, perceiving it as the new direction for safety in rally and touring cars.

Since 2004 Black and the Racetech team have been working on a number new innovations including the FIA approved lightweight seat with air driver cooling, Racetech branded harnesses, and the composite sprint car seat. Further international endorsement of Racetech product was achieved when the Subaru World Rally team chose Racetech seats for all their cars in 2006 and at the end of 2008 when the new specification seats were introduced to WRC.

In the past four years Racetech”s international reputation has continued to grow and it’s visibility in world motorsport has increased exponentially, with its new North American and European offices and regular presence at the PMW and PRI tradeshows.

The company has also celebrated exceptional success with Racetech seats winning both the Bathurst 1000 and V8 supercar Championship with ...18 other Racetech seats not far behind.

As the new decade unfolds four new Racetech seats have been homologated by the FIA this with the appointment of a distributer in Britain to deal with the prestigious UK motorsport market and Racetech looks set to enjoy a dynamic decade and make a serious impact on the world motor sport market.