Race & Rally Seat Extension - do your seats qualify?

On Monday 8th March, Motorsport UK announced that seats with certain criteria will have their "life" extended by another year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But, despite the universal praise across social media when the new was released, it's important to realise that only a select number of seats qualify for that additional year.

So, lets look at what seats are eligible and what life your seat is likely to have when competition returns later this year.

FIA 8855-1999 Standard

What date would my seats run out of homologation / be unsuitable for stage rallying in the UK?

To find out when your seats will be valid until you will need to look at the FIA homologation label.

All seats manufactured since 1st January 2012 will have an FIA homologation label overlapped by the FIA hologram in in the top left corner.

There are two variations on this homologation label:

"A manufacture date" (Month/Year)
and
"not valid after" date (year only)

Examples of the homologation labels are shown below;

So in the case of the labels here, one has the "Date of manufacture"  and one has the "Not Valid after".

The label that shows a manufacture date of May 2012 will be valid until 31st May 2019 (five years FIA Homologation and two years MSUK extension).

The label that shows "not vaild after" of 2019 will be valid until 31st December 2021 (five years FIA Homologation is 2019 as stated on the seat - with two years MSUK extension).

Clear? Good.

FIA EVENTS

Its important to note that if you are competing on an event where your seats must be FIA Homologated and outside of the UK, the valididity of your seat is FIVE YEARS. 

However, Motorsport UK have granted an extension to that life of TWO YEARS, meaning you usually have a SEVEN YEAR life on seats for use in Stage Rallying in the UK.

HERE IS THE IMPORTANT BIT REGARDING MOTORSPORT UK'S ANNOUNCEMENT ON 8TH MARCH.

In addition to the seven years (five years FIA Homologation - Two Years MSUK extention) life of your seats - CERTAIN seats will be elgible for a further 12 month extension, bringing that life up to 8 years in total.

The ONLY seats granted the extension are:

• If your seat has a "Date of manufacture" in 2013, your seat can be used up to EIGHT YEARS from the date on the label.
• If your seat has the "Not Valid after" date of 2019, your seat can be used up until the 31st December 2022

New FIA Standard – 8855-2021 

The new competition seat standard provides a new generation of competition seat, which are considerably in excess of those of FIA Standard 8855-1999, ensuring improved strength and support during rear impacts together with more extensive support to the pelvis, shoulder, and head during side impacts.

The maximum usable life of an FIA-homologated competition seat will be 10 years from the year of manufacture.

HERE TO HELP

As always here at Race and Rally, we are not here to sell you new seats - we are here to make sure you can enjoy your motorsport as safely and cost effectivly as possible. Our advice is always free and if you would like to chat to a member of our team, please feel free to drop us a message.