 Home > Reviews/Installs > Sparco Evo and Schroth Profi II-FE in a Honda Civic OVERVIEW: As a general surgery resident who routinely takes care of severely injured car crash victims in the ER, I did not skimp on safety when I started to track and autocross my Honda Civic. I had an Improved Touring legal 8-point rollcage installed by Mitch Piper of Piper Motorsport in Manassas, Virginia. Mitch also installed the M&R window net and electrical cutoff switch. SPARCO EVO SEATS: I bought a pair of Sparco Evo seats because they were reasonably priced ($579 each), lightweight (about 15 lbs), FIA homologated, and most importantly, comfortable. I am 6 feet tall and weigh 180 lbs, and the seats hug me very securely. When autocrossing I can focus on driving rather than trying not to slide off the seat in corners. I found the seats plenty comfortable during a drive from New Jersey to Wisconsin. Of course, seat fit is a relative thing, so be sure you try out several seats before you buy. For larger drivers the Evo is available in a supersized version, the Evo 2. To mount the seats Mitch Piper welded a square of box-section steel tubes to the floor of both sides of the front cabin. On the passenger side the steel Sparco side mounts are bolted to this box frame, and the seat to the side mounts. On the driver side a set of Sparco universal sliders fit between the floor box frame and the side mounts. The sliders allow easy fore-aft adjustment for different drivers and driving situations. Set up this way the occupants sit considerably lower to the floor compared to the stock seats. This results in a lower center of gravity and increased head room, a nice thing in a subcompact like the Civic. One thing that surprised me was how heavy the sliders and side mounts were. One could probably save quite a bit of weight with aluminum slide mounts. SCHROTH PROFI II-FE ASM HARNESS BELTS: After installing a rollcage and fixed-back seats, it was time to get some harness belts. But which brand to go with? Schroth is a German company that has been making automobile safety harnesses since 1954. Unlike other harness manufacturers, Schroth makes nothing but harness belts. Besides car seatbelts they also make restraints for the aviation industry and military applications. Schroth supplies seatbelts for Mercedes Benz. Within the world of motorsports Schroth harness belts are used at the highest level, including F1 and WRC. At the grassroots end of the spectrum Schroth Rallye harness belts are very popular for autocross. I found Schroth’s narrow product focus appealing—harness belts are their entire business, so they must know what they are doing. I decided to go with the Schroth Profi II-FE asm harness belts. The shoulder belts are 3” wide while the lap belts are 2” wide. Schroth claims that the narrower lap belts fit the pelvis better, enabling a tighter and more secure fit. While the 2” belts are FIA homologated and may be safer than the 3”, many sanctioning bodies in the USA still require 3” lap belts, so check your rulebook before you buy. Schroth belts are made of polyester webbing that they claim is stronger and more durable than the nylon used by other manufacturers. After a year of almost daily use my belts look essentially new, even in the areas that run through the adjusters. In my car the shoulder belts wrap around a rollcage bar behind the seats at shoulder level, the safest method in a caged car. The lap and anti-sub belts have snap-hook attachments that clip onto eyebolts welded onto my car. My belts came with pull-down lap belt adjusters. They work OK but are a little awkward to use. I think pull-up adjusters would have been a better choice for my seats in my car. When seated one has more leverage pulling up from the floor (using biceps) rather than pushing down (with triceps). Plus there is stuff in the way like my rollcage side bars and widow-net hardware. A new option from Schroth is their “Flexi Belt” system. The latches and brackets are all detachable, adjustable, and reversible. You can easily switch from pull-up to pull-down, and customize the adjuster position to avoid interference with the seat or other obstacles. With the Flexi Belt you can also switch attachment points from snaps to bolts. Flexi Belt is a very nice design that I wish I had. It is only available on the 2” lap belts. The length adjustment hardware on the Schroth belts is very nice. The metal pieces are much less clunky than what I have seen on other popular belts. The low-profile adjusters are not only lighter than the competition’s but also safer, because they are less likely to cut into the wearer’s flesh or catch things like clothing or helmet straps in the event of a crash or emergency exit situation. On the high-end F1-quality Schroth harness systems some hardware components can be ordered in titanium for further weight savings. For even more comfort I purchased the Schroth shoulder belt pads. They have zippers for easy installation, are made of fireproof Nomex, and have a no-slip inner surface. Besides being comfortable they also increase safety by decreasing the likelihood of a strap cutting into the side of your neck in a crash. The FE buckle is opened by depressing an orange button instead of turning a camlock lever. The buckle is attached to the inboard lap belt. The ends of the other belts including the anti-sub belts plug into it. This buckle makes the harness system legal for street driving in the USA. I think the main reason for this is because it works very similarly to normal OEM seatbelt buckles, and thus would not hinder rescue attempts by EMS or other responders in the event of a crash where the driver is knocked out or otherwise incapacitated. You can imagine a firefighter having a hard time figuring out a latch-and-link system in a burning car upside down in a ditch at night. Since I drive my car on the street this safety and legality feature was key in my selection of the Profi II-FE asm system. What is “asm”? It stands for anti-submarining. Submarining is the phenomenon in a frontal crash where the occupant slides under the lap belt and ends up a bag of jelly and broken bones in the footwell. Schroth’s asm solution is very simple: a loop of webbing on the inboard shoulder belt stitched back on itself. In a high energy impact the stitching will give way, allowing the occupant’s torso to slightly twist, thus decreasing the chance of a dive to the depths. The asm system is not compatible with the new Head And Neck Supports (HANS) devices, but I think it is a nice feature in a street driven car when a helmet is not worn. To further decrease the risk of submarining, I bought anti-sub straps run up from the floor through a slit in my Sparco Evo seats and latch into the buckle. I went with the dual-strap units for less pressure on my unit. Even with the dual straps there is some crowding of the package, and I do not use them often for street driving. For high performance driving situations when you want to really crank all the belts tight, the anti-sub straps are great because they keep the buckle and lap belts nice and low on the hips where they belong. CONCLUSION: All in all I have been very happy with my choice of seats and harness belts. I could have saved quite a bit of money by going with cheaper products, but I think the difference in comfort, quality, and safety was worth it. If you are thinking of making similar modifications to your car, know beforehand that it will make it less convenient for everyday driving. To go anywhere I have to climb over my rollcage door bars, click all the belts into the harness buckle, and adjust the shoulder straps. Once buckled in it is impossible to pick anything off the floor. Backing up takes more work because you can’t turn around to look over your shoulder. With the cage and fixed-back seats obviously rear seats are out of the question. With the stripped interior and no air con, it is noisy and hot. Despite all these inconveniences, I LOVE my little street-legal racecar. Note: SoloRacer.com and David Yu Greenblatt take no responsibility for any damage you enact using any of the above information. If you are unsure about your ability to install seats and harness belts, have a professional do it for you. You are working with integral safety components of the car, and errors could lead to very dangerous situations. Please read the rest of our Legal Disclaimer for more details. David did receive a discount from Soloracer.com in return for writing this review. MORE PHOTOS: (more at Davids website) |
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 Passenger Side View(click photo to enlarge) |
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 Shoulder Belt Closeup(click photo to enlarge) |
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 View From Behind(click photo to enlarge) |
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