Skoda Rally Blog

Rallying is expensive.  There is no way around it.  But it’s made more expensive by some of the rules, which are under some dispute at the moment; while I got caught replacing the Ibiza’s seats shortly before the rule to make currently-FIA homologated seats (which means under 5 years old, at a cost of around £550 for a pair in my case, sometimes a lot more) compulsory was suspended, one thing that hasn’t changed is the requirement for in-date FIA harnesses.  The ones in the Ibiza ran out at the end of 2011, which means that despite being completely serviceable and in good condition, they have to be replaced, adding to the considerable cost of rallying.  They’re not cheap, and previously I have used Sabelt ones in the Skoda and they came in the Seat as well, but there is a local company called Prima Motorsport who make FIA-homologated harnesses, so I thought I’d do the decent thing and give them a try; I ordered them a couple of weeks ago but couldn’t pick them up until today.  They came in a nice neat little box:

A box of harnesses.

Opening them up revealed what I’d ordered – a harness with ends suitable to be wrap-mounted over the harness bars on the roll cage, which is a nice neat option and offers better angle of the strap over the shoulders.

All nice and neat inside

On inspection, they were every bit as good as any of the higher-priced alternatives that I’ve used before, and indeed come with a really nice little touch – often it’s a pain to get your intercom cable to stay in the right place, but with a neatly-done bit of velcro (already added so with no scrutiny issues), it’ll be a piece of cake:

It's the little things that make life easier.

They came with a very clear instruction sheet, which shows the right way to install the wrap-over harnesses.  When I removed the old ones I found that they hadn’t actually been fitted very cleverly, and the way the new ones are in will work much better.  Setting them to the right length was a piece of cake (and easier than with other types I’ve done before), so overall, I have to say I’m really impressed with Prima’s harnesses – aside from the price and service (both of which were excellent), the product is great too.  Obviously I’d rather not have to spend over £200 on a pair of harnesses that may only get used for 10 days in their lifetime, but with the obligation to do so it’s nice to know that my money has gone to a small and decent local business.  Sermon over!