If you know me, you know that I am incredibly proud of my Imola Red x Cinnamon color combination. I spent many hours disassembling Andrew’s original cinnamon interior a few years ago to write my E46 M3 Seat Leather Swap DIY with every intention of keeping it forever. However, sliding around in stock seats and relying on the dead pedal on-track is physically tiring. I’ve been wanting bucket seats for the longest time to keep me in place, but there is one mandatory requirement: they must be color-matched to cinnamon.
I got in touch with Justin at Status Racing to help me figure out what my best options would be for sizing, colors, customization, etc. I’m fortunate to be local to their headquarters/manufacturing warehouse in Temecula, CA so I paid a visit to test fit myself into some seats and check out some colors in-person. He pulled out piles of books and swatches before finally finding my final choice one hour later. Finding a close match to BMW cinnamon is not something you can do online and still difficult in-person. I got as close as I could while being mindful of budget – the result is great considering the stock seat has over 20+ years of sweat and dirt layered on it.
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Status Racing FIA Approved Bucket Seats Are Back!
From my understanding, it has been years since Status Racing has offered any FIA certified options. However, they have recently released two brand-new FIA certified seats for larger builds called the Circuit and Turismo. Now, I’m happy to partner with them to release their new smaller, track-oriented bucket seat with a very satisfying model name: GRID.
Dual Duty Street/Track Cars
The GRID seat is for us. Status Racing seats are generally more popular with the tuner and drift scene as unique customization is their specialty. Now that the FIA seats are back, they are able to cater to those of us in the track community who may be looking for additional options on top of the usual Sparco, Recaro, OMP, Racetech, etc that meet the safety requirements of going 100+mph in corners. While all of those are tried and true race brands, colorways are limited and it is much more expensive to get upholstery done if you want an OEM+ custom color match like me.
I’ve spent years stuck in a dilemma of how to make this car both a street car and a track car. I’m generally a FUNCTION > FORM person, but I’m so glad that Status has come out with a new option that answers the question: “y not both?” I’m not quite ready to commit to having a roll cage in my daily, but with bucket seats, some kind of harness is required so I opted for the Schroth Quick Fit Pros that secure to the front and rear seat belt receptacles. I understand that this is not a fool-proof safety setup but it’s the best compromise currently available for as long as this car is my daily. With this, I can easily remove the harnesses and put them away when I’m not at the track.
Info on Status Racing
- All upholstery is hand-stitched and assembled at their headquarters in SoCal
- All seats are fully customizable, from custom logo embroidery to upholstery patterns (quilted, diamond, etc)
- You can source your own material and send it to them to create your seat (this is what I did)
- Sample swatches to check color can be requested before committing to your order. A small price to pay to ensure you’ll like the match
- Seat cover is removable so you can change design or colors while retaining the same seat shell
Status Racing GRID Product Specs
- FIA 8855-1999 Certified for racing
- Perfect for BMW platforms with smaller cockpits
- 20.25 lbs per seat
- Vacuum infused, lightweight FRP composite shell
- Fits 28″ to 34″ comfortably, but allows for MAX 36″ waist size
- Size comparable to the Sparco EVO-S QRT and Recaro Pole Position N.G
- Fully customizable from logo color, seat stitching color, back, center
- Eligible for custom embroidering of logos and images
My setup
Here are all the exact details of the seat color codes of the leather and stitching that I went for. I have heard that Prima Nappa Zimt is the closest match to BMW Cinnamon, however this material alone is about $400 per seat while the Boltaflex Pumpkin I chose was about $195 per seat. For 50% less, I’m very happy with the color-match and quality of the material.
For all bucket seat mounting solutions, I would highly recommend the Macht Schnell Clubsport Seat Mount which is complete with everything you need to install a seat with sliders. I already had the Sparco floor mounts but otherwise would have chosen this so that I wouldn’t need to piece everything together individually.
- Full premium leather: Boltaflex Pumpkin 480781
- Status logo stitching color: ISACORD No.40, Col. 1322, Lot no A6021
- Seat stitching color: DirecTex Strongbond THA-STGBD-B70-3124 Tex 70 Bonded 3124 NYL
- Macht Schnell side mounts + Macht Schnell sliders
- Sparco floor mounts
- Schroth Quick Fit Pro harness (driver)
- Schroth Quick Fit (passenger, not pictured)
TLDR;
- Stock seat w/ manual base weigh 54lbs each
- Status Racing GRID seat weighs 20lbs + 18lbs of mounting hardware (steel brackets, mounting plate, and sliders)
- Weight difference of almost 16lbs each side
- FIA approved
- Fully custom and removable upholstery
- You are able to order your own material and ship it to them if your desired color is not available thru them
- Each seat requires approx 3 yards of material
- You can get brand new seat covers + cushion at any time for $250 standard materials or $500 for premium materials to use on your existing seat shell
The pandemic made me wait a very long time for these but man they were worth it. I’m very happy with how these turned out. Thank you to the team at Status Racing!
