 Try to remember some of the basics of CQC. A nice bucket seat holds you in place, it improves your driving performance and it keeps you safe. But let's be honest, 75% of y'all just want one because they look pretty dope. That's cool we get that. But whether it's for form or for function, there's still only one correct way to choose a racing bucket. There's several types of bucket seats, but the first question you gotta ask yourself is, what do you buy it for? There are reclining or non-fixback seats and fixed-back seats. A non-fixback seat has the look of a racing seat. It can hold you in like a bucket seat, yet still recline like a standard seat for daily comfort, but are not certified as legitimate racing seats. This type of seat is designed for a mostly street-driven car, not a dedicated track vehicle. As the name implies, a fixed-back seat does not recline and is ideal for use with a certified racing harness for various forms of performance driving. The fixed-back seats come with or without a halo. A halo offers additional side-to-side protection for your noggin, in case of an impact or a rollover, and is the ideal option for a pure track-only vehicle. But if your track toy also sees the street, you will lose side visibility, which has obviously got negative consequences. Now that you know the options, proper fitment is the other half of that battle. The moral of the story is safety and comfort. If the seat isn't safe, you just shouldn't use it. But if it's not comfortable, you're not going to want to use it. And it's a bit of a myth that a fixed-back racing seat is just inherently uncomfortable. Sure you don't want to drive all across the country in one, but a properly fitted bucket seat actually feels pretty nice. Everybody comes in different proportions. If you choose a seat that's too small or too big for your body, you'll end up regretting it, because you can't really enjoy your car if you hate sitting in it. There's quite a few measurements that you're going to have to figure out, but the two most important ones relate to your hips and your shoulders. For example, just because I can sit in the seat doesn't mean it fits me properly. My hips aren't really that bad, but my shoulders are too wide and too high for both the shoulder supports and the harness openings. The angle of the harness behind your shoulder should never be more than 10 to 20 degrees below 90 without touching the pass-through. The shoulder harness is meant to pull you back into the seat, not compress you down. There's plenty of other things to account for, but any quality seat company will provide measurement charts and diagrams so that you can reference them to figure out which seat fits you the best. But there is an extra step to confirming fitment, which is making sure that the seat that you fit in also fits in your car. So when you're done measuring your body, take your measuring tape in the car and make sure your seat fits here as well. Last but definitely not least, just because a seat's fancy looking or really expensive doesn't actually mean it's safe. If you're going to use a bucket seat at a racetrack, make sure that it's got an FIA certification. It's not 100% required to have a certification for a non-competitive track day, but it's always the best way to look out for numero uno. Bucket seats are just cool, and they really do make driving more fun. But your health and safety isn't worth a few extra likes on your Instagram account, so don't be cheap, fake, or lazy. Get the proper seat for what you do with your car.