"In this Product Series about the Recaro Podium FIA, I document the unique technical and aesthetic features of this modern bucket seat, along with the development of its blueprint for the Bespoke Recaro Seat Program.

In this first entry to the series, I unbox a brand new pair of Recaro Podium FIA in carbon with black cloth upholstery. We dismantle what little there is to the seat and inspect how its made."
- Matt

The need to modernize.  

The desire for a modern bucket design is one I've never been particularly alluded by. As an E series BMW M car owner, I have personal biases towards the signature designs from Recaro. 

As we open the Bespoke Recaro Seat Program, there's a growing demand for more options from F and G series BMW M owners. The particular challenges to developing a custom seat solution for these chassis revolve around the thresholds to entry.

They have great seats.

That's a base G8x M3/4 seat (!). 

The F and G series M cars are drastic departures from the E series M cars in various ways. Most positively, they have expanded upon their use of more refined materials across the interiors such as carbon, aluminum and Merino leathers. It has been compounded by the release of their new carbon seats in the G series cars. 

Alcantara, perforated cloth, Merino leather - BMW M has been outdoing themselves with interiors on modern BMW M cars.  

Recaro's modernity. 

Recaro's bucket seat lineup is dominated by signature designs such as the Pole Position ABE, FIA NG and the SPG and its XL variant. Their aesthetics have endured for decades with subtle changes and updates. 

Many companies have tried to compete, or flat out replicate the designs - but ultimately, they will never have the logo. It's undeniable a significant component of what we pay for. 

The daunting task of evolving the bucket seat would truly only be succeeded by Recaro, if they could. In 2019, Recaro released a clean slate bucket seat design: the Podium FIA. 

We recently imported a set to document and develop its blueprint for the Bespoke Recaro Seat Program.

The Podiums were spec'ed with carbon shells and black cloth upholstery in medium sizes. 

A world's first.

The Podium promised to bridge the gap between the street and the track by being homologated for FIA and ABE usage. 

Designing, engineering and manufacturing a seat to be commercially successful for both Street and Track use is excessively difficult by the nature of the regulations.

Competition regulations #8855-1999 from the FIA requires extreme seat rigidity with demonstrated survivability up to 20Gs along specific hardware ratings for use with 4 to 6 point harnesses. Notably, the Pole Position NG FIA and SPG XL both carry this homologation. 

Street regulations are in accordance with ABE/TUV, the homologation regulating body for the German market. In short it requires compatibility with 3 and 4 points seat belts amongst other quality standards. 

The dual duty homologation embodies the technical prowess of Recaro: they are the only aftermarket seat manufacturer in the world with the combined homologations. 

All Podiums come labeled with the FIA and ABE homologations. 

The FIA homologation is good for 5 years from date of manufacturing. 

The large side cut outs are reminiscent of the Pole Position ABE, as they are designed to fit the original seat belt knuckles. 

Recaro added a black painted outline to hide away the carbon edges - it's a nice aesthetic touch. 

The upper shell has cut outs to pass through the shoulder straps of your race harness. 

The 3x cut outs may fix a concern that taller drivers have experienced with Pole Positions with shoulders sitting at or above the shoulder harness slots. 

For M owners looking to run 6 point harnesses, the access to the lower section cutout is made easier with the 3 piece foam design.

The FIA mandates steel hardware with a minimum tensile strength of 450 N/mm2, approximately 65,000 PSI. 

Carbon Construction. 

The Podium promised yet unseen carbon manufacturing techniques from Recaro. The fully exposed carbon shell, both front and back, meant a monocoque type construction without the usual textured underside of pre-preg carbon.  

The Turismo ABE style's pre-preg carbon shell is an example of the common underside of pre-preg carbon parts. 

The Podium has a hollow carbon monocoque. The textured underside is inside the shell. 

The monocoque construction is discerned on cutouts. There is no edge nor seam. 

The one seam that closes off the monocoque is hidden away under the seat.  

Recaro uses a 2x2 weave pattern, most friendly to complex curvatures. 

The pre-preg carbon has a precise optical orientation with little to no weave deformation.  

Lightest carbon bucket in the world*

The shells promised to be the lightest in the world [...] for a dual duty seat. In reality, the Pole Position ABE in carbon is lighter: it weights 4.5 kg versus the 5.9kg of a fully dressed Podium. 

Still, this is a very light bucket seat considering the FIA homologation.

Aesthetics.

Similar to wheels, seats are in a product category with extreme visibility - it's why BBS and Recaro sit at the top of these categories. Beyond the technical qualities, they both look the best and are innovators when it comes to product designs. 

In this regard, the Podium reigns supreme amongst the realm of aftermarket carbon bucket seats. The signature S-Shape bucket design from the SPG is reprised on the Podium, with further design accents unique to the carbon monocoque construction. 

The S shape was developed to ergonomically contour the human body shape. 

The design opens up at the hips to improve comfort. 

All cutouts for harness belts are purely contoured by the monocoque carbon construction.

Comfort.

Beyond the regulations, what ultimately makes the success of a bucket seat is how you feel in it. Having never seen a Podium as of yet, I wasn't a fan of the aesthetics, specifically the upholsteries. I couldn't say how it felt it either. 

Should it bring any comfort, Recaro claims its Podium is recommended by a German association for Healthier Backs. A rapid search shows the Podiums are this association's only approved racing shells, with much of their standard seat approvals being for domestic OEM car manufacturers. 

The Podium was designed with interchangeable sets of 10 pads in two different sizez: Medium and Large. The difference resides in the padding thickness, the Medium is 20mm/0.78 inch while the Larger is 10mm less. 

The Podiums we sourced came with a Medium kit. At 6'1, 220 lbs, I didn't fit well. I would have needed the thinner Large kit. 

While it may look like a torture seat with its little padding, the Podium is quite comfortable. 

Your body never comes into contact with the carbon shell. 

The foam used by Recaro on the podium is superior to the Pole Position ABE who uses charcoal and polyurethane foam. 

It feels like latex foam, although I can't confirm. It's softer and more pliable. 

Upholsteries. 

The Recaro Podium offers 3x standard upholstery options: Black Cloth, as pictured here, and a variant of Red and Black Alcantara and Nappa leather.

The Alcantara and leather materials are proper materials and significant improvements over the usually seen Dinamica and artifical vinyl leathers used by Recaro across their Pole Position and Sportster CS seats. However, the Red/Black contrasting colors do not fit modern BMW M cars - it screams aftermarket.

The Black cloth displayed on this set of Podiums is misplaced. It's the same fabric as seen on the least expensive, entry level Recaro seats. The pricing difference reflects the quality: the Black cloth option is nearly +/- 700$ US less per seat. 

I feel this is the area where the value proposition for a Recaro Podium falters in the modern era of BMW M interiors. 

Of course, I am biased - as such, to each their own. It's still a Recaro seat!

The signature Recaro tag is present on both seats. 

Contrary to Pole Position and SPGs, the Podium uses rubber clips over velcro. They snap into place over the plastic frame of the underside of the foam.  

The underside of the covers, the foam and the plastic frame have holes to clip into the seat shell. 

The shell itself is partially drilled to insert the plastic clips you see across the seat below. 

They are not glued, and can be removed and replaced. 

The Podium FIA is bucket design that needs to be seen to be understood.

It's above and beyond a standard Pole Position, and I can better understand their price point having seen one for myself. 

Unfortunately, these seats are not destined for one of my cars - but a rather special one, with a special twist. 

Up next: I will document the process to creating the blueprint for the Bespoke Recaro Podium.