6 Sigma 6S-80 Cockpit Review

Final thoughts on the 6S-80 cockpit kit from the guys at 6 Sigma. This cockpit is constructed of 40/80 profile extrusion. It has the deep channel profile commonly found on China sourced profiles. The finish is black anodized.
Out of the box, the profiles looked to be in good condition. All the required hardware and fasteners were present in my kit. So, no last minute trips to the local hardware store to source a missing piece. The hardware for assembling most of this cockpit are M8 steel bolts and a wide slot type of t-nut. I think that 6 Sigma has made the right choice here to ensure that their assembled cockpit is as sturdy and stiff as it can possibly be. This is the first Sim Racing cockpit I have seen that includes this type of t-nut. Usually you get a bag full of spring leaf type t-nuts that are used throughout the build process. There is a piece of spring steel spot welded to the side of a t-nut. This allows the t-nut to press against the underside of the channels edges. And it keeps the t-nut from sliding around in the channel, along with the ability to be inserted directly into the channel at any point on the profile. The slot type of t-nut must be inserted from the end of a piece of profile. So you need to plan ahead if you want to mount anything else to the same profile, and insert the required number of slot t-nuts to secure that mount.
Or just use the spring leaf type t-nut for something that you need to attach to your cockpit later on. However, the slot type of t-nut has a noticeable mechanical advantage over the spring leaf, or spring ball t-nuts. Easy to understand once you see how much of the profile’s channel surface area is being clamped between the two different shapes. Of course, building your cockpit with the slot t-nuts will result in a more secure and stiff joint. Which translates to more solid structure using the same material than the smaller t-nuts. And is the reason I use the same style of t-nut, albeit with a spring ball element, on my personal cockpit builds in the major joint areas. Once I had the cockpit assembled, it was time to attach a seat, wheelbase and pedal set to see how it performed. During my driving sessions, I did not notice any flex in the cockpit itself. The pedal deck did not deflect under braking pressure from my True Brake modded Logitech pedal set. This mod adds a lot of stiffness to the stock brake pedal, which requires much more pressure to use that the stock brake pedal. Even so, no movement was felt under foot or seen in my video footage. The wheelbase mount that the 6S-80 cockpit comes with was solid enough for the 9Nm peak torque motor I was using. 6 Sigma does offer motor mount options for those running more
powerful motors. The top plate where the mounting bolts were holding the motor case did have some minor deflection. At the same time, I was surprised to see no deflection or movement from the 40/80 wheelbase support uprights. Which I normally see with these type of profiles. Another testament to the clamping power these slot type t-nuts have over the normal smaller t-nuts. The seat rails also delivered a solid feel when driving aggressively.
I was able to find a comfortable GT styled seating position with the adjustability here. Avoiding the truck driver position that many entry level cockpits have. At 500.00 including shipping, I think the S6-80 meets my expectations. And even exceeds them in some areas.