EricUSC

I am planning to buy a pair of Alpinestar gloves and shoes for track driving. In the past, I have done track events with sneakers and without gloves. What is the difference between driving gloves/shoes and karting gloves/shoes? Is the primary difference in fire resistance? According to online sources, The Stig uses Tech 1-ZX driving gloves and used to use Tech 1-K karting shoes before switching over to Teck 1-T racing shoes. The karting gloves/shoes are significantly cheaper than their driving counterparts, so I'm trying to decide if I should save my money and get the karting gloves/shoes.

QUESTIONS:
1. What is the difference between Alpinestar driving vs. karting gloves? Is the difference just in fire resistance or are driving gloves designed to be more comfortable with a car?
2. What is the difference between Alpinestar driving vs. karting shoes? Is the difference just in fire resistance or are driving shoes designed to be more comfortable with a car? The Stig used to use karting shoes.

Thanks!

jrgordonsenior

Fire protection and the accompying FIA ratings. You're not legal on the track with karting gear though many organizations don't bother to check. Hey it's your hands and feet.

Geez you USC boys are cheap well except when it comes to bribes....

Go Bears!....

MGR-GT3

+1. I have both and I use the kart gear for karting and the race gear for racing. Same for the suit and everything else.

Veloce Raptor

Didn't know you went to Baylor, John.

Actually, for DE, he can wear prettty much whatever he wants, IIRC...even sneakers. But for racing, it must be FIA-rated car gear.

winders

Or SFI.....right?

Scott

Circuit Motorsports

Gloves are very organization dependant. PCA wants FIA or SFI gloves. NASA wants fire-resistant material or leather, same with SCCA.

Karting gloves if they meet a regulation generally have an abrasion standard they can meet I believe. Otherwise they are just some thin leather and poly gloves.

Veloce Raptor

Of course, my oversight.

winders

I was just making sure.....you never know with all the crazy rules out there!

Scott

Mahler9th

I just did some background study of the various rules.

For track driving/lapping/DE's check with the groups with whom one intends to run. Typically one can run without gloves. Some may specify fire retardant materials or leather for those wishing to wear gloves.

While fire is rare, I would certainly advocate fire retardant materials or leather if one wears gloves for track driving/lapping/DE's. I am not sure what materials are used for karting gloves.

SFI has specs for gloves as does FIA, and some racing products meet one or both.

For racing, many major amateur groups do rot require specific ratings. PCA is the only major sanctioning body to list requirements (new as of this year), and they list specific SFI or FIA requirements for shoes and gloves.

In the case of gloves, the way the PCA Club Racing rules are written allow you to use a product meeting SFI 3.3/5 specs. This spec may be rather old, dating back 10 -20 years. I have not confirmed the age of the 3.3/5 spec with SFI.

So you could theoretically have a set of gloves meeting that spec that are quite old. However, PCA requires an FIA Spec for gloves that is pretty recent. So even if you have some fairly new FIA-rated gloves, they may not meet specs required by PCA. For example, I have a set of spiffy Sparco gloves that meet ISO 6940 and FIA 86 that are just two years old and have only been used for 4-5 races. They do not meet the more recent FIA spec required by PCA, despite their young age and excellent condition. I have a set of 15-year old, el-cheapo gloves meeting SFI 3.3/5 specs. These would be allowed under the current PCA rules.

For suits, the SFI spec, 3.2A/1 or greater that PCA requires, dates back to 1984. I have confirmed this with SFI. So theoretically you can have a 1985 SFI 3.2A suit and it would be legal for PCA.

But, the FIA spec they require, 8856 2000 came about around 2005. So if you have a brand new (e.g, "new old stock") FIA rated suit, with a spec prior to 8856 2000 (for example, FIA NORME 1986), it would not meet the requirements for PCA Club Racing.

But wait there is more. It turns out that back in the day, some manufacturers, and/or their importers, tested some products to SFI standards, but did not bother to purchase and apply the SFI labels. So for example, my Sparco suit is labeled FIA NORME 1986, and is fine with NASA, BMWCCA, SCCA and POC. At first glance, it does not meet PCA requirements. However I contacted Sparco and discovered that it was tested to SFI 3.2A, they just never bothered to label it, because back then no one really cared. It turns out that the same is true for my gloves.

This means I do not have to go out and buy a new suit or use my 15-year old gloves for my single PCA-sanctioned event this year, the Rennsport Reunion IV. Thank goodness.

This stuff can be pretty complicated in terms of racing safety requirements.

In any case, I always tell my students that if they expect to be doing lapping days/DEs, et cetera for a long time, and want to, or are required to wear gloves, they may as well start out with a decent racing product. Same for shoes. They have qualities and characteristics beyond fire retardant materials that make them attractive over other types of gloves and shoes.

Suits... different matter.

multi21

The devil is in the details. I've got all three... but you specifically said "Driving" gloves and shoes" not "Racing Shoes"

Please note that there are "Driving shoes and gloves" that are not fire resistant and would not be acceptable in a club race or similar.

The driving gloves/shoes and karting gloves/shoes will both work at a DE or Autocross etc.

But, if you're going to invest in driving shoes/gloves, get a fire resistant material such as nomex or carbon x...

BTW, I though Eric was a Game ****...... U of South Carolina....

KaiB

Oh my...

It just can't be this complicated.

Why even ask the original question without a modicum of research? Who the fark is the Stig?

Get a pair of Sparco Tide gloves and whatever pair of modern shoes that fit and be done with it.

Ain't worth the time.

mikew968

Stig...from Top Gear...lol

KaiB

Thought he might have been a long haired guitar shredder...