Hey guys. For my MBA, we had to come up with a product for our quality project. Mine is flame retardant shirts for DE's. They are made of FR cotton so they will be affordable, light and look cool too.

Questions: Is it worth having for a DE? (small chance of fire, but nonetheless the chance exist)

How much more (if any) would you pay for a shirt that offered this kind of protection?

Any comments are appreciated! Thanks!!!! Rog

 

Street cars burn much better than race cars. In the end it depends of what kind of protection your goal is. If you can come up with a way to reduce insurance for organizers you should have a target group and a win-win situation.

Then the question is how much you can charge. Probably a bit less than Nomex underwear, if it's not a sanctioned by a race organisation.

 

I'd rather have a 3 layer Nomex thong. Gotta protect what is truly vital...

 

I was recently in a fairly large DE fire, car was totaled. I was in the rt seat and issue was not driver error. I got lucky and just came away with singed arm hairs.

I'd pay $50-$80 for a fire shirt. Been thinking about doing the Carbon X anyway.

 

Figured you wore thongs

Rog,

I'd say this would be a good option for ppl to have. I feel that you'd also get the endorsement of the DE Sponsors once you have passed proper testing and safety standards. I think it's a no brainer to have clothing that would help protect in a fire vs. ones that do not. Additionally many DE'ers don't wear suits because of Cost, Comfortable, etc... Of course you'll get the guy who is in Green Group, wearing full nomex, etc... I always get a laugh out of that..

Good Luck!

 

Hmmm...great input...didn't even think about the insurance aspect.
Ha! Yeah I'll call it the "Johnson 4 Johnson" and get some brand recognition.
Dang Viking. Glad your ok. I've looked into carbon x and nomex. Very comfortable but doesn't wick away sweat like cotton. Some nomex can wick away, but it is an additive that does it.
Thanks Dave! You know we all get t-shirts at these events, but they are usually so ugly they become shop rags. Will be cool to have some different options with a safety aspec and still be comfortable to wear on a 95 degree day.

 

I think it priced below 1 layer suit tops. Maybe around the price of Long Sleeve Nomex Underwear top. $70-90

 

good option as long as it is breathable and costs 30-50% less than nomex

 

Thanks guys! I really appreciate the input.

 

Don't worry, you don't have much to worry about...

 

Personally, I would definitely pay $50, and might stretch as high as $70 if I noticed other people wearing them, as long as they didn't look like the car world's equivalent of the tuxedo t-shirt.

Speaking of the which, can you print on them without altering their flame resistance?

 

Thanks! And, yes you can. There are screen printing processes that are flame resistant as well. Normal stuff is flammable though.

 

Why limit it to DE I know lots of people who wear cotton T's under their 3 layer (including myself) I know it’s wrong but we all do it anyway. I would love to have something that I could wear all day and under my suit during the races. No cool suit here

 

Yup, me too when I'm not wearing my cool shirt. That's a great idea. I could see having a few different versions of the shirt and some that cater to use as underwear that doubles as outwear. In fact, I have someone working on a design now that mimics the upper part of a fire suit. Thanks for the input!

 

FWIW - there are companies that already make FR cotton dress shirts, t-shirts, henleys, etc in the $40 - $60 range. Marketed to electricians, welders, LEO's, etc. They also make FR cotton pants and FR denim jeans.

FR cotton is only rated to NFPA 2112 and is meant to protect against flash fires of short duration. The standard calls for flash fire testing to be conducted at three seconds with a pass/fail rate of 50% total body burn under ASTM F1930 (Standard Test Method for Evaluation of Flame Resistant Clothing for Protection Against Flash Fire Simulations Using an Instrumented Manikin) testing protocols.

Better than being naked, but not all that much protection in a burning vehicle.