Bill Lehman

My first race car. Hershey Hillclimb 1966, Weatherly Hillclimb 1968. Lap belts and home-made roll bar. The 1968 version as shown became my SCCA EP race car.

Hatzenbach

but then again, as a built in safety measure the (Lucas) electrics probably failed half way ;-)

Bill Lehman

If the fuel pump quit, you lightly tapped it with a hammer and it would start. If the distributor cap got wet you were in trouble. I ran a special Lucas distributor cap boot.

CosmosMpower

Speaking of racing suits, what is a decent entry level suit that won't cost 4 figures for HPDE (not w2w racing).

Circuit Motorsports

Whatever is on the clearance rack at OG racing at the price you are willing to spend.

linzman

You get what you pay for. The cheaper suits can get very hot, even with a cool shirt system. If looking to cut cost, try to find the best last years model suit on the clearance rack that you can find. Apex, OG, etc all have good values this time of year, you may be able to find a $8-900 suit for much less.

LuigiVampa

Fire doesn't know it is only HPDE.

NotTheStig

There is a store in North Carolina that sells mainly racing safety equipment that is going out of business and they have ridiculous prices right now. I picked up a Sparco FIA suit that is 1 year out of expiration for $400. I'll try to find the name tonight.

mglobe

I guess I need to put my nomex on before saying this, but...

In a street car, the need for nomex is less than in a fully caged car imho. Why? Nomex does not prevent you from being burned, it just buys you time. A caged car is significantly more difficult to exit than a street car. Yes, you can argue that there could be a circumstance where the street car, due to damage, becomes just as difficult if not more to exit. Each of us need to make the calculation on risk, and make an informed decision. For me, in a street car, I don't feel the need for nomex.

WRT what fire suit to buy, a lighter one will be safer because you will be MUCH more likely to wear it. The cheap fire suits are like walking around in an oven mitt. They are miserable to wear, and I suspect many people who buy them for street car and/or DE use, end up not wearing them after they realize how uncomfortable they are.

Bill Lehman

The drivers suit I'm wearing in the hillclimb pics were cotton coveralls soaked in a solution of Borax and water and dried. This met the criteria of the day.

Manifold

... and a driver who's overheated, dehydrated, and uncomfortable may also be more prone to error. Many safety measures involve tradeoffs not just with cost, comfort, etc., but with aspects of safety itself.

kk2

Stripped cars usually go up faster too, but if you ever have a hard hit and get rattled (or knocked out) any extra time you can buy will be worth it.

Hatzenbach

Soooooooo true

996tnz

Absolutely. One thing I've learned at track is that you often end up sitting for up to 20 minutes suited up in car in the pits on the dummy grid waiting to go out. We had to have two layers and I used to run nomex underwear under a cotton treated one layer. One day it was well north of 100 degrees at the races and after qualifying (10 minutes on track but 30 in car) then two 33 minute races with similar wait times I went and bought a decent 3 layer suit. Not for looks, improved fireproofing or simple comfort but for protection from heat exhaustion. That 3 layer feels 3 times less stifling than my previous setup where already I was leaving out the longjohns and just wearing the nomex top underneath on hot days.

That was with racing, but some people do more time in the car at track days and heat exhaustion is a bit like hypothermia in that you don't really notice it coming on until it's too late.

Tracking my motorbike on a hot day I just about vomited and collapsed on pulling back into the pits, but hadn't felt it coming on while still hammering around. Queue a set of perforated leathers and new ventilated race helmet.

CosmosMpower

My understanding is even the basic budget suits provide good fire protection similar to a $300 SA2010 helmet vs a $2000 SA2010 Stilo Carbon fiber. The rest of the money beyond the base certification is comfort, style etc. I'm only in the car 20-30 minutes at a time, not hours and a 1-2k suit is not in my budget right now. I suppose any SFI rated suit is better than a t shirt and jeans.