Trackday - What to wear

[chutley]

Trailer - tick
Bike Engined MK Indy - tick
Full Face Bike helmet - tick

Open kit car, with no windscreen. What should I wear on trackdays...?

Jeans & Long sleeve shirt, and pair of trainers for my first one. Pedals are very close together.

After that....do I buy a race suit? Nomex fire proof? All the gear and no idea?

or go cheap but safe and buy
Nomex workmen's trousers and a Nomex long sleeve polo shirt?
Nomex gloves workman's gloves

or stick with jeans, and maybe some race boots to deal with those pedals?

When I rode motorcycles it was simple, full leathers, boots.gloves and helmet were obligatory Back protector optional but recommended. Not sure what is sensible for the car without looking like a wannabe. Nor do i want to spend needlessly.

[QBee]

Honestly? If you have the budget, do it once and do it right.
With your bike and driving experience you will be quick, so nobody could accuse you of all the gear, no idea.
I would get the full race gear......who knows, if the worst happened, you might be very glad you did.
I spent over £500 fitting a roll bar in my TVR, on the basis my head was worth more than that.
I will buy a fire proof race suit if you will.

[gbk]

I would consider a car helmet rather than a bike helmet if budget available

[McSam]

gbk said:

I would consider a car helmet rather than a bike helmet if budget available

This first, bike lids don't really have any consideration towards fireproofing as few people get trapped in burning bikes.

Proper race boots will also give you a dramatic improvement over normal trainers, you need thin, flexible soles that are only as wide as your feet. These needn't be showy, my Puma Speedcats are just black leather but are excellent for track driving. After that, whatever you're comfortable with. I personally would feel a bit try-hard wearing a race suit but I'm not that quick and I drive a normal saloon car on track, so might look a bit out of place. In such a focused car, though, this shouldn't be an issue and as QBee rightly says, you might be very glad you did.

[ScorpKing]

Agree with all the comments. I run a radical on track days and although I have the quilted romper suit I don't wear it very often - just use the flame retarded long johns vest + socks which is a good way to go under work pants and decent race jacket. Good boots - race or karting. Good pair of gloves for open cockpit and good crash helmet are essential.

[chutley]

Thanks for the input. I'm old enough not to really care what people think, so I've bought some kit (e-bay is my friend). New Nomex gloves, underwear & socks, second hand 2-layer suit and boots. Total cost £235, you don't have to spend a fortune.

I'll stick with my bike helmet, but might use a nomex aircrew balaclava I already have.

See you on the track folks

[GT3-RS]

chutley said:

Trailer - tick
Bike Engined MK Indy - tick
Full Face Bike helmet - tick

Open kit car, with no windscreen. What should I wear on trackdays...?

Jeans & Long sleeve shirt, and pair of trainers for my first one. Pedals are very close together.

After that....do I buy a race suit? Nomex fire proof? All the gear and no idea?

or go cheap but safe and buy
Nomex workmen's trousers and a Nomex long sleeve polo shirt?
Nomex gloves workman's gloves

or stick with jeans, and maybe some race boots to deal with those pedals?

When I rode motorcycles it was simple, full leathers, boots.gloves and helmet were obligatory Back protector optional but recommended. Not sure what is sensible for the car without looking like a wannabe. Nor do i want to spend needlessly.

mate don't forget it's a trackday.....a proper full face Crash helmet and clothes you feel comfortable and as your in an open top car you'll need a top that has long sleeves cause it's the rules a pair of trainers or race boots if yer like......you won't need a nomex suit or gloves unless you intend on rolling the car (I assume it has a roll cage) or crashing and exploding in a ball of flame in which case I wouldn't suggest a Trackday make sure you drive at 8/10ths of your ability and not the cars and you'll have a fun safe day....PS.....always a good idea to get some tuition.....a Motorcycle trackday is of course an entirely different matter

stay safe have fun

[chutley]

GT3-RS said:

mate don't forget it's a trackday.....a proper full face Crash helmet and clothes you feel comfortable and as your in an open top car you'll need a top that has long sleeves cause it's the rules a pair of trainers or race boots if yer like......you won't need a nomex suit or gloves unless you intend on rolling the car (I assume it has a roll cage) or crashing and exploding in a ball of flame in which case I wouldn't suggest a Trackday make sure you drive at 8/10ths of your ability and not the cars and you'll have a fun safe day....PS.....always a good idea to get some tuition.....a Motorcycle trackday is of course an entirely different matter

stay safe have fun

Hoping to get some tuition, looking forward to having some safe fun. Thanks for the words of encouragement to all.

[mgv8dave]

Just as a side note to this incase you never knew.
As from last week all MSV circuits require you to wear a full face helmet in a "Soft or Open top Car"
For example.

MX5 with a soft top = Full Face
MX5 with a hard top = Open Face

We had a few people turn up on Tuesday to Brands Hatch who were unaware of the rule change.

Dave
Opentrack

[GC8]

My suggestion would be to buy Nomex underwear and socks and to wear that. Id disregard the usual 'buy a car helmet, bike helmets are rubbish' nonsense. If you want to protect your head then buy a Nomex balaclava - the lining in the lid will make fk-all difference...

I haven't ever worn a race suit on a trackday - youll get a good deal of the protection that you might need from the underwear and no one will be any wiser.

[iguana]

Tweed, you can't go wrong with tweed, coupled with a pipe naturally, we are not savages!

[papahet]

GT3-RS said:

mate don't forget it's a trackday.....

Luckily serious incidents on track days are rare but there is always the risk there. The car does not know the difference between timed motorsport or a fun trackday when it decides to blow an oil hose off, ditch power steering fluid on to the exhaust or chafe through a fuel hose or throw a leg out of bed. Hitting the wall is hitting the wall whatever event you are doing.

Personally I don't go on track in anything less than all of the gear. Getting hurt in competition would not be fun but getting hurt putting around at 7/10ths would be really silly.

Also the underwear set on its own will do SFA to help you. Regular man made or cotton clothes worn on the top will burn off in a second and offer no resistance to heat transfer, the underwear set on its own will transfer heat almost straight away but might offer a couple of seconds protection against the direct flame contact.

This is worth a read to see what it is like inside a burning car:

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/fightin...

[GC8]

Any Nomex clothing only gives you a few seconds protection. A fire which will 'burn away top clothes' will probably kill you no matter what you are wearing, short of breathing equipment.

[gbk]

gbk said:

I would consider a car helmet rather than a bike helmet if budget available

I was actually thinking of the bike helmet potentially lifting with air pressure from lack of windscreen. The position in the car is generally different from sitting on a motorbike and the air can get under the chin in some bike helmets.

[juansolo]

GT3-RS said:

mate don't forget it's a trackday.....a proper full face Crash helmet and clothes you feel comfortable and as your in an open top car you'll need a top that has long sleeves cause it's the rules a pair of trainers or race boots if yer like......you won't need a nomex suit or gloves unless you intend on rolling the car (I assume it has a roll cage) or crashing and exploding in a ball of flame in which case I wouldn't suggest a Trackday make sure you drive at 8/10ths of your ability and not the cars and you'll have a fun safe day....PS.....always a good idea to get some tuition.....a Motorcycle trackday is of course an entirely different matter

stay safe have fun

In 15+ years of doing track days I've seen many cars hit very solid pits walls and go into tyre walls, more than a handful of cars roll, a few car-to-car impacts and at least two cars on fire that I can remember.

Just because it's a track day don't think these things can't and don't happen. I have no issues whatsoever with people fitting safety equipment to themselves and their cars for taking part in what is essentially motorsport without the competition element.

As a wise man once said; st happens.

[ClassiChimi]

papahet said:

Luckily serious incidents on track days are rare but there is always the risk there. The car does not know the difference between timed motorsport or a fun trackday when it decides to blow an oil hose off, ditch power steering fluid on to the exhaust or chafe through a fuel hose or throw a leg out of bed. Hitting the wall is hitting the wall whatever event you are doing.

Personally I don't go on track in anything less than all of the gear. Getting hurt in competition would not be fun but getting hurt putting around at 7/10ths would be really silly.

Also the underwear set on its own will do SFA to help you. Regular man made or cotton clothes worn on the top will burn off in a second and offer no resistance to heat transfer, the underwear set on its own will transfer heat almost straight away but might offer a couple of seconds protection against the direct flame contact.

This is worth a read to see what it is like inside a burning car:


https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/fightin...

This^^^^

[Dan Friel]

You can get pretty decent nomex suits on ebay for reasonable money. I have a suit for competition, but what's the point of leaving it at home in a couboard?? I always wear it.

http://www.dupont.com/products-and-services/person...

[NJH]

I've been doing the Nomex long sleeved vest thing and jeans from the start. Addidas race boots as the sole is more robust than most, Sparco gloves the ones with thousands of if little suckers on em like am octupus (cost me a fortune but felt like money well spent after the first time using em), nomex socks. Wasted a lot of money on garbage in the past (like a Sparco seat, the fabric they use is utter rubbish) so only buy the right stuff once now.

[balls-out]

tweed?

[GC8]

Reversed cap makes it for me.