Driving gloves - why?
Discussion
I can appreciate why they might've been necessary back in the day in an open top 1920s racer equipped with a thin wooden steering wheel and a windscreen like a sandwich box lid. Or even a modern car on a very cold morning.
But you often see footage of people going around the Nurburgring and the like on sunny days in modern comfortable coupes equipped with fat ergonomically perfect padded steering wheels whilst wearing a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, baseball cap but then these absurd huge brightly coloured padded branded gloves. Genuine question - why?
Is it just the 'done thing' in order to fit in - a nod to the folks who do this stuff full on, or is there some logical cogent reason behind it? The only thing I can think of is protection against fire but in view of the above, that doesn't make any sense either. In view of the technical attention paid to steering response in modern cars, wearing a pair of what look like oven gloves seems a bit self-defeating.
I know many of you are into track driving - so it'll probably be a bloody obvious answer to you.
But you often see footage of people going around the Nurburgring and the like on sunny days in modern comfortable coupes equipped with fat ergonomically perfect padded steering wheels whilst wearing a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, baseball cap but then these absurd huge brightly coloured padded branded gloves. Genuine question - why?
Is it just the 'done thing' in order to fit in - a nod to the folks who do this stuff full on, or is there some logical cogent reason behind it? The only thing I can think of is protection against fire but in view of the above, that doesn't make any sense either. In view of the technical attention paid to steering response in modern cars, wearing a pair of what look like oven gloves seems a bit self-defeating.
I know many of you are into track driving - so it'll probably be a bloody obvious answer to you.
Driving gloves total necessity in open car in Britain, or indeed anywhere. Hands get either cold or burnt with top down.
In a race or full on track day, naturally, they're for fire protection.
On the Nordschleife, in a closed car, where you aren't wearing overalls or a helmet, because either A) you're a turd or B) you have excessively sweaty palms.
In a race or full on track day, naturally, they're for fire protection.
On the Nordschleife, in a closed car, where you aren't wearing overalls or a helmet, because either A) you're a turd or B) you have excessively sweaty palms.
Krupp Stahl said:
Codswallop said:
Sweaty hands + leather steering wheel = suboptimal control.
Logical - but then surely a set of very thin leather gloves would be more appropriate? I don't have driving gloves for the MX5 but as I'm intending on doing some sprints and hillclimbs this year, I'll have to get some along with the rest of the overalls and whatnot. I could quite easily see me doing a trackday, finding my hands are a bit sweaty and using my race gloves rather than going out and buying another pair of thin leather ones, just because the race ones might look a bit silly.
bqf said:
Driving gloves total necessity in open car in Britain, or indeed anywhere. Hands get either cold or burnt with top down.
Disagree. I had my E30 cabrio for 5 years driven with the roof down in various conditions and very rarely did I ever feel gloves were necessary.Track driving in a cabrio may be different.
I went through a period of having painful hands ???
Basically after an hour or so of driving, the palms of both my hands would start to feel uncomfortable on the wheel.
As I used to make 14 hour drives back and too to Germany or Switzerland, it really was unpleasant.
I found that my fingerless, padded weight lifting gloves were the perfect answer.
Yes, I was conscious that I looked a t1t and dropped them when the problem went away.
Basically after an hour or so of driving, the palms of both my hands would start to feel uncomfortable on the wheel.
As I used to make 14 hour drives back and too to Germany or Switzerland, it really was unpleasant.
I found that my fingerless, padded weight lifting gloves were the perfect answer.
Yes, I was conscious that I looked a t1t and dropped them when the problem went away.
I have the same for driving the Elise with the roof off in the winter. Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff