Buying a race suit!!

[Gmi]

Anyone know where in sydney to buy a race suit? As in on discount at the moment?
Thanks

[lizard]

Never buy a race suit on price

[Magpie]

Agree with lizard, the suit protects you. Having had 25% burns with 10% seconds (not in a car accident) having something on to give you some vital seconds is worth buying the best you can afford.

http://www.racerindustries.com.au/afawcs0161690/CATID=3/ID=15080/SID=650452049/CLEARANCE-RACE-SUITS.html whilst Racer Industries is in QLD they have a fast mail service and always very helpful by email, phone or in person.

[manga_blue]

X2 on racerindustries. Very easy to deal with over the phone if you're not local.

[wasabi]

Got mine from V-Sport. Sometimes they have slightly older stock - Not an issue if you're not racing at a National level if memory serves correctly - & you'll get some damn good prices.

Agree with what others have said, don't buy a race suit based on price. The same would apply to buying a helmet in my opinion. You need to make sure that you're comfortable in whatever you go, which sometimes means the more expensive brands.

Other thing I would suggest is make sure you sit in some sort of comparable seat to what is in your car. That's what finalised my choice when I purchased.

[mx5002]

I bought an Alpinestars suit from mca bike store at auburn. They had old stock cheap as.

I got a three layer top of the line suit worth 1800 bucks for 550

It was a few months back though

[Tony]

http://www.racedeal.com/

[madjak]

When you say don't buy based on price, it's really hard to find good information comparing various suits. Also they seem to be graded by price with better suits in terms of specs costing more.

There looks to be a couple of price ranges of suits: $200-500, $500-900 and then $1200 - $1800

Typically the higher range suits are 2-3 layer with Nomex outer and a woven internal layer. The cheapest range are one layer and not FIA approved, the middle range typically aren't Nomex but still 2 layer, some are FIA approved.

What should one look for in a race suit? Weight of fabric, how well it breathes when your wearing it but also how well it protects from heat in a fire, freedom of movement etc. Are the $1200 suits really that much better than a $600 one and worth double the price?

Also often there are run-outs on older model suits... I would think these would be ideal purchase given the technology changes are probably minimal.

[Dan]

What should one look for in a race suit? Weight of fabric, how well it breathes when your wearing it but also how well it protects from heat in a fire, freedom of movement etc. Are the $1200 suits really that much better than a $600 one and worth double the price?

Safety is layered, if you already have a Race Seat, Harness, Fire Suppression System, HANS, cage etc.. then a $1200 suit might make sense but if you don't have those things then maybe you'd be better off investing in other safety gear to protect you from more likely scenarios.

Just buying an expensive race suit without having other safety gear is like buying life insurance which only covers you for prostate cancer.

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[mazmad]

Safety is layered, if you already have a Halo Seat, Harness, Fire Suppression System, HANS, cage etc.. then a $1200 suit might make sense but if you don't have those things then maybe you'd be better off investing in other safety gear to protect you from more likely scenarios.

Just buying an expensive race suit without having other safety gear is like buying life insurance which only covers you for prostate cancer.

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Slight correction.

Otherwise, love it. Someone else preaching about safety.

[madjak]

I'm not arguing against safety... I've just installed a full cage and a hans / race suit are next on the list. A race suit that is more comfortable and breathes is much nicer to wear on a 35degree day at the track. The problem is I've tried various suits on and you can't tell in an air conditioned shop how good they'd be on a hot day.

Also, I think a good suit will last a long time so it needs to be right. Are you guys saying you don't think the nomex $1000+ suits are worth it?

[CrazyRacer]

Revolution do a triple layer Nomex Podium suit for $750 or Trans Am for $900 which are both FIA approved and seem like reasonable value. I've had one of their older model Trans-Ams for years and its a pretty decent suit.

Any race suit that is worth while is horrible to wear on a hot day, but its better than getting burnt. Beside, unless your doing endurance racing you're not really in it for long enough for it to be that much of a problem. Just hydrate before you go out and strip it off after your session. The more expensive suits tend to have more comfort features such as expanding gussets, sweat absorbing inner linings etc, which once again, unless you're in it for long sessions you probably won't notice that much.

I would recommend not buying a suit online as its much better to try it on before you buy to make sure its comfortable and fits properly. Make sure you sit in a race seat with it on too and there's enough room in the back and butt when seated. You can only do this buying in a real store. I bought a cheap kart suit online (for karting) and that was just a waste of money.

[Magpie]

People need to do their own risk assessment and mitigate accordingly. Having been burnt before and not wanting to got through it again I probably put more emphasis on the type of suits I have. However I have never been in a serious car crash so the chance of being in a car crash and getting burnt reduces the weight likelihood. Sorry to sound like a safety lecture here, but everybody has a different baseline/point of reference.

I have a Sparco R506 (2 layer) purchased from Racer Industries and a RPM Racegear (2 layers I think).

I use this product to maintain the suits http://www.revolutionracegear.com.au/index.php?PCID=23755&PSO=245&PSID=220MLCK-01&PSV=Primary&CDO=.

[greenMachine]

Only chiming in here to say be careful buying 'discounted' suits, especially heavily discounted ones.

No problem if they are simply last year's styles going out to be replaced with this year's, but make sure you know the significance of the standards on the label. Just because it is an 'FIA' suit, doesn't mean that the standard to which it is certified is still acceptable. If it isn't, the scrutes WILL knock you back, they won't pass something that doesn't meet the standards currently laid down as acceptable. Best case you get told to replace it for the next event (happened to me with my boots, but they were old boots and no hardship to replace).

Also, last time I looked, SFI wasn't accepted but that was a while ago and may have changed.

[CrazyRacer]

What standard of suit you need depends on what type of events you're doing.

If its just sprints, you don't even need a suit so any clothing that covers you from neck to wrist to ankle will do. So for these pretty much any suit you find is passable - but not neccessarily good fire protection if you need it.

For races up to national level, the old FIA 1986 standard is still adequate, but for international events you need the newer FIA 2000 specs suits. SFI suits are not acceptable for CAMS races but can be used for lower level events.

All the suit requirements are on the CAMS websites here...

http://docs.cams.com.au/Manual/GeneralRequirements/GQ05-Schedule-D-2015-1.pdf