Karting gear

[ALXBWSCREW]

Well, I'll be buying my karting gear soon so I tought I'd share with you want I want to buy so I can get some opinions back. Bare in mind that I will use it on a nation FIA run championshit. Here' what I want to buy.
Overall: Sparco Rookie
Gloves: Alpinestars Tech1-KR
Shoes: Sparco K-Mid
The balaclava and collar are to small to include. Also another problem I have is the Helmet as I don't know witch type of homologation the FIA requires for nation championship. So it's going to be either an OMP Fast or a Bell Sport.

[MadCat360]

The Sparco Rookie is what I'd call a rain suit. It will probably melt easily (elbows like to touch engines), and it won't have very heavy duty skid resistance should you be ejected or flip over. It'll keep you dry, though. If you want more skid protection Alpinestars will have you covered. The KMX-3 has armored shoulders.

As far as gloves go, I found the Alpinestars not very durable and pretty thick. Quite usable though. They keep the wind off you. IMO Sparco makes gloves that will hold up better and are nicer to wear, but the Alpinestars will probably keep you warmer. Sparco Tides are probably the best gloves on the market with the little feelers they have on the palms, in my opinion. I haven't tried any Sparco karting gloves though.

For shoes it doesn't matter so much just as long as you find the thinnest soles possible. Karting pedals are really, really light and you want as much feel as possible.

I'm not that familiar with FIA regs but FIA 8860 is the top helmet standard that they use. Anything certified for that will be fine I'm sure, if possibly a little bulkier and a bit heavier than a moto helmet. Whatever you get, make sure it fits you properly by tugging it around while wearing it to make sure there's no slop.

Collars actually you have a lot of choice. There's been a movement lately to go for these HANS-like hard collars that sit lower and allow better head movement. I don't like them personally, I think they're uncomfortable, and I find the standard soft foam collar much more comfy.

Hope that helps.

[ALXBWSCREW]

FIrst of all I didn't expect anyone else then our MadCat360 to answer to my thread . Thanks a lot by the way.

I'd love to get myself some Sparco Tides but they're expensive what I do when I buy my gear is buy the best with the least amount of money. If I had more money I would have got myself other stuff. So my question was concerning price/quality.

[MadCat360]

None of that stuff is going to make you a bad racer by any means, but you do get what you pay for. As long as it doesn't get torn or melted, the Rookie should last quite a long time, and the Sparco Ks should last too. Sparco stuff is pretty durable. The gloves not so much, but mine have lasted 2 years.

I'd say that for the price, you've got a good selection.

[ALXBWSCREW]

2 years is more than enough! Thanks for the heads up. But what about the helmet? You used to have a Bell right?

[MadCat360]

Originally Posted by ALXBWSCREW

2 years is more than enough! Thanks for the heads up. But what about the helmet? You used to have a Bell right?

Yep, a Bell GP2. In the US it's under the Zamp brand... not sure why. It's exactly the same. It was more expensive than the one I wanted but it fit me right and the other one (an HJC) didn't. I have a weird jawline so I had to try like 5 or 6 helmets before I found a good fit.

If you're exclusively karting then a moto helmet is probably fine, and it'll be lighter and less expensive. But I don't know the FIA regs beyond 8860 so I would have no idea what brands to look at. I'm only using the auto helmet because I'm moving to cars soon - otherwise I would have gone with a moto. We've had a couple of flips in our series this year and they were both wearing moto helmets and they were fine. Arai seems to be the most popular brand, but my coach swears it slows you down a couple tenths.

[p0w3r]

I have a pair of sparco gloves and they didnt wear well at all. After like 12ish hours of use, the alcantara inserts had completely worn off. I have a suit from sparco (from like 6 years ago) that is pretty durable, but its not that smooth shiny material but more like a regular cloth material. My shoes were a pair of Sparco Pumas, and they were awesome...though the leather on them wasnt that durable since the vibrations from the kart quickly wore off a good part of the leather off, though it never made a hole or anything.

edit: you should check out some websites for closeout deals...i got some of my stuff from saferacer.com, and i just browsed though some things and they had a good amount of stuff discounted.

[MadCat360]

Originally Posted by p0w3r

I have a pair of sparco gloves and they didnt wear well at all. After like 12ish hours of use, the alcantara inserts had completely worn off.

That's what I'm getting with the Alpinestars. First the textile coating scraped off, now the palms are starting to go. What model of Sparcos were they?

[ALXBWSCREW]

Closeouts from saferacer are good but the shipping cost back to Germany I think it's too much so I pay about the same.
LE: they don't even ship outside continental US

[p0w3r]

The gloves were superkarts, but they dont look exactly the same as the current ones as mine were completely black...so its possible the new one is better quality but I highly doubt it.

And being a ignorant American i didnt notice you were in germany lol sorry...but I'm pretty sure you guys should have some racing supply websites over there too, so look around. I bought my suit from a dealer because i didnt know any better and really regret not buying online which would have gotten me a better suit for less money.