Zak77

I'm very, very excited for my first "real" race coming up next month. A good friend of mine needed another driver for their Lemons team and I'll be heading to New Hampshire the end of October for the race. I've never done wheel to wheel racing, so this will be a very new experience for me.

And now I need to go shopping for fire gear. I have a decent helmet that meets their standards but I need a 3.2A suit (looking for at least a 2 piece), gloves, shoes and socks. I might pick up a balaclava as well.

My buddy recommend Wine Country Motorsports as he gets most of his stuff from them. They have a good deal on a 2 layer Alpine Stars suit and I think it's in my size. Thats the tough part. I'm 5'11 and 255 lbs, with a 36" waist. I think a size 56 or 58 will fit.

Gloves, shoes etc I really don't know much about as I've never purchased this type of items before. I'm on a budget but don't want to skimp to much on this stuff. What are some good, lower cost shoes and gloves out there? Any brands to stay away from? Seems like G-Force is always the cheapest but are they good or just cheap and get the job done?

Captain Buddha

See if there's a local dirt track/circle track shop nearby where you can go in and try suits, gloves, shoes, etc. on before you buy. You definitely want a 1-piece suit. Good luck and have fun!!!

StreetSpeed

If you want to buy new, and are looking for qualityish stuff that won't break the bank, here's what I use in the Lemon's car:

Suit - http://www.saferacer.com/sparco-jade-racing-suit

Shoes - http://www.saferacer.com/sparco-race-shoes#!prettyPhoto

Gloves - http://www.saferacer.com/alpinestars...-1-race-gloves

I don't wear a balaclava, and the suit has a 5 rating so you don't need underwear. However if I was going to do it over again, and knowing now that I'll be doing a lot more racing, I woulda bought the best suit I could afford on closeout somewhere. That Sparco jade suit is like wearing a snowsuit. The $1500 ones (which you can often find on closeout in the 6-700 range) are like wearing silk yet they still have the same fire rating. I use a coolshirt now which makes the suit much more bearable when it's 90 degrees and you're in a Lemons car for an hour.

I would typically be rubbing fenders with you at that Lemons race in NH, but I've got too much stuff going on with the Corvette through the end of the year already. Which team you going to be racing with?

Zak77

Thanks for the info, I'll search around for some good deals as I plan on doing as much racing as I can (and can afford) and at some point will start doing hill climbs and time trials with my C5.

I'll be racing with Valsalva Motorsport. They have the E36 covered with beer cans.

JerryTX

Full rental for chump car drivers at www.racedaysafety.com.

StreetSpeed

Cool. I know the car well. Have fun and good luck!

RX-Ben

get a balaclava. you should get nomex long underwear as well.