SB Sparco suits?
 

Are there skip barber racing suits available? Im not talking about the red fart-bags they have at all the schools, but I see these all the time:

Re: SB Sparco suits?
 

All the Mazda and Skip Barber signage you see are patches sewn on the Nomex suit. If you race in the series Skip Barber will give you an assortment of Mazda, BF Goodrich, and Skip Barber patches to sew on any suit you choose.

Depending on your budget or your sponsors budget custom embroidered suits can also be fabricated with more elaborate sponsor signage. The MAZDASPEED embroidery shown is a custom sponsor suit.

Re: SB Sparco suits?
 

Can any of the members here share how to apply the race series patches to my driver's suit? I have the template for placement but am not sure how to properly sew them onto my quilted sfi5 suit. Any and all advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Re: SB Sparco suits?
 

They can be sewn on by hand or machine but in either case you need someone with experience who can position them and sew them on properly. Some people go crazy and get Nomex thread but I think most are done with regular thread.

Re: SB Sparco suits?
 

If you really want to have it done correctly, in addition to using Nomex thread as Pat already said, the stitching for the patch should only be done to the outside layer of nomex. Most of the patches for the pro driver suits are usually done at the suit manufacturer, where they sew the patches on to the outer layer before sewing together the other layers.

Re: SB Sparco suits?
 

If you look closely you can see how I arranged the patches on my suit.
P.S. if you want a test sample of Sparco three layer suit to test its flame retardant characteristics let me know. Seems the paramedics missed that full body length zipper or maybe had just gotten their scissors sharpened and wanted to try them out on some pristine nomex. Well, can't really complain, I'm here writing this post. :)

Re: SB Sparco suits?
 

Harrowing shot of you and the car Jeff. So glad you survived.

It should be noted that you were participating in an Ill-conceived road rally on public roads that, due to crashes like yours, had sponsors withdraw and was never finished. (Google Robin Hood Rally to see web discussion) Though your suit was patched for the Skip Barber race series, you were not in a Skip Barber event when this happened. Just clarifying for anyone new to Skip Barber who doesn't know the context of your photo.

Understand your frustration at having a brand new driving suit cut off you but when a catastrophic event like that occurs where broken bones may be in play but are not obvious they cut the suit off to both reveal unseen injuries and avoid further injury trying to pry you out of the suit. It's the right thing to do for the victims survival even though it hits you in the wallet later, if you survive.

It's like when firemen enter a house or apartment and break out windows to ventilate the place. The owners always wonder why they couldn't just open the windows rather than break them out, but in the literal heat of the moment the first priority isn't saving money for the victim... it's putting out the fire, or in your case, determining serious injuries sustained and saving your life.

Re: SB Sparco suits?
 

Yes, for anyone reading this that was NOT a skip Barber event or an event that should have ever taken place to begin with. In fact it was NOT SCCA, NASA or any other sanctioning body that anyone has ever heard of. At the time I assumed that everyone ran their events with attention to detail and safety like SBR and they certainly threw the name around enough. Reading the thread I thought I'm sure I have a picture of my suit with the patches that were designated for SBR at least as of 2009 and after a few beers seemed the logical choice - here's the suit now don't do this. I have thought about cutting some chunks off and testing them against other materials on the grill. If I could have it one way or another it would be that I never signed up for the farce event as opposed to wishing the suit hadn't been cut.

Re: SB Sparco suits?
 

Jeff, as Pat said, so glad you survived and you are still with us. Now, if we can just get you back with us in a Skippy car !!!!
It was great to see you at Lime Rock last month too.

Viz