Gloves...

[kbalch]

Any thoughts pro or con re: Sparco Storm gloves?

I'd like to get some racing-specific gloves before my 2-Day at the end of next month. I suppose I could continue to wear my Nomex flying gloves, but thought some purpose-built equipment would provide some (as yet unknown) benefits...

Ken

[sydude]

Not sure about the Storm in particular, but Sparco makes a 'decent' product. The performance, materials and aesthetics are good, but build quality is questionable. Seems tear or open much earlier than other makes. I really like Alpinestars stuff.

Regardless of the make you buy, the most important thing to look at with gloves being used on an open-wheel car, and a skippy car particularly, are 1) the grippiness of the palm and finger surfaces - I prefer the textured rubbery synthetic-leather materials, as they stick nicely to very worn leather wheels and 2) stay away from leather or suede pads/surfaces, as they will dry out and become useless with all of the wet weather use they'll get in a skippy car.

My 2 pennies.

S

[dalyduo]

In my early days I probably cheated a couple of times and used golf rain gloves but wouldn't do that now because they aren't Nomex. Driving Impressions sells inexpensive short driving gloves that I've used for years and as the first pair aged I bought a second pair and kept the old ones for exclusive rain use. If you squeeze out most of the water in a towel or paper toweling after getting soaked and let 'em air dry they won't stiffen up as much.

[kbalch]

Thanks, guys. I'm thinking I might just stick with my Nomex flying gloves for the moment. No leather, no suede, decently grippy, skin-tight for excellent feel, and easy to wring out when wet.

So, it looks like the plan is to get some proper racing shoes prior to the 2-day, and get the rest of the stuff (suit, Nomex, helmet, & Hans) before the first race weekend.

Ken

[WatertownNewbie]

Originally Posted by kbalch

So, it looks like the plan is to get some proper racing shoes prior to the 2-day ....

If you have big feet, go with Sparco. I wear size 13 street shoes, as does Mikel Miller (who suggested Sparco for big feet). Whatever you do, get the tightest fitting shoes that your feet can tolerate. A size 13 translates into a 48 in the metric measure, but my driving shoes are a 45.

There have been some excellent threads on purchasing gear. Do a search and you will find them.

[kbalch]

Sounds good. My feet are usually either a 10.5 (for dress shoes) or an 11 (for sneakers). I was planning on ordering a 45, but it sounds as though I should start with a smaller size. My feet are pretty narrow (B width dress shoes), so maybe Sparco won't work. I was thinking about their Pro-Driver shoe, though...

Ken

[dalyduo]

Since sizes can vary quite a bit by manufacturer and even shoe styles if there's any way to get to a pro shop or distributor to try them on first it will save time and money in terms of the trial and error of shipping multiple shoe boxes back and forth. If you have to you have to but always nice to do easy in store comparrisons. Manufacturers often have location listings on their web sites.

[kbalch]

Great idea. Don't know why I didn't think of that. A brief search found a local shop/distributor. I'll go check them out this week.

Thanks!

Ken

[cooleyjb]

They are nice gloves just don't hold up as well as most of the others in that level in my experience.