Like every industry, the racecar apparel industry has its own insider-only secrets. And as a savvy consumer who depends on the comfort and safety that your gear provides, it's important for you to understand some well-known trade secrets BEFORE you put down your hard-earned cash to add a new piece of fireproof kit to your wardrobe.

So here are 10 secrets that we've learned in over 2 decades of trying, wearing, testing, racing, and destroying helmets, race suits, gloves, shoes, and more... as well as, of course, speaking with vendors and manufacturers.

1. Modern Racing Suits don't fit "correctly" unless you are sitting down

Have you ever looked at an F1 or Indycar driver and noticed how often they walk around with their suits unzipped from the waist up? That's no coincidence.

The truth of the matter is that modern road racing suits are extremely uncomfortable to walk around in. Those of us who have tried "well-fitting" suits know that it is difficult to stand up straight in a FIA 8856-2018 or SFI 3.2/5 rated racing suit without feeling that the fireproof fabric near your crotch is giving you the worst "front-wedgie" you have ever had in your life.

The reason is that racing suits are cut in a way to give you maximum mobility when you are seated in your car. This makes sense. Suits are safety equipment, and they should be designed to protect you while you're using them (i.e. when you're seated in your car).

Unfortunately, this means that modern suits have less fabric on the front of your suit than the backside, which makes the front tight and the back slightly baggy. It also causes the back of your collar to obnoxiously dig into the back of your neck when you stand up straight.

So what should you do, especially if you aren't able try a suit on before you buy it?

2024 USTCC TC class Champion Sean Milburn has a great tip:

First, buy a body measuring tape (like this one), use it to accurate measurements of every part of your body, add 2 cm (or approximately 3/4 of an inch) to every vertical measurement (torso, sleeve length, inseam/outseam), then use those figures to compare against the sizing guide that the manufacturer provides. This is especially important for your vertical torso measurement and the inseam / outseam of your legs, as the bottom half of your racing suit will naturally ride up from your ankles as you drive.

This recommendation also applies if you are planning to order a custom suit from a manufacturer like TRT, Marina, or OMP (three popular manufacturers of custom-cut racing suits). These sutits are sewn together with very little fabric overlap, so there is no room to "let out" any fabric to make them bigger in any dimension. Your best bet is to order the suit "long" and have a dry cleaner or a tailor "bring in" some of the fabric in case it happens to be too tall or too long for your body.

2. Racing shoes don't "break in." Some even shrink with wear

Most sneakers and dress shoes will "break in" as you wear them. Shoe salesmen will cheerily tell you that it's ok if a dress shoe feels slightly too tight, because you can just walk around in them for a bit and they will eventually stretch to fit your feet. And they would be right.

Not so with racing shoes.

Modern racing shoes are made of thicker material than your average street or dress shoe. Others have stiffer fire-resistant liners on the inside that don't stretch at all. Worse yet, due to the harsh conditions and moisture accumulated from on-track use, most leather or suede racing shoes will actually shrink over time, making for an increasingly tight fit as you wear the shoe more often.

Because of this, we recommend that you try your street shoe size and 1/2 size up (in US sizing) before buying a pair of racing shoes. We then recommend that you choose the one that gives you a tiny bit of extra space at the tip of the toe box. When those shoes inevitably get wet, they will shrink. And that tiny bit of extra space in the toe will keep the shoe from becoming uncomfortably tight.

Unfortunately, most racing shoe manufacturers do not make "wide" shoes. American racing shoe brands generally run wider than their European counterparts, but for some of us, even that isn't enough. For those cases, we recommend using a shoe stretcher, like this:

We recently learned (from speaking to a few manufacturers) that it is perfectly ok to use this type of stretcher on a leather or suede racing shoe. These stretchers will not only give you some extra room to articulate your heel, but will also widen the toe box just enough to make a narrow shoe a comfortable fit on a wider foot. This also seems to work on shrunken shoes as well, so if you want to extend the life of your racing shoes, we recommend spending the $20 to $40 US to get a set to park in your closet.

3. You can (and should) wash your racing suit

20 to 30 years ago, it was the norm for drivers to rarely (or never) wash their Nomex or FPF (AKA ProBan or Pyrovatex) racing suit. In 2025, most suit manufacturers recommend that you wash your suit on a regular basis.

What changed?

The answer is that racers and suit manufacturers realized that "track grime" is flammable. The grease, oil, fuel vapors, and rubber dust that becomes embedded in the fibers of your racing suit over time will degrade its fire-resistant properties. Cleaning that grime off of your gear is considered better than any potential wear or damage that you might cause by machine-washing your racing suit.

The other answer is that fabric detergents have come a long way in the last few decades. While race-specific detergents like Molecule Performance Wash have existed for years, off-the-shelf detergents like Woolite and All Free & Clear have caught up and are now proven safe to use on Nomex. Even the latest wave of sweat-beating activewear detergents are safe to use on racing suits.

We recommend washing your suit in on the Delicate cycle with cold or warm water to preserve the fibers of your suit and to prevent shrinking. Most manufacturers recommend air drying your suit on a hanger, but we have found that it is ok to tumble dry your suit as long as you set the heat at its lowest setting (e.g. no heat, tumble dry low) in a laundry net.

4. New shoes and gloves are always better

While suit and helmet technology have evolved gradually over the past 20 years, racing gloves and shoes have improved in leaps and bounds just in the past few years. If you want to upgrade your gear, we recommend putting that money into new gloves or new shoes.

In just a few short years, the stiff leather palms of old school racing gloves have become completely obsolete, replaced by comfortable and flexible Nomex fabrics that offer similar protection while providing much-needed dexterity. The chunky sticky silicon "fingerprints" that used to be common on fabric gloves have now been replaced by large, flat tactile pads that are less likely to peel off or pick up dirt.

Even external stitching is starting to become a relic of the past — Robotic sewing processes now make it possible to make low-profile internal stitching that you can't feel while wearing the gloves.

On the footwear front, racing shoes have become lighter, more flexible, and more comfortable to drive or walk in than ever before. The soles of new racing shoes are thinner, better contoured, and have built-in hinge points so you can flex your foot while actuating the pedals or walking around the paddock. Fire-resistant liners have given manufacturers the flexibility to poke tons of vent holes on the sides of the shoe, making for a much more breathable and less sweaty driving experience.

Rounded heels are now the norm, reducing wear on the soles of your shoes when you pivot your feet against the oft-abrasive floorboards of your racecar. And heel cutouts on the backs of newer mid-top shoes have all but eliminated the cuts and calluses that form on the back of your ankles over the course of a long race weekend.

If you haven't replaced your shoes or gloves in the last 5 years, we strongly recommend that you look at the sale rack of the racing supply store at your local track. Some of the shoes and gloves on the clearance rack are light years ahead in both safety and comfort.

5. It's worth getting the most comfortable underwear you can afford

Many racers will spend a ton of money getting the best suit they can afford and wear their street clothes under it. Having tested a variety of undergarments and materials (including not wearing undergarments at all), we have come to the conclusion that it's more comfortable to get a slightly cheaper suit and a set of flexible, high quality Nomex undergarments to wear under it.

From a safety perspective, the benefits are obvious. Nomex underwear will protect you from fire and abrasion better than your cotton or synthetic undershirt (or boxers) ever can. But the real benefit is in comfort. Nomex is extremely breathable and will keep you cooler in and out of the car. Plus they are easy to wash, which means you can show up at the track with a fresh set of clothes every day.

Another benefit is that properly sized Nomex undergarments tend to be both slimming and flattering for most bodies. There is an undeniable "cool factor" that draws the attention of competitors and spectators when you walk around with your black Nomex undershirt exposed above a half-zipped FIA or SFI rated fire suit. And coolness always counts.

6. The "original" Simpson HANS is the least comfortable Head & Neck Restraint available today

Ever since the patent of the original Hubbard HANS device expired in the 2000s, there has been a steady stream of companies entering the Head & Neck safety restraint market. The closely guarded secret here? The original Simpson HANS device is arguably the worst Head & Neck device on the market today.

The original HANS design relies on a large, stiff frame that comes down in front of your collar bone to brace your torso in an impact. This design has proven safe yet uncomfortable for many, especially for drivers with flatter torsos as well as female drivers who find that their car's racing harnesses compress the frame into their chest in a constricting manner.

Fortunately, upstart competitors have been looking for ways to improve upon the original HANS design. And over the last 20 years, they have succeeded.

The NecksGen Rev2 Lite head and neck restraint is the current gold standard for comfortable and safe head & neck restraints. Their design is so light and unintrusive that you barely feel it while strapped into the car. The low-profile NecksGen design was so comfortable that the original sellers of HANS device saw them as a threat and attempted to litigate them into stopping production of their product (which at the time was called the DefNder device).

Despite their attempts at litigation, failing, and making subsequent improvements to the HANS design, the latest HANS IV with the sliding tethers and lighter frame are still no match for the NecksGen style design for comfort and weight. For budget-conscious racers, the similar (albeit slightly heavier) Zamp Z-Tech Series 8A head & neck restraint offers the same level of protection and similar comfort at an even lower price point.

Even Simpson's own Hybrid Sport restraint (the author's HnR of choice) offers a more comfortable and ergonomic fit, and the harness is comfortable enough that you can wear it all day.

With even lighter, more affordable, and even more ergonomic devices like the upcoming NecksGen Rev X Carbon on the horizon, there is very little reason to consider the "original" Simpson HANS series at this time.

7. All of the cheap helmets are made by the same two (related) companies. And that's OK

If you have been in the market for an affordable helmet, you may have noticed that many of the budget offerings out there look and feel very similar. This is no coincidence. Most of the budget-friendly helmets from brands like Pyrotect, B2, GForce, Conquer, Zamp, and USR are all manufactured by Beijing Rodia Sports Manufacture Co or Beijing Shenzhou Rodia Industry & Trade Co.

This means that, aside from cosmetic differences in the vents, shell shape, and features, all of these helmets offer similar protection, similar quality, and similar optics through their visors.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. All of these BRSM and BSRI auto racing helmets have passed SFI SA Testing at independent testing houses. And an affordable, certified helmet is better than one that isn't built to the same standards. In fact, the shells for BSRI's Carbon helmets are manufactured in Japan and are of excellent quality and comparable weight to those on more expensive helmets.

Of course, you will miss out on the ergonomic advantages, the smaller shells, more aerodynamic shapes, and clearer visor optics that you get from the more expensive helmet brands. And as someone who started with a $250 G-Force hybrid open-face and now races with a top-shelf Arai GP6S, this author always recommends getting the best helmet you can afford.

But for less than $275 US for a comfortable full-face helmet that meets Snell SA2020 standards, there is no shame in picking the budget brands to protect your head. If that sounds more your speed, our advice is to pick the cheapest one. Because many of them are the exact same product with a different badge.

8. You should choose your helmet by head shape, not just by fit

There are a myriad of fitment checks and sizing guides to help you choose a fitted helmet. But very few auto racing helmet vendors or manufacturers talk about the shape of your head. This is one area where we can benefit from following the example set by our two-wheeled brethren in the motorcycle racing world. Head shape is one of the first things a motorcycle rider looks at when choosing a helmet.

Most drivers' heads fit into one of three categories: Round Oval, Intermediate Oval, or the Long Oval, based on the profile of their head when viewed from above.

While there are means of measuring the profile of your head, it is much easier (and surprisingly, more accurate) to just take a photograph of the top of your head and make an educated guess as to which head shape profile that is closest to the actual shape of your head.

Some helmet manufacturers, like Arai, will list the head shape for their helmets in their spec sheets. But most auto racing helmet manufacturers do not. Fortunately, most manufacturers tend to cater towards a particular head shape across their lineup of their auto racing helmets.

From firsthand experience, we can share that the following manufacturers' Snell and FIA rated car racing helmets tend to fit these head shapes the best:

Our tip is to try your helmet on before you buy it, and if you feel pressure points on the front and back of your head (i.e. the helmet is too round for your head) or you feel pressure on the sides of your head (i.e. the helmet is too long for your head), try on a different brand of helmet, not just a different model from the same brand.

Your noggin will thank you in the long run.

9. Get several pairs of socks to wear at the track. Ask for them as cheap gifts

Those of us who enjoy the occasional wet-weather hike know that wet socks will drain your stamina. Not only is it uncomfortable, but the moisture can also promote the growth of bacteria and fungi on your feet, which can cause uncomfortable swelling while you drive.

From our experience, the best thing you can do is to carry multiple pairs of clean Nomex socks with you in your gear bag. This author carries 3 pairs of socks to an average race weekend, and launders them (along with his Nomex undergarments) in the hotel's washing machines on Saturday night.

Clean Nomex socks are cheap, comfortable, and are the difference between an unpleasant slog through a wet race and a comfortable drive where at least your feet are dry. Our advice here is to ask for them as a cheap gift from family members. It's hard to have too many Nomex socks in your wardrobe. Not only do they offer an extra layer of protection, they are comfortable enough to wear under dress shoes, just in case you forget to do your laundry over the weekend.

10. Custom printed (dye-sublimation) suits are not breathable

One recent trend in custom racing suits is to offer custom-cut suits with printed designs. These suits, such as the OMP Racing One Art and the Marina UNIC Plus, give buyers the ability to fully customize the design of their suit based on a digital drawing. Much like the custom vinyl wraps on cars, you can get your suit printed in any design or color as long as it can be illustrated in a program like Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape.

This amazing advancement in racing suit technology gives racers the ability to create a racing suit that looks exactly the way that they want.

The downside? Custom printed suits are hotter and less breathable than other suits.

The reason for this is that the manufacturers of these printed suits use a process called dye sublimation to press the ink directly into the fabric. In order for this process to work without bleeding ink to the other side, the outer layer of the suit needs to be woven more tightly than they would in a typical suit. This results in a suit that feels heavier and is less breathable than an "off the rack" piece from a manufacturer like Sparco, OMP, or Alpinestars. And in a closed cockpit car with limited airflow, this can result in sweating or overheating while driving.

Our recommendation is to ensure that there is sufficient airflow and driver cooling in your car before committing to a fully custom dye sublimation racing suit. And if that isn't possible, look for a simpler design that is made up from pre-dyed colored fabrics (like the Marina Air Plus instead of the dye sublimation UNIC Plus).

Or just look for an "off the rack" suit made with lightweight modern fabrics. Either way, your body will thank you on those hot summer days.

See you at the track.

~R

Disclosure Section:

All products tested for this article were rented from other racers, or purchased out of Roger's own pocket at full price. StudioVRM and Roger Maeda are not affiliated or sponsored by any of the brands or vendors mentioned above.

StudioVRM is an Amazon Associate, which means that we get a small amount of referral income if you buy a product using any Amazon links in the article.