Kevlar suits and track days

I am interested in a 2-piece suit for the road and trackdays. Does
anyone know about the kevlar suits made by gtsracegear.co.uk in
Telford. What are they like and are they allowed on trackdays?
Ta.

 

How much do you value your skin?

Keprotec, the material from which these "Kevlar" suits is made, was
originally conceived by and developed for multiple world-sidecar
champion Rolf Biland, who wanted a suit that fitted like a second skin,
with sponsors' logos screen-printed on, for improved aerodynamics over
that of a leather suit. Keprotek is actually aramid-reinforced Cordura
with a Lycra content. The amount of the aramid content varies, but it
is usually less than 20% of the entire fabric weave.

In those days, what Biland did today, everyone else in the sidecar
world did tomorrow. In 1985, British national and GP-level sidecar
passenger Brian Nixon limped into the shop [1]. He had fallen out of
the chair on the approach to Shaw's hairpin at Mallory, and had slid to
a halt on his front. The forearms, chest either side of the zip and
front thighs of the suit had completely abraded away. He was a weeping
sore at all these points. Measuring him for a leather suit had to be
undertaken with a great degree of care...

Scott Leathers experimented with Keprotec suits in the 1990s, for 125
GP runner Robin Appleyard, IIRC, but were similarly shocked at their
lack of protective performance in racetrack crashes.

A number of speedway took to Keprotec suits because of the ease of
laundering, compared to leather, and the flexibility, but sliding on
shale doesn't damage protective clothing to anywhere near the same
degree of severity as sliding on tarmac.

Test data from EC Type-Examination testing of Keprotec shows that its
performance is little or no better than any 100% air-textured Nylon
("Cordura") fabric - less than 0.9 seconds from contact to perforation
on the EN 13595-2 test apparatus. That is for the "face" side of the
fabric. The reverse face features loops of aramid not unlike those
found (in significantly greater concentration) in the original
Tritector and current (polyester) Halvarssons Safety suits. The
relative abrasions resistance of this side of the fabric runs at
slightly above 1 second, IIRC.

improve on the Keprotec suits of the 80s and 90s, but the base fabric
remains the same - a textbook case of silk purses and sow's ears.

I am not aware if trackday organisers allow Keprotec suits to be used.
I suspect they might be entirely unaware that the material is not a
direct alternative for leather (except for certain of the particularly
thin, inadequately constructed, "caveat emptor" brands), so they might
allow them through on the basis of the manufacturer's marketing claims
alone.

HTH

[1] Swift Leathers

 

Thanks Paul,
What other brand-names should I avoid for road/trackday riding?
JT

 

<god bless>

 

A search of this group for opinions expressed in previous threads
should prove instructive. Bear in mind the nomadic nature of many
distributors' purchasing policies. What is manufactured by a good
subcontract manufacturer this year might be handed to someone less
diligent, because they have offered a lower price, next year, so buying
"caveat emptor" product on recommendation carries a risk.

 

According to a relative who researched the Varnsverry family tree, one
of our ancestors was a Pope, so divine blessing is a "given". +<-)

 

"Trusting your life to the lowest bidder"

 

Olden-time Popes used to shag like rabbits. Pre-14th C, iirc.

 

Paul Varnsverry said...

Two of my cousins are Catholic priests, one works in the Vatican. We
don't see eye to eye.

 

That Catholic celibacy thing meant no marrying, not no carrying on,
so the offspring couldn't try to inherit church property.

 

LOL. You are not wrong, for it is said he was a very good friend of the
Borgias.

 

Exactly. All that collecting of wealth from the poor and next thing you
know some bishop's brat is gathering it up.

 

Isn't that where we got "nepotism" from?

 

That's from Cornelius Nepos. iirc. Roman bloke.

 

Have you looked at the definition of 'celibacy' recently?
It definately does mean 'no carrying on'.

Phil.

 

That's quite beside the point. The important question is whether
or not the olden-time popes looked up that definition. And, as the
pope is infallible [1], why would he care what a fallible book said.

[1] Yes, yes, I know the pope wasn't officially infallible until
much later. OTOH, I suspect that such a wise ruling might be
retroactive.