Racing Gloves

A good-quality set of racing gloves is pretty much essential to every type of motorsport discipline. Whether you compete in circuit racing or as a rally driver, it’s important to carefully consider which set of race gloves you want to purchase. The number one consideration is you will want to protect your hands with a fire-resistant fabric such as “Nomex”. Then you have to consider grip and comfort levels that are afforded by that choice of glove.

What is Nomex? – Nomex is simply a specially designed and rather clever fabric which is widely used in motorsport to help protect the hands through being a heat-resistant material. Flash fires are unfortunately an inherent risk in certain forms of motorsport, such as rally driving. This means you’re going to want your hands to be better protected so that you buy those precious seconds to unbuckle from the racing harness and get out of the car. This is why Nomex is widely used in most gloves and racing suit designs.

Well-known brands such as P1 Racewear, OMP, and Alpinestars produce some fantastic-quality gloves that are built to last and specially engineered for motorsport use. However, there’s another consideration you must make before you get behind the wheel of any car with your new gloves, that is hand perspiration.

On race day or during say an intense practice session whilst circuit racing at Silverstone, your heart is likely to be beating as fast as the car's fuel pump! Therefore, your hands will naturally perspire a bit more than normal and be more sweaty. Therefore, do consider sweaty hands and how to mitigate the risk of your hands not having a tight grip of the racing steering wheel. You will want to be control of that steering wheel and avoid the possibility of it feeling slightly slippery because of hand perspiration.

The motorsport gloves and steering wheel must work as one, which means that whether it’s a hairpin turn or you're going for a rather aggressive overtake, you need the gloves to offer sufficient grip through innovative materials that have been applied across the palms of the gloves. Consider also the breathability of the fabrics; quite often cheap racing gloves can make your hand feel damp as it emerges from a long drive. Instead, you want a comfortable glove, tons of grip, and a fabric that lets your hand breathe.

Here at Nicky Grist Motorsport, we stock a massive selection of Alpinestars, as well as P1 Racewear. If there’s a set of race gloves that you want to buy, yet they are not added to our website just yet, well why not give our friendly team a quick call on: 01981 241 040 we will do our best to source that item through out extensive range of suppliers that we work with.