Matt Levine, Quebec Chapter Chief Driving Instructor, and I attended the pre-launch opening of Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant on Monday, November 13. "Wow" is the best way to describe what the renovations will accomplish. Alan Wilson, new president of the track and world renowned track designer helped bring the track to the latest FIA standards. In his words, "We have been able to make the track 10 percent faster, 10 percent scarier, and 100 percent safer." After a ride around the course with Claude Borbonnais I would have to agree.

The track is now scheduled to open the weekend of July 8 for a Ferrari event. ALMS and World Challenge will be there the August 25 weekend. Much work needs to be done before the opening including the final finish and sealing coats to the track surface, speed bumps, and refurbishing and additions to the tower, etc. As of this writing, next year's dates are up in the air for our driving school events and the "Bimmers Across the Border" joint club race and school co-hosted with the Boston chapter.

I shot some digital video of a lap of the course and hope to have this posted soon on the BMWCC website as a Quicktime movie. I'll also try to get up a color track map and some of the press releases which hopefully will appear in print form too.

I guess I'm doing something right. I was the only nominee among licensed Canadian racers for election to the BMW CCA Club Racing Advisory Committee. I've accepted to serve again. CCA racers have decided that CRAC representatives will now serve two-year terms, with half of the reps elected each year.

This installment of Club Racing News and Views is dedicated to driving suits. This is required gear in club racing to help insure the safety of drivers in the highly unlikely event of a fire. Current Club Racing regulations state:

5. DRIVING SUITS - One piece fire retardant driving suit is highly recommended. (Minimum requirement: Two layer or one layer plus fire retardant underwear). Three layer or two layer with SFI rating of 3.2A/5 strongly recommended. Military flight suits are not acceptable substitutes for fire retardant driving suits.) Fire retardant socks and gloves are required. Driving shoes of a fire retardant material are strongly recommended. Tennis shoes with all leather uppers are acceptable. Drivers with mustaches and/or beards must wear a balaclava.

In Canada, there are a number of high performance and racing shops which retail racing suits. Leaf Racewear is also a major manufacturer supplying suits throughout North America and elsewhere.

The information on driving suits was sent to me by Robert T. Buttweiler. Robert is the organizer for club races at Texas World Speedway (TWS) and served this past year on the Club Racing Advisory Committee as the South Central representative.

Protective suits

I finally got around to digging up some research we (the Houston folks) did on suits a couple of years ago, prior to our first TWS Club Race. The whole thing is below, but the "Executive Summary" is:

• SFI ratings = minimum performance levels; TPP rating = protection.
• "layers" alone do not equal protection, material used matter most.
• Material comfort range (low to high) = Nomex IIIA, Nomex Delta T, PBI/Kevlar, Filament Nomex
• construction and tailoring are at least as important as material used.
• comfort is an exceedingly important (and often overlooked) safety issue.
• as with any consumer product, it is not uncommon to find a salesman who is less knowledgeable than the well-educated buyer.

All SFI-3.2a/5 suits are not created equally!

As first time suit buyers we, like most folks, wanted to get the "best" within our various budgets. We polled all of our racer buddies, scoured the racer catalogues and spent many hours surfing the net for answers. We found likely what you found, a bunch of unsubstantiated claims and anecdotal information: "Shiny Nomex is bad" or "PBI/Kevlar is the best outer material" or "a 2-layer SFI-5 is just as good as those Italian suits, so why spend the money." When these "folklore facts" are coupled with the ambiguity (and ignorance) presented by many retailers, comparing one suit to another difficult at best. Yet, we were able to make at least a little sense of it all. We are limiting our discussion to SFI-3.2a/5 (SFI-5) rated suits as they seem to be what most folks prefer and, more importantly, an SFI-5 rating meets or exceeds all current and expected requirements without the need for additional protective underwear.

What we first discovered is that although SFI-5 is indeed a rating which exceeds most sanctioning bodies' requirements, it is simply a qualitative measure of fire protection. Although an SFI-5 suit is "good enough" to meet the benchmarks, it does not give us any indication just how protective one suit is in comparison to another. Further, and perhaps more importantly, an SFI rating is only one of fire protection, it does not measure how well a suit is constructed nor how comfortable it is to wear.

To put protection from fire on an even keel we are going to use a suit's Thermal Protective Performance (TPP). This rating is based upon the readings of caloric sensors exposed to both direct flame and indirect (radiant) heat when compared against Stoll's curve (a predictor of the blister-point of human skin as a function of heat and time). This value is a laboratory-derived number which ideally represents twice the time it would take to receive a 2d degree burn when protected by the material. In other words, if a material or combination of materials has a TPP of 20, human skin protected by that material in the same test circumstances would blister in 10-seconds (lovely). The TPP is arithmetic and combinative, so a TPP of 20 is about twice as good as a TPP of 10 and, two layers of TPP 10 material roughly yield a TPP of 20.

The TPP is a world-wide standard in almost all industries where fire and heat protection is important (military, fire-fighting, space-travel, etc.). In fact the SFI Foundation uses the TPP of suits to issue their certification. A TPP of 6 or more receives an SFI-1 rating, a TPP of 19 or more receives an SFI-5 rating, a TPP of 38 or more receives an SFI-10 rating. Note that a TPP of 37 is way better than a TPP of 19, yet both rank an SFI-5 rating.

The thermal protection of a suit is, of course, determined by the make-up and quantity of its layered components. There are a handful of different fire-resistant fabrics used in suits these days, the most notable being those with a large percentage of Nomex and PBI/Kevlar.

Nomex is an aramid fiber produced by DuPont. Nomex is knitted, woven, braided and felted into numerous forms. Nomex does not flow or melt upon heating. It does not decompose or char at a significant rate until well over 350-deg. C. It is chemically and thermally very stable, readily takes a dye and has high UV resistance. It is machine washable and can be dry cleaned although it will be harmed by the use of chlorine bleach. By far the most often encountered fabric is Nomex IIIA which is a blend of Nomex (93%), Kevlar (5%) and carbon fibre (2%). It is made from spun fiber and is the most popular material due to its low cost. However, of all, it is considered the least comfortable, it does not readily wick-away moisture, is not supple and is prone to pilling. More comfortable fabrics are found when spun Nomex is combined with a high percentage of Kevlar. A common example is a twill-weave spun Nomex (25%) and spun Kevlar (75%) blend called Nomex Delta T. It is more expensive than Nomex IIIA, but it is much more soft and supple while sharing its heat and fire resistance.

The most expensive and most comfortable of the Nomex blends employ multi-filament fiber (the analogy is: filament yarns are to spun yarns as fishing line is to sewing thread). The vast advantage of filament yarns are their exceptionally high strength-to-weight ratio as well as their very low coefficient of sliding (i.e. increased mobility) when compared to spun yarns. Examples of fabric which employ multi-filament Nomex frequently also include multi-filament Kevlar sometime in combination with spun Nomex. These materials are lightweight, soft, subtle and slippery--one of the most comfortable heat and flame resistant materials made. Because of its light weight, a given weight of multi filament Nomex has greater fire and heat protection compared to spun Nomex.

PBI generally makes-up the balance of heat and flame resistance materials, and is almost always found in a blend of Kevlar (60%/40%). It is an expensive fabric and is quite comfortable, with excellent breathability and moisture-wicking properties as well as a low coefficient of sliding. It has a moderate UV resistance and is machine washable, although it has less dimensional stability than Nomex (it shrinks). Its main disadvantages include high price and inability to be dyed. (There is a popular misconception that PBI/Kevlar provides superior burn protection to that of Nomex. In fact, PBI/Kevlar provides no greater thermal protection than any other fabric of similar weight.)

A woefully inadequate material sometimes found in "budget" suits is FR cotton. When new FR cotton has similar heat and flame resistance to Nomex, however it is both heavier and more importantly lacks durability. Simply, its fire-resistance qualities can be washed-out. Although a suit which employs FR may indeed meet the SFI-5 grade with at least a TPP of 19, it will not do so after as few as 10 washings.

All SFI-5 suits are made using some layered combination of the above fabrics. The least expensive suits with adequate protection are simply two layers of knit Nomex IIIA. Additional protection can be inexpensively provided by adding an extra layer of Nomex IIIA. For more money, but increased comfort, the innermost layer of Nomex IIIA can be replaced with a high Kevlar fabric like Delta T. For great comfort, and highest cost, the suit may be made entirely of multi-filament Nomex or a combination of it and PBI/Kevlar.

Finding the proper balance of protection, cost and comfort is indeed difficult. However, one of the most overlooked safety factors is comfort. Consider racing in typical Texas 90-degree heat wearing a light, cool and comfortable multi-filament suit versus the same race with a triple-layer Nomex IIIA suit. There is no question you, as a driver, will be in better physical and mental condition--safer--at the end of the race if you where wearing the lighter suit. All the better, it is easy to find a multi-filament suit which has a TPP great than that found in a triple-layer Nomex IIIA. Likewise, if you own a comfortable suit you will be more inclined to wear it, perhaps to include the near-race conditions present at some DE events. The bottom line, comfort is a real and important safety consideration.

Finally, the design and quality of manufacture are essential in the suit's overall performance. One would reasonably believe that a one-piece suit would out perform a similar two-piece suit, however, we have been unable to find evidence to support the assumption. There is no doubt, however, than a poorly-made suit will fail long before one which displays quality workmanship. Be just as critical with the quality of the tailoring as you have been with the protection and comfort. Nevertheless, if you are seeking the lowest price entry level suit do not expect ultra high quality workmanship. Suits are just like anything else, you frequently get what you pay for.

In all of the above we tried not to mention specific suits, retailers nor make any specific recommendations. It is yours to decide which suit is best for you. Do, however, take a careful eye at not only what you are buying, but also from whom. Read what they have to say and ask questions. A recent call I made yielded a salesman who told me that a PBI/Kevlar suit was the only one to get because "Nomex is just like nylon, it melts." We all know that Nomex is nothing like nylon and does not melt, ever. So, thank you very much, I will be spending my money elsewhere.

Perhaps after reading all of this you are going to do exactly what you were planning before, but at least now maybe you have a bit better insight into the makings of a safe suit.