Racing shoes and gloves

[Bill Pemberton Woodhouse]

Chris,
Until you decide how much racing you want to do, I would save the money on the shoes and the gloves. Skip Barber provides virtually everything except the two items you mentioned, but many schools actually recommend a flat bottomed tennis/skateboard/running shoe for starters. You probably already have something at home that would work fine. If you want gloves, you might try some football gloves at a Sporting Goods Store. They are usually on sale now, and have a nice tacky surface that allows wonderful grip on the wheel. After you get back you'll have plenty of time to spend your funds getting exactly what you want in a suit/gloves/helmet , etc., if you do more track time. Look into www.viperdays.com for further driving experiences when you get back.

 

[Fred(DrivingSchool)Kinder]

Helmet City has a web site I think it is http://helmetcity.com/. VCA members take 10% off the their listed selling price. Check out their products. Simpson gloves are okay (have used a couple pair and Momo are good but more $) same for shoes. After the Skip Barber 3 day school the J. Bell school would be good but I like to have a couple car control clinics and then do Viper Days in your car and lapping days with Skip Barber. There is a new 2 day advanced racing school offered by Skip Barber and I plan to take it and will post my comments. If you want to push your skill fast hire a Skip Barber instructor to ride with you at open track events and perhaps even at Viper Days. Over my various schools I have found a few guys that like to ride with me and I like their style of instruction. At VOI 6 one of the instructors, that is a 10+ of 10 instructor, was with me when a Skip Barber instructor was ahead of us taking someone for a ride in a Skippy Viper. He could not pull us and actually spun going onto the oval portion of the track. I was driving way over what I could without the Skippy instructor, he has spent a few days with me in various schools. He really had me going, I loved it! An instructor that can evaluate you ability can move you up the curve pretty fast.

You must be registered for see images

 

[Supercharged Vipermad]

Hi Chris, I haven't taken the Skip Barber course yet but I plan to do so at some point. I bought my first Viper last January and I took a 3-day driving school with Justin Bell in May. I took a second 3-day school with Justin just before VOI 6 in St Louis. I got quite a bit more out of the second course mainly because I had progressed some since the first school. What was really great was to get a baseline for the VOI 6 event for when I drove my own ACR on the track. I would reccomend the Justin Bell school very highly. They have a great program and staff.
Bill gave you some good advice in terms of an economical and practical approach for your gear. However, I had a "situation" occur that I wanted to tell you about. I wore shoes that I found to be comfortable and didn't have any problems or concerns at the first school. But at Gateway, after blasting down the straight and braking for the initial turn into the infield, I accelerated briefly before reaching the braking and downshifting zone as I approached the turn-in point for the first turn. This particular time, as I moved my right foot from the accelerator to the brake, the lip of my shoe's sole got hooked under the brake pedal. It took me a few nano-seconds to correct the problem, but you know how far you can travel in a few nano-seconds. I came in very hot but I was able to calm the car down without actually leaving the track (thanks to the previous instructions during the course). Based on this experience I would recommend that whatever shoes you choose do not have an edge to the sole.
You can order catalogs or merchandise from many places on the internet. Here are a few web addresses:

WWW.simpsonraceproducts.com
WWW.ogracing.com
WWW.ompusa.com

Have fun

You must be registered for see images