SFI Rated FIA Racing Gloves

Question:
I am looking to purchase a pair of fire resistant racing gloves and had a few questions. For years I have been using some older OMP gloves; however, came to realize that despite being made of nomex they are not approved for use in most areas/events. Nevertheless, I am looking for a reasonably priced option that will meet racing requirements as I planning to assist with fueling/pit activities in a few upcoming events and need to essentially have driver rated protection. That being the case I was looking/debating between two of your products. One was the FIA rated Oakley Carbon-X close out glove that you have featured and the other was a RaceQuip - 355 SFI-5 Glove. Specifically, is there any insight you could provide regarding the general quality construction and fire rating difference between the respective products?


Answer:
Thanks for your question!


There are actually a good many gloves that are made of fire retardant materials (nomex, carbonx, etc), but don't carry the SFI-Certification and therefore aren't accepted at many events. This doesn't necessarily mean they wouldn't work well compared to the SFI-Rated gloves in a fire, but simply that the manufacturer hasn't submitted the gloves for testing by the SFI Foundation which is a fairly expensive process. If you are required to have SFI-Rated gloves then any of the gloves of the same certification will have the same fire protection

As far as the two gloves you are looking at, the Oakley FIA gloves are not SFI-Rated. They are still fire retardant, but you will need to make sure your organization accepts FIA-Rated materials as well. In general, events in Europe usually require FIA-Rated equipment and events in the U.S. require SFI-Rated- although, more organizations in both areas are starting to accept both ratings. The Racequip glove, on the other hand, is SFI-Rated (and the higher rating as well, SFI-5). The glove is a basic driving glove whereas the Oakley is more stylish and has reverse stitching which makes the glove more comfortable for long periods of time. If you aren't planning on actually driving in the gloves, I'd recommend getting the cheaper Racequip's in black as they are going to get dirty quickly with pit use!