SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/470914
IMPROVING SAFETY FIRE RESISTANT FULL- LENGTH UNDERWEAR IS IMPORTANT TO MANAGE EFFECTS OF HEAT STRESS. FROM THE FRONT OF THIS SIMPSON DNA 3-LAYER SUIT, YOU CAN SEE HOW THE ELBOWS AND KNEES ARE PRE- BENT TO PROVIDE EASIER FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT. protection. Safely escaping the burning vehicle, the driver would have dodged a bullet, and that particular fire suit would need to be replaced. But its purpose would have been accomplished. Materials such as NOMEX® are considered aramid fibers, a class of heat resistant fibers. The characteristics are that after each wash (never dry-clean racing garments as amounts of liquids used to dry clean them are still present and are highly flammable), become more fire-retardant. The opposite takes place with treated materials. Since the protection is invisible until needed, banking on treated material for one's protection is simply foolish. Most all high-quality fire-suit garments for example, use only pure, 100 percent NOMEX® III fibers, specially woven in engineered patterns to provide its permeability, flexibility and superior fire retardant properties. Along with flame retardant treated suits and garments, other materials to avoid are those based on carbon fiber textiles. While they do not propagate flame since they have already gone through a combustion process during their manufacturing, they are highly heat-conductive once heat has been applied for a duration inferior to what aramid fiber can sustain. "Another issue with such materials is that they leave microscopic carbon shards in the skin that may take weeks or month to leave the body through baths and showers," de Lespinay said. "The one big benefit for driver suits and accessory apparel such as under garments, head socks, gloves and shoes made from aramid fibers, is that they last for years. It's one of the reasons why a majority of safety product manufacturers use it, and why many SCORE race drivers and teams rely on it." IMPORTANCE OF FIRE RESISTANT UNDERWEAR The movement towards trying to get more SCORE desert racers to also wear a layer of fires resistant 077 SCORE JOURNAL