Racing gloves are a critical part of any driver’s apparel, without good gloves your hand may not “feel” the wheel or may even slip off.  So, how do you determine which glove is right for you?  Read on as we explore a few different racing gloves available in the market, but before we do that lets go through some definitions.

Some of the key players in the racing gloves market are as follow, feel free to visit their respective sites to learn more about their products.

When purchasing racing gloves you may come across terms such as “crew gloves” or “1 layer gloves” or “2 layer gloves” or “Nomex gloves” or “CarbonX gloves”.  Each of these terms have special meaning:

Crew Gloves – these are very heavy duty gloves featuring thicker padding in the fingers, palm and other areas as well as high grip material to enable crew members to work on cars without damaging their fingers.  These gloves are fire resistant, but generally do not have an SFI rating so cannot be used by the driver.  Crew gloves are meant to be abused and provide protection for the crew members when servicing a car. At a stretch we would say these can be used by the autocrossers looking for a cheap driving glove that is slightly better than your Mechanics gloves found in most auto part stores.

1 Layer Glove – a one layer glove is a driving glove that has a single layer of material that provides the most basic level of protection.  The single layer gloves often tend to be throwaway gloves as they are not quite as durable as their two layer brethren.  Single layer gloves tend to get worn in the palm areas from extended driving as well as the fingers.  But, they provide a basic layer of protection and are effective for the beginning driver.

2 Layer Glove – these are essentially the same as the 1 layer glove, but provide a double layer of material within the glove and are much more beefy.  These gloves are very durable and can withstand more abuse than their 1 layer cousins.  Pricing wise these are only a few dollars more expensive than similar 1 layer variants and we tend to chose them for their durability.

Nomex – is a flame resistant material that every driver’s gear is made out of.  Without flame resistant material your hands would burn in the event of a fire.  Nomex was developed in the 1960s by Dupont and first marketed in 1967.

Carbon-X – is also a flame resistant material that came about in 1997 when Michael Chapman saw a demonstration for O-PAN the flame resistant material found in Carbon-X.  Carbon-X is claimed to be slightly more effective than Nomex, but it is quite a bit more expensive. 

Now that we have covered some basic definitions let us look at glove length.  When purchasing gloves you may notice that some gloves have a much longer lapel that goes over your driving suit.  The longer lapel we think offers some better overlap with the arms of your driving suit, especially if the wrist collar on your driving suit is starting to get worn and frayed.  That being said, even the shorter lapel gloves provide ample overlap and in the end it comes down to your preference.

There are a wide variety of glove manufacturers so reviewing every single one of them is quite difficult.  For the purpose of this review we picked 4 different gloves in a variety of price ranges and compared them, we left out the crew gloves because frankly even your parts store Mechanics Gloves are good enough for that.  One critical part of picking any glove is to make sure you measure your wrists or try on a few different pairs; we noted that similar sized gloves by different manufacturers had differing fit on our hands.  The last thing you want to do is buy a glove that is too large or too small.     

G Force G1 – these gloves are priced around $45 and are a basic single layer nomex glove.  These gloves are perfect for the starting racer or even autocrosser who doesn’t need all the frills in a glove.  In terms of lapel overlap these have a shorter lapel, but are quite effective in ensuring your whole body is covered when you put on your driving suit.  During our driving test we found these gloves to be effective and didn’t slip very much.  Durability wise they are sufficient and one of our sets have lasted us 3 years now.  If you are looking for a 2 layer version of the G1 glove, G Force makes a nice G5 glove that is only $10 more expensive.

G Force Pro 5 – these gloves are priced around $90 and are a nice 2 layer nomex glove with a very long gauntlet or lapel.  These are very similar in fit and finish to the basic G1 glove and our driving test showed they were effective at gripping the wheel and didn’t appear to have slippage issues.  Durability wise these have also lasted us a few years without any complaints.  We like the G Force products because of their price and they seem to provide just enough protection from the elements while keeping us comfortable at the wheel.

Oakley Carbon-X – we decided to check out some of the Carbon-X variants and were quite surprised by the Oakleys.  These gloves not only have Carbon-X, but they are also using Nomex and Kevlar lined palms.  Talk about triple layer of protection!  Now, the price wasn’t quite happy as we discovered the cheapest ones are $115 and that is quite a bit more expensive than your basic G Force variety.  The gauntlet on these gloves are quite long, much like the G Force Pro 5 and our driving experience was satisfactory.  We haven’t had these gloves for a long time so cannot comment on their durability. 

Sparco Profi – this is a mid range 2 layer nomex glove that costs around $119.  Sparco has a wide range of gloves from your basic entry level to a top of the line glove.  Price wise the Sparco gloves tend to be a little more expensive than G Force and our long term testing showed their durability is comparable, although we’ve had better luck with the G Forces taking a beating.  Driver grip was great and we didn’t notice any slippage issues during testing. 

So, what is the bottom line?  There are a wide variety of glove manufacturers including AlpineStar, OMP, Simpson and others.  Price and quality are not related, some of the cheaper gloves gave adequate grip and durability while some of the more expensive variants did not.  When buying a glove we recommend going with a 2 layer glove for just that added layer of protection, the brand really depends on your budget.