Inexpensive karting suits?

I’m shopping for a new suit for my son. he had a second hand suit for his first 2 seasons racing, but we’re having no luck finding another second hand suit in his size now. I’m anticipating needing to buy new , but don’t want to break the bank on a suit he’ll probably only get 1 or at most 2 seasons out of. Any good suggestions on affordable suits? I’ve seen the K1 and Racequip suits aren’t too badly priced.

With my boy I would just Google"sale" and find whatever popped up that way. He got stuck with a funky Simpson Flame suit since it was 50% off. Basically, same as shopping for clothes online.

The k1 suits are fine and popular and priced similar to the Pakistani knock-off suits.

I mean if you want the cheapest kart suit possible, then use a pair of jeans and a leather jacket :joy:

But if you want an actual suit, just search online like “cheap kart suits” or a similar search and you will probably find some. Just gotta search a bit :+1:

Speedway motors has some closeout Alpinestars for sub $100. Not going to beat that price for that quality

Are Wesco suits any good?

Never heard of Wesco. Link?

Between my son and I we have had several K1 suits and all though they look a bit plain they have held up well. Zamp also make inexpensive gear too.

https://www.wescoperformance.com/racequip-racing-suit-109.html
Here ya go!

I’ll let ya know as soon as I get to try it out! Still waiting on my kart to be finished.
As it is right now, it fits fine on top, but the lower half of the one piece suit seems to be cut for someone much broader of beam! (I’m 5’11" and 165lbs) May have to tailor it, but I’ll wait till after I use it once.

Wesco appears to be a shop, not a suit brand name. RaceQuip is the brand. The suits you have linked there are all SFI-rated, which means they are NOT karting suits, they are Nomex suits. It’s very important you don’t accidentally buy a Nomex suit, as it will NOT protect you in the least in a karting accident, since it has no abrasion resistance and will fall apart if you go skidding across the track. It also isn’t legal per any rulebook.

Make sure when you’re looking at suits that it’s specifically a KARTING suit and has abrasion resistance. Brands like Alpinestars, Sparco, OMP, K1, GForce all make karting specific suits.

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ohhhhhh…crap…ANOTHER “I’m too excited, and IGNORANT” noob mistake. I’ll have to see if I can return it…CRAP! :tired_face: I do appreciate the info, tho, TJ. thanks.

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Damn! Oh well, I hope they allow you to return it.

I often fall into the “too excited and ignorant” category and buy stuff I can’t use too.



Update, I was able to find a dealer that had a handful of used suits in various sizes, my boy wanted red/black as much as possible so he could replicate Will Power’s Verizon colours.

Ended up paying $225 for both suits and then found some red gloves and boots to finish it off. Alpinestars suit fits like a glove, the other one he’ll grow into and has a spare in the trailer.

The lightweight suit could be kept for rental karting. I think that’s what those are made for, indoor karting rental facilities. You slide on polished concrete. I’ve only see one actual inverted crash. (Darwin would have been proud). Omp uses “summer” to denote their lightweight non-conforming suit.

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Don’t feel too bad, half the problem is “experts” selling nomex suits to kart racers.

I just should have found this forum before I went off willie-nilly buying stuff before I knew what to look for! :grin: That RaceQuip Nomex suit didn’t fit my bottom half anyway…would’ve had to have it altered. It’s going back. Just bought a K1 Speed Gear CIK Level 2 Karting suit on Amazon for $198. I should probably return the shoes I got too…feel like pretty thick soles, i.e. no peddle feel.