X1 was an awesome track - now closed. Love it but would never drive it without a rib vest. Most physically demanding track I know – OVRP. As Alain Prost said at the Detroit GP many years ago, “berry, berry bumpy”.
Wearing a rib vest or not depends on many things, mostly how much your shape matches the shape of your seat. Some tracks are worse than others and some types of racing are worse than others (Road Race for example). If you have a shallow chest/torso you stand a better chance of not having seat fit issues. The more barrel chested of us have a bigger challenge. That’s where the Deep Seat style seats often work well. The biggest problem is not the side loading of your body on the seat, it’s the bouncing and banging against the sides that gets you. A hopping chassis, too much curb action, or a very uneven surface car produce some very spectacular results! Biggest problem is that ribs are not very good at taking impacts, they are made to be flexible. The side of a not quite right fitting seat seems to leave enough room for your torso to wind up and then really slam against the seat when you hit a bump. My son wears no rib protector but he also has a seat that has shoulder support. The loads are spread over a much larger area and your shoulder is much better at handling those kinds of impacts. Unfortunately seats like that are not very common and are much more particular on being the exact right size.
I agree. But there’s a difference between sore (bruised) ribs and injured rib cage - either broken ribs or torn intercostal muscles. Both are INCREDIBLY painful and take weeks and weeks to heal, even at that they never fully heal. If you so much as sneeze with such an injury holy mother of god does it hurt. I did just that in front of my boss and let out the mother of all expletives (not the done thing in this neck of the woods!). Boss sent me home for a week though 
When I was chubby I didn’t need a rib protector. Then I lost weight and the constant right turns were bruising my ribs. I started wearing a RibTec. Since then I put weight on again and don’t need the rib protector.
I saw at a 24hour event one of the competitors had a thickish magazine with duct tape as a DIY rib protector.
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There was a weekend where 2 people popped their ribs. One was just from the grip of the track, other one I’m not sure what happened.
I lasted about 15-20min before I felt dead
It is interesting how the longer torso gang is all “ribs hurt” and the short torso gang is like “what are you guys talking about?”.
So, it seems to really depend. For most it’s a necessity, it seems.
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I agree. I think it is smart to wear rib protector to protect against injury. It is just never been the reason I wear it. I never said I was smart 
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I wear one because I used to have a thin protector that didn’t do much, hit some curbs in an awkward way, and found it hard to go more than 6 laps on a practice session without having to stop for the soreness in my sides. As soon as I switched to a better rib vest, the pain went away and I’ve had no problems at all since. I wear it to make sure I don’t have that issue unless it’s a really big wreck or something.
I had a roommate that never wore one in 206 and questioned why I was wearing one when I hopped in a 206. One session in my KA and he understood why I wear it. Even in a 206, I just don’t feel comfortable unless I have it on, for 206 it’s a mental block more than anything else.
I know Colin Daley never wears a rib brace in Shifter, so certifiably crazy in my opinion, but he makes it work. When it comes down to it, it’s all about driver preference and what they feel more comfortable in.
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i could never drive without one,specially in my shifter ,I would be to focused on bracing my body lol alot of the times though people don’t realize the seat fitting properly aswell is a big issue
Rental kart seats are huge, generally. I wear my rib vest for rentals because a) it makes me wider and I fit better and b) if you get t-boned in a seat that is too big, your torso gets accelerated into the seat lip. All that play in the seat between you and it can be a hazard.
yea thats why its importent to get fitted for your seat with your rib protector i’ve made the mistake before of assuming the seat size would be the same and going from a IMAF rib protector to my bengio actually required me to go to a freeline size 3 seat ,
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Basically how it feels driving without one nowdays 
I drive leaning to the outside, habit I developed in my late teens (Late 90’s), but I had a Tillett padded seat so it wasn’t so bad to need a rib protector. Although at longer events I think it would have helped me in the finals.
Fast forward 10+ years, I’m nearly 60lbs heavier and thought I would be OK without one (Becuase I forgot I’m not a 100lb teen anymore ha)… Yeah, not so much. Started with a thin one… popped a right side rib on a left hand in track… Next race was a right hand in track… popped the left side of my rib cage.
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I haven’t worn one yet, however that will be changing this year. Local club is getting more aggressive, looking at regional races this year, and I’ll be 53, so probably should stop being stupid at some point. And yes, many broken ribs, just none in Karting (yet)
When I started karting this summer, I started in a 125cc TaG kart. I practiced for a few weekends and noticed that every time after, my ribs hurt and it kept getting worse the faster I went. On a whim, I ordered a Bengio Carbon/Kevlar and started wearing it. Since then…no rib pain and I’ve continued to get faster. For me, this has been enough to have me always wear mine.
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Anyone have problems with their hips? At the end of race day mine swell enough to make it hard to get in my seat. (Pain wise)
Yeah pretty typical to have hip bruises.
I saw Jay Howard cut big holes in the hip areas of his seat to keep them from getting beat up.
Yep my hips always bruise up terribly. By the end of a race weekend the seat is harder to get in, I don’t notice once I’m racing though.
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Exactly what I experience. Very painful to get in, nothing during the race. I have permanent marks on my hips somehow as well. Maybe scar tissue from so many bruises
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