The world of motorcycle racing has come a long way since the early days of speedway, grasstrack, and flat track racing. For decades, riders relied on leather race suits as their primary protection against the unforgiving track surface. While leather was undeniably strong and offered decent abrasion resistance, it came with significant drawbacks that modern racers would find unacceptable today.
The Limitations of Traditional Leather Race Suits
Many years ago, leather was the gold standard for race suit construction. These suits were incredibly robust and could withstand considerable punishment, but they had several critical limitations that affected both performance and practicality.
First and foremost, leather race suits were extraordinarily heavy, especially when they became wet and dirty during racing conditions. This extra weight not only fatigued riders more quickly but also restricted their movement and agility on the bike. Additionally, leather suits offered very limited design capabilities, making it difficult for riders to showcase sponsor branding effectively or create distinctive, professional-looking race wear.
Perhaps most frustrating for racers was the maintenance aspect. Leather suits were notoriously difficult to wash and keep in good condition. The material would take an excessive amount of time to dry, often remaining damp for days after washing, then regular maintenance to keep the leather soft.
The Revolution of Modern Materials
Over the past 30 to 40 years, the racing industry has embraced revolutionary materials such as kevlars and aramids. These advanced synthetic materials have transformed the landscape of motorcycle race wear, offering numerous advantages over traditional leather construction.
Modern aramid and Kevlar materials are significantly lighter than leather, reducing fatigue and allowing for greater freedom of movement during races. Perhaps more importantly, these materials can be washed and dried within a single day, making maintenance infinitely more practical for active racers.
The design possibilities with these new materials have opened up entirely new opportunities for sponsor branding and professional presentation. Riders can now showcase vibrant colors, detailed graphics, and multiple sponsor logos with clarity and durability that leather could never match.
Dstar's Commitment to Superior Materials
At Dstar, we've built our reputation on using the strongest and best materials that money can buy. Our race suits are renowned throughout the motorsports community for their professional appearance and exceptional abrasion resistance. We don't compromise on quality because we understand that a race suit isn't just about looking good: it's about keeping riders safe when everything goes wrong.
Our approach involves using a carefully engineered mix of materials in our race suits to provide the highest strength and abrasion resistance while maintaining amazing comfort and feel. We incorporate stretch kevlar panels strategically positioned for optimal movement, ensuring that riders can perform at their peak without restriction.
In our Pro model range, we utilize stretch panels to offer increased movement while using Covec material in all critical areas where abrasion protection is most important. This combination provides superior strength compared to competitors' race suits while maintaining the flexibility that modern racers demand.
When visiting tracks, we regularly see race suits with tyre marks, heat marks from exhausts, and paint transfers from fence contact, but remarkably, no breakage to the material. This durability is a testament to the quality of materials we select and how we construct our suits.
The Science Behind Covec Material
Central to our material selection is Covec Webtech, a cutting-edge protective textile that represents the pinnacle of modern race suit technology. According to Covec's technical specifications, this material is constructed using a unique blend of a covec fibers that provide exceptional tear and abrasion resistance.
The key properties of Covec material include:
- Superior abrasion resistance - engineered to withstand extreme sliding forces
- Lightweight construction - significantly lighter than traditional protective materials
- Flexibility and stretch - allows natural movement without compromising protection
- Durability - maintains protective properties through multiple wash cycles
- Heat resistance - designed to withstand high-temperature exposure
Covec material has gained recognition beyond the racing world, being used in world-renowned brands such as Bullit Jeans, where it provides motorcycle riders with protective denim that looks casual but performs like armor whilst riding on domestic roads around the world.
Nomex Heat Protection Technology
What sets Dstar race suits apart is our integration of Nomex heat-protective backing material. Nomex is a meta-aramid fiber known for its exceptional thermal stability and flame-resistant properties. Key properties of Nomex include:
- Inherent flame resistance - will not melt, drip, or support combustion
- Thermal insulation - creates a barrier against heat transfer
- Dimensional stability - maintains protective properties under extreme temperatures
- Chemical resistance - resistant to most chemicals and solvents
The reason we use Nomex in our Webtech construction is twofold: it helps prevent friction heat from passing through to the skin during sliding incidents, and it provides crucial protection against flame or heat burns in the event of a crash involving contact with hot exhaust systems or other heat sources.
Independent Testing Validates Superior Performance
Our confidence in our materials isn't based on marketing claims: it's backed by rigorous independent testing. Our materials have been independently abrasion tested by Applus+ IDIADA in project number MT18020108 on February 26, 2018.
In this comprehensive testing, we evaluated Covec Webtech R material (labeled as Web R in the test) against other race suit materials available in the market. The results were remarkable: Covec Webtech R material was the only material to fully pass all three abrasion tests without breaking through the material layers.
After the test above, when tested for breakage resistance, Covec Webtech demonstrated its ability to cope with abrasion at speeds of over 110 mph before breaking through during a 30-meter slide simulation. This performance significantly exceeds industry standards and provides riders with confidence that their suit will protect them even in the most severe crash scenarios.
Real-World Heat Resistance Testing
Understanding how materials react to heat exposure is crucial for rider safety. We've conducted extensive testing to evaluate how Covec material responds to scenarios involving contact with exhaust systems or silencers.
Our testing shows how the material reacts after 10 seconds, 30 seconds, and 1 minute of exhaust temperature heat exposure. The results demonstrate Covec's superior resistance to melting and degradation compared to other racing materials.
When we tested the same conditions on samples from other race suit materials, the difference was striking: many competitor materials showed immediate melting, degradation, or complete failure.
Watch the video on this link to see what happened when we tested multiple materials.
Dstar Materials Burn Test Video
A Life-Changing Real-World Example
The true value of superior materials becomes apparent in real-world scenarios. A few years ago, we had a customer who was considering ordering from us but ultimately about to choose a competitor based on price alone. While making his decision between our higher-quality option and a cheaper alternative, he was out practicing when he had a significant crash.
During this crash, his arm became trapped under his bike's exhaust system for approximately one minute. As someone worked to move the bike away, he began to feel some heat from the exhaust penetrating through his race suit and body armor. When the bike was finally removed, he expected to see his racing material melted with a hole burned through it.
However, he was wearing a Dstar race suit with Covec material, and remarkably, there was no damage to the suit material. Upon returning to the pits, many riders in attendance were amazed at how the race suit had performed. They shared stories of how their suits from other manufacturers had melted instantly upon exhaust contact, often with much shorter exposure times, resulting in melted underlayers and skin damage.
Thanks to the Covec material, this rider walked away without any marks on his skin. He called us the next day, shared this incredible story, and placed his order immediately. He realized that had he been wearing a suit from another manufacturer, he would likely have missed months of the racing season recovering from severe burns and potentially requiring skin grafts.
Benefits That Matter to Everyone
The advantages of choosing Dstar and our superior materials create benefits for both our company and our customers.
Dstar Benefits:
- Complete confidence in our products' performance
- Reduced repair requests
- Fewer customer complaints due to material failure
- Customer loyalty as riders replace suits due to satisfaction rather than failure
Customer Benefits:
- Significantly fewer repairs needed over the suit's lifetime
- Lower long-term costs to keep suits meeting FIM standards
- Increased confidence and peace of mind during racing
- No need to purchase multiple cheaper race suits: one quality suit does the job
When you invest in a Dstar race suit, you're not just buying protective equipment: you're investing in materials technology that has been proven in the laboratory and validated in real-world racing conditions. Our commitment to using only the finest materials available ensures that when it matters most, your race suit will perform exactly as intended: keeping you safe while you focus on what you love most: racing.
Whilst no race suit is indestructible, and holes and tears are inevitable during some crashes, having a race suit you know will do its job no matter the crash type allows you to feel safer and ride harder.
If a Dstar race suit needs a repair, you know its gone above and beyond for you in an extreme scenario.
For more information about our race suits and custom fitting options, visit our measurements page or contact us to discuss your specific racing needs.