Genesis Motor Sports Race Wear - Helemts - Karting

FIA, SFI, TPP Rating

SFI | TPP | FIA 

FIA, SFI, TPP RATINGS 
AND WHAT THEY MEAN TO YOU

SFI is an American non-profit foundation that rates safety related apparel and accessories for consistency and protection. An industry certification standard has emerged over the past several years based on recommendations from the SFI foundation. These specifications rate the suit material based on several factors of which the most important is thermal protection, or TPP.

The last number of this specification gives you the thermal rating of a suit material so that you are able to estimate the amount of time you have before second degree burns occur if you are involved in a fire. The higher the number the greater the thermal protection. 

The minimum rating for a suit is 3-2A/1. This rating commonly applies to inexpensive single layer and some very inexpensive double layer suits. This specification under laboratory tests will give the wearer approximately 3 seconds of protection at 1700 degrees( the temperature at which gas burns) before you are likely to receive 2nd degree burns. 

The next highest specification available, and the most commonly found is 3-2A/5 which is found on 2 and 3 layer suits that will give you approximately 9.5 seconds of protection depending on the suits construction. If you are wanting additional protection SFI rating of 3-2A/10 will give you 19 seconds of protection, /15 will give you 30 seconds and /20 will give you almost 40 seconds of protection and is favored mainly by drivers of nitromethane powered top fuel dragsters. 

More layers will generally provide better protection, however overheating your body can become a factor. However, some newer high-tech fabrics allow for the use of fewer layers, and they will out perform older suits with multiple layers. 

We always recommend wearing Nomex underwear with your suit. This practice will significantly increase your overall protection in a fire.

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TPP

TPP stands for Thermal Protective Properties, and comes to us from the American Society for Testing Materials. The abbreviated term TPP is used when testing the thermal protective performance of materials for clothing designed for potential fire situations. The rating is determined by applying an open flame to the material, then measuring the amount of time required to accumulate enough heat to equal what could cause a second degree burn in human tissue. 

So, the more heat energy the suit can resist, the higher the TPP number. For example: a suit with a 3.2A/5-19 SFI rating label indicates the grade of the fabric, in this case would be a "grade 5", now take the last number and divide by two and this will give you an approximate idea of how long the suit will protect you in the event of a fire, in this example the time would be about 9.5 seconds.

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FIA

The European recognized FIA conducts their own testing and is similar to it's American equivalent: SFI. The FIA grades only on one level, which is a higher standard than most U.S. race sanctioning organizations require a pass or fail. The FIA minimum requirement equates to just slightly below a SFI grade 10 fabric. These suits are almost equal to an SFI 3.2A/10-38 rated suit ( almost 19 seconds of protection without underwear!) however, for import reasons there is no recognized SFI rating number that falls in-between a 5-19 suit and a 10-38 suit. 

So, what this all means is: any FIA approved suit will carry the label stating that the suit complies to their standards in Europe. Additionally, for the U.S. market, because the SFI rating numbers cannot be "rounded up", the suit will also carry the more recognized "lower" SFI rating label for legal reasons, even though the suit meets or exceeds the much stricter FIA demands.

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