The SFI rating comes from the SFI Foundation(SEMA Foundation, Inc), a non-profit organization established to issue and administer standards for specialty/performance automotive and racing equipment. It is funded by participating manufacturers which pay for development and administration through licensing and/or unit changes. Products with the SFI rating have been laboratory tested and certified.

What do the different SFI Specs mean?

You may have seen Spec 3.2A on a racing suit. This rates how long it will offer protection from second-degree burns in an approximation of a car fire(between 1800 and 2100 degrees). Different articles have different prefixes(such as 3.3 for shoes and gloves). The table below is an approximation of how long it will take second-degree burns to occur based on the suits rating.

Fraudulent Claims

The SFI recently discovered a series of fake SFI conformance labels on non-major brand equipment utilizing off-shore 3rd party manufacturers. The text on the labels uses different fonts and sometimes there are typos present. 

If you've looked at buying safety gear recently, you may have seen an FIA option listed next to SFI specifications.

The FIA is a non-profit association that brings together 222 national motoring organizations from 130 countries. On issues such as safety, mobility, the environment, and consumer law the FIA actively promotes the interests of motorists at the United Nations and within the European Union.

Products sporting the “FIA Homologated” stamp ensure that you, the consumer, will receive and experience the premium performance, quality, and safety afforded by contributions from FIA’s global network of interested and pro-active members to affiliated manufacturers.

Fraudulent Claims

Note that the FIA stands for Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile and that sites claiming their product have passed the tests of the "FIA Federation" or "FIA Inc." or "FIA USA" are likely fraudulent or misinformed.

The description of 80% polyester "racing gloves" available on Alibaba from a Chinese manufacturer.

Nomex is a woven or knitted material that is made of inherently fire retardant fibers. Because of this, it the protection is provides does not diminish with time or washing.

Proban, which is often cheaper, is a cotton-based material that has been chemically treated to be fire retardant. The treatment will diminish with washing, and it is impossible to tell when the suit has lost it's protective qualities.

When William "Pete" Snell, a popular racing driver in 1956, died of head injuries because of a helmet failure a group of friends, scientists, physicians, and others joined together to create a group that would promote research and education as well as test and develop standards to improve the effectiveness of helmets. This group became known as the Snell Memorial Foundation.

Put simply, M rated helmets are for motorcycles and SA rated helmets are for auto racing. M rated helmets are perfect for protecting people when they fall off a bike and slide several feet, whereas SA rated helmets are great for sealing out flames and protecting your head when it is pinballing off your rollcage repeatedly.

SA rated helmets are tested for impact, how well they stay on your head, dynamic retention, faceshield penetration, flame resistance, and other situations drivers may be faced with.

Many M rated helmets are actually made of foam, whereas the SA2015 standard requires the materials used to be flame resistant and self extinguishing. M rated helmets are not tested for flame resistance or rollbar multi-impact tests, but they require a wider field of vision than SA rated helmets.

This is a very broad topic and there are MANY answers. But the best way we can put it, is purchase one that suits your needs and will keep you safe. We sell brands that are well known, and proven to provide a quality product.

Be aware of counterfeit seats! Remember, a seats main purpose is to keep you safe, so by skimping on this one aspect by going with an off brand with a questionable history, you might find out first hand why they are not mainstream! There are many fine brands to select from that offer a wide range of products and several different price points to accommodate most serious users!

If you have questions on any particular brand, please feel free to call us and we'll do our best to answer your specific question.

One of the most common items purchased from WDL Racing is the racing seat. But how on the earth do we help customer after customer achieve the best possible symbiotic relationship with their seat every time!? It's really not that difficult (especially when you have 20+ models of seats in stock ready for butts to sit in) to properly size a seat for a project.

We start with the most important piece of the puzzle... YOU! The seat has to fit you. Sure your buddy may really like his Recaro Pole Position or his Sparco Evo 2 seat, but that certainly doesn't mean it will be the best fit for you! We like to start with basic dimensions such as height, weight, waist width, and if you have it, shoulder span. Usually with these dimensions, we can narrow down to a smaller selection of seats for you to sit in and we can see which are most comfortable from there. The seat should be snug, and not overly loose in fitment. At the same time, it should not pinch or be painful. Your shoulders should not cover the strap guides.

If you have questions on sizing, please feel free to call us with these dimensions ready, or stop by our retail location for assistance!

Good question. The short answer is purchase a seat that matches your use. If you're going to be using the seat in a track day machine, quite often the organizations rules will require seats to be FIA rated for safety reasons. Some organizations will require containment (halo) seats! Some organizations wont require either.

The real question that comes to mind for us is this: Is it worth saving a few bucks to possibly end up in the hospital over knock-off or poorly constructed 'safety' gear? We don't think so. For this reason alone, we always will recommend purchasing an FIA rated seat from an authorized vendor (to avoid fake seats on Ebay / Amazon).

Mixing racing safety equipment with OEM safety equipment is generally a bad idea. Using a racing harness with a reclining seat has a few problems.

• Most reclining seats, even the sport ones, don't have a slot for the 5th/6th point. This means you either aren't installing it, you're not installing in a way that doesn't achieve the proper angle to do it's job- prevent you from submarining under your dash, or you're cutting a hole in your seat(hope it doesn't have a heater/cooling/airbag in the way!)
• In many car accidents you may have seen the reclining seats have failed backwards. Three point belts are designed to extend and retract- racing harnesses are not. They're tightened in position- if your seats back fails from under you, your racing harness will now be loose and floppy- meaning you are no longer held into the car.
• In the event of a rollover, on the street or the racetrack, the roof of your car will collapse. Street car's three point belts are designed to allow your head and torso to move forward, away from the collapsing roof. Racing harnesses are not. It will hold your head and shoulders upright, locked in position, as your neck supports the force of your car landing on it's roof.

To start, most racing organizations ban the mixing of a racing seat with a 3 point belt. What it comes down to is the 3 point harness is something car manufacturers spend millions of dollars on to work congruently with their OEM reclining seat. When you put a racing bucket seat in your car, the lap and shoulder belt of a three point no longer lies flush with your body like it's designed to do. It will be held artificially off your body due to the various bolsters on the bucket seat, and is therefore unsafe.

If you were involved in a racing incident that involved an impact with a wall or another vehicle that could have potentially stressed the seat, yes replace the seat. Reusing the seat could lead to further injury in the future and is not worth the risk.

Yes! Send a proposal detailing your background, your car, and our return on investment to support@wedontlift.com.

Our return policy can be found here. Put simply, if you ordered the item on your own without consulting us first, you'll be asked to pay for return shipping. If you did contact us and we ended up deciding on the wrong size together, we will pay the return shipping.

If you're new to the Arizona region or just simply the motorsports scene you may not know what anyone is talking about when they mention PIR or "Concrete Canyon". We did a small writeup on a few of the local Arizona racetracks. Check it out if you'd like a quick summary of the most commonly referenced racetracks.

From people who dream of getting into professional drifting to those just looking to take their car out on track, we get asked how to get started a lot. We did a small writeup on the local motorsports organizations. Check it out if you'd like a quick reference of the events going on in the region.