Is it time to replace your race suit? Let’s get you track-ready. How To Choose An FIA Race Suit: The 8856-2018 Standard Explained
Two suits on the same rail, £192 and £384. They look similar, they are both fire retardant, and only one of them will get you through scrutineering at a Motorsport UK event. That gap is the single most useful thing to understand before you spend anything on racewear, and it is not the sort of thing a product photo tells you.
The difference is the approval. Below is what FIA 8856-2018 is, which suits on our shelves carry it and which do not, what the layer count changes, and how to buy the right size when the numbers on the label are nothing like the ones in your wardrobe.
What 8856-2018 actually is
FIA 8856-2018 is the current standard for competition racewear, and it replaced FIA 8856-2000, which had been in service eighteen years. The FIA’s own account of the change is worth knowing in outline, because it tells you what you are buying.
The heat transfer index went up by twenty per cent, and a suit to the current standard must withstand direct flame for a minimum of twelve seconds. Underwear, socks and balaclavas approved to the same standard must withstand a minimum of five seconds. Those seconds are the whole point of the garment: they are the time the fabric buys you.
The practical version for a buyer is simpler. If a suit carries FIA 8856-2018 on its label, it meets the current standard and any UK club event asking for an FIA suit will accept it. If it does not carry that label, read the next section carefully.
The SFI trap, and it is a real one
SFI is the American standard body, and SFI 3.2A/1 is its entry rating for a single layer suit. We stock two of them, the OMP Proban at £192 and the OMP OS10 at £193.20, and they are genuinely useful garments: single layer flame retardant Proban, popular with mechanics, marshals, drift and grassroots events that do not require FIA approval.
What they are not is FIA approved. Buy one of those for a Motorsport UK permit event that asks for an FIA suit and you will not be allowed out, whatever the suit cost and however new it is. We would rather you knew that from a page than from a scrutineer.
So the first question is not what your budget is. It is what your regulations ask for. If they say FIA, the entry point on our shelf is the OMP First S or the Sparco Sprint Advanced at around £384, and every penny below that number is money spent on the wrong item.
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The SFI single layers, for the right job
The OMP Proban and OS10 are single layer SFI 3.2A/1 suits at £192 and £193.20 inc VAT. Right for mechanics, paddock crew, and events that do not require FIA approval. Not right for anything that does. Sizes run S to XXL, which is a clue in itself, since FIA suits are sized very differently.
- SFI 3.2A/1 approved, not FIA
- Single layer flame retardant Proban
- S to XXL sizing
- From £192 inc VAT
Two layers or three
Among FIA suits, the layer count is the next thing on the label. Both two and three layer suits carry FIA 8856-2018, so this is not an approval question, it is a comfort and weight question.
Two layer suits are the club racing default. The OMP First S, the Sparco Sprint Advanced, the OMP First Evo and the Tecnica Hybrid are all two layer, from £384 to £612 inc VAT, and they are what most of the paddock wears.
Three layer suits, like the OMP Tecnica Evo at £841.20 or the Alpinestars GP Tech V4 at £1,245.60, use more construction to hit the same standard while managing weight and breathability differently at the top of the range. That is where the money goes: lighter fabric technology, better ventilation, more comfortable panels in the places you bend, and a cut designed for sitting in a seat rather than standing up.
Garreth’s honest position: for a club racer doing a dozen events a year, a good two layer suit is plenty, and the difference you will actually feel day to day is the cut and the ventilation, not the layer count. Spend the money on the suit that fits you properly.
Sizing, and why it is a number
FIA suits are sized on the European numeric scale, and our listings run from 42 up to 66 depending on the model. That number is not your chest in inches and not your usual clothing size, so do not translate it in your head.
Order by the manufacturer’s own chart for the suit you are buying, the same rule as helmets: each brand publishes its own measurements and they do not agree with each other. The measurements that matter are chest, waist, inside leg and height, and getting the height right is what stops a suit pulling at the shoulders when you sit down.
The fit test is done sitting, not standing. A suit that feels right in front of a mirror can bind across the shoulders and ride up the shins the moment you get into a seat. If you can, come and try one in the showroom and sit down in it, because that is the position you will wear it in.
The bits the regulations also want
A suit on its own is rarely the whole requirement. Depending on your class you may also need FIA approved underwear, balaclava, socks, gloves and boots, and the same 8856-2018 standard covers those garments, with the five second minimum mentioned earlier.
Rather than guess at what your discipline asks for, we went through it properly for hillclimbs and sprints in this guide to the Motorsport UK requirements, and the same approach applies elsewhere: read your class regulations, list what is required, then buy once. If you are building a full kit from scratch, the helmet is the other big decision and that guide is here.
The ladder, entry to top
Prices include VAT and were correct on 12 August 2026.
| Suit | Approval | Layers | Price inc VAT |
|---|---|---|---|
| OMP Proban | SFI 3.2A/1 | 1 | £192.00 |
| OMP OS10 Single Layer | SFI 3.2A/1 | 1 | £193.20 |
| OMP First S | FIA 8856-2018 | 2 | £384.00 |
| Sparco Sprint Advanced | FIA 8856-2018 | 2 | £392.40 |
| OMP First Evo | FIA 8856-2018 | 2 | £507.60 |
| OMP Tecnica Hybrid | FIA 8856-2018 | 2 | £612.00 |
| OMP Tecnica Evo | FIA 8856-2018 | 3 | £841.20 |
| Alpinestars GP Tech V4 | FIA 8856-2018 | 3 | £1,245.60 |
The line to notice is between row two and row three. That is the SFI to FIA step, and it is the one that decides whether you compete.
Where most club racers land
The OMP First S and the Sparco Sprint Advanced are the two we sell most to people buying their first FIA suit, both two layer, both current standard, both around the £384 to £392 mark. The First Evo and Tecnica Hybrid are the step up when you want a better cut and more ventilation without going to three layers.
- All FIA 8856-2018 approved
- Two layer, the club racing default
- European numeric sizing, 42 to 66 depending on model
- From £384.00 inc VAT
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Common questions
Will an SFI suit pass at a UK club event?
Is a three layer suit safer than a two layer?
What replaced the old 8856-2000 standard?
Do I need FIA underwear as well?
What size do I order?
Can I put sponsor logos on it?
What we would buy
If your regulations say FIA, start at the OMP First S or the Sparco Sprint Advanced and do not look below them, because everything cheaper is a different kind of suit. If you are in the car a lot, or you race through the summer, the step to the First Evo or the Tecnica Hybrid buys you ventilation and a better cut, which you will feel every event.
Three layers and four figures is for people who spend serious hours in a seat, and they usually know who they are. For everyone else, the money is better spent on a suit that fits properly and the underwear the regulations ask for.
Final thoughts: try it sitting down
Fit is the thing you cannot judge from a screen, and a suit is worn in a seated position for hours. The showroom works by appointment, so ring 0115 9893488 and we will have a couple of sizes ready to try.
The full range is under racing suits, and if you are kitting out from nothing, tell us the class and we will price the whole list in one go.
