Glove letters are the least consistent sizing on the site. An Alpinestars M and a Sparco M are nowhere near the same glove. One measurement sorts it out, and it takes about ten seconds to take.
Measure your palm
1Wrap the tape round your knucklesAcross the widest part of your palm, at the base of the fingers. Leave the thumb out of it.
2Make a loose fistNot clenched. Just closed enough that the hand is in a driving shape.
3Use your dominant handIt is usually the slightly bigger one, and gloves are sold in pairs to one size.
4Write down both cm and inchesSome brands label in one, some in the other, and the numeric sizes are inches.
The numeric ladder is the common referenceSparco, OMP, MOMO, Sabelt and P1 all size gloves on the same numeric ladder, 4 up to 13, and Sparco and OMP both publish what each number means in centimetres. One numeric step is roughly half a centimetre of palm, not a whole size, which is why gloves are worth measuring rather than guessing.
Your size in each brand
Find your palm measurement on the left. The three main brands do not agree, and the gap is not small.
Alpinestars run two letters bigger
Sparco and OMP put their letter row two steps up the numeric ladder, so a Sparco XS is a numeric 8. Alpinestars map their letters straight onto it, so their M is the same numeric 8. The result is that the same hand takes an Alpinestars M and a Sparco XS.
If you already own a pair of Sparco or OMP gloves that fit, go up roughly two letters for Alpinestars. A Sparco S is about an Alpinestars L. The two brands only converge at XXL, where both land on a ten inch palm.
Full charts by brand
SparcoNumeric 4 to 13 with the letter equivalents. We stock XXS to XXL.▼
OMPNumeric 4 to 13. Letters within half a centimetre of Sparco throughout.▼
AlpinestarsLetters only, S to XXL. Their bands are exactly 8, 8½, 9, 9½ and 10 inches.▼
Alpinestars publish measurements for S to XXL only. The XXXL on the Tech 1-ZX V3 race glove and the Tech-M V2 mechanics glove is a genuine size, it is simply not on their chart, so ring us with your palm measurement rather than working it out from the XXL row.
MOMONumeric 4 to 12 with separate men’s, women’s and children’s labels.▼
From the chart published by Brown & Geeson, MOMO’s UK distributor.
Sabelt and P1Both on the numeric ladder. Neither publishes a measurement chart.▼
The P1 Grip 2 is sold in 7 and 8. Read those off the numeric column in the table above, so a 7 is a 19 to 20.5 cm palm and an 8 is 20.5 to 21.5 cm.
The Sabelt Geckotech TG-11 is listed here as XS to XL. Sabelt do not publish hand measurements for it, so rather than convert from someone else’s chart, send us your palm measurement and we will confirm the size with the supplier before it ships.
How a race glove should fit
Tight, with no spare material
A driving glove wants to feel like a second skin. Any slack across the palm rolls up under your hand on the rim and you lose feel through the wheel, which is the entire reason for wearing them. If it feels slightly tight new, that is usually right. Leather and suede give a little in the first few sessions. Nomex knit does not, so buy that one to fit on day one.
External seams
The better gloves put the palm seams on the outside so nothing presses into your hand against the rim. It is worth having if you do long stints, and it is the single feature most likely to stop a hot spot developing across the base of the fingers.
Between two sizes
Take the smaller one on a leather or suede glove and the larger one on a knitted glove. That is the opposite of the advice for boots and suits, and it catches people out.
Send us your palm measurementGive us the number in centimetres and the glove you are looking at and we will confirm the letter. Gloves are the easiest thing on the site to get wrong and the most annoying to send back. Call 0115 989 3488 or email Sales@GSMPerformance.co.uk.
Sparco from sparco-official.com. OMP from the size chart on their Tecnica glove product page. Alpinestars from the size guide on their Tech-1 Race V4 product page. MOMO from Brown & Geeson, their UK distributor. All checked 2 August 2026. Manufacturers revise these, so if a chart on the packaging disagrees with this page, the packaging wins and we would like to know.
