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We lived through the days when riders came to the start of the world championship with only one helmet, one pair of leathers and one pair of gloves and boots. Often with holes in them, we might add, because in those days in the corners you touched first with your toe, then with your knee (without protection) and with your shoulder...but only if you ended up on the ground!!!
The picture of Mike Hailwood's bleeding pinky toe made history, as did the helmet visors fixed with duct tape on the knees of Barry Sheene's long legs. Let's not talk about frayed leathers: what rider got on the bike without a mark, a scratch, an abrasion on his second skin?
A race suit simply 'had' to be scratched, as a sign of good luck, which led to the superstition that every leathers worn for the first time 'had' to be marked. That is why it was not uncommon to see a rider sitting on the ground dragged by his feet on the asphalt before entering the pit: it was a sign that he was wearing a new race suit!
Today times are different and even all the manufacturers of this important item of racewear have travelling workshops in the paddock to repair them. A job that in those days used to be done by girlfriends and wives with needle and thread.
Nowadays you peel off a piece and replace it if you can, otherwise you change everything. And that goes for the helmet - who would get back on the bike with a scarred helmet? - And for everything else.
It is a sign of the strides in safety made initially by Lino Dainese and AGV and then followed by Alpinestars and other manufacturers.
This resulted in the introduction of new rules, which were previously nonexistent, despite the fact that at tech checks even then one had to carry gear that was checked...in a manner of speaking.
Today in Article 2.4.5.2 of the FIM Code under 'safety clothing' it says: ""It is mandatory that every rider under contract start each race with at least two complete sets of undamaged safety equipment."
This means: helmet, one-piece suit (divisibles are not allowed even in amateur track days), gloves, boots, back protector and chest protector.
The regulations add: "Equipment must be worn, properly fastened, at all times of track activity. In some cases, the equipment (air-bag) must be present and functional at least at the beginning of each track session. The decision of the Technical Director is final regarding the equipment of the riders."
And here we would have to get into the technical, because at first the air-bag allowed only one activation, today we are up to two and even three. It must be said that this rule has never had a strict or literal application, because very often, after a crash, the rider rejoins and the air-bag is not necessarily fully functional.
By now you see where we're going with this: in Buriram Marquez crashed on lap 11 while behind Bagnaia, got up and rejoined the race. The airbag obviously exploded, and because the safety device is capable of deflating, between the explosion and the subsequent deflation, due to the pressure exerted on the rider's shoulders, the clasp on the neck of his leathers opened.
It happened before, exactly in the Catalunya GP in 2021: we talked about it HERE. A similar thing, again to Quartararo, happened again in Aragon the following year after a collision with Marquez. The Frenchman on that occasion suffered chest abrasions. The problem seemed to be solved, but instead recurred precisely with Marquez in Buriram. The only difference is that if Fabio was given a 3" penalty nothing happened to Marc. Why?
Obviously the plotters went wild, but the reason is simple: the stewards have total discretion in these cases and probably seeing that the suit was only slightly open (unlike what happened to Quartararo who also lost his chest protector) they did not even open an investigation. Incidentally, the mishap also happened to Jorge Martin last year in India, but the Pramac rider, having noticed it, was able to close his suit quickly.
At this point, a question arises: why is it that if the FIM requires its own homologation for helmets, this does not happen for race suits? For the record: each manufacturer adopts a different philosophy, for the closure, but the main system makes use of clips or snap buttons*, composed of two complementary parts that connect with each other, interlocking. A better system than Velcro.
*Also known by the name Snaps, they were invented back in 1886 by Albert - Pierre Raymond as a solution for glove manufacturers, who at that time were tired of the traditional sewing button method.
