HRX CO-DRIVER GLOVES

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE The best protection for all rally navigators

Co-drivers are the life-blood of rallying. When a crew wins, they are often forgotten about. If they make a mistake, they are completely to blame. But without them, no driver or team wins a rally. Period.

Obviously, the key role of a co-driver is reading pacenotes, and for that reason they have rarely worn gloves, to avoid any issue with turning pages in their notebook. But this offers a different problem, it means their hands are exposed.

“I truly believe if I was wearing gloves in the fire in May 2014 I would not have sustained the hand burns I did,” says international co-driver Rhianon Gelsomino, after a terrifying fire gave her horrendous burns – particularly on her arms and face – while competing in America.

“After that, David Higgins brought me back some co-drivers gloves for the next rally when I was returning after 4 weeks.

“I didn’t know co-driver gloves even existed until then and I have not competed in a rally since without them.

“Then unfortunately the manufacturer which produced them did not continue the product, so I was starting to promote the fact that we need another person to produce them.” Step forward HRX Racewear. The Italian company specialises in FIAapproved bespoke racewear, and has quickly become one of the go-to brands for items like overalls, gloves, underwear and even the items like racing and rally seats.

Now, with the help of another international co-driver, Brynmor Pierce, HRX is the place to go for co-driver gloves.

The gloves allow the fingers to protrude in order for co-drivers to still be able to turn pages effectively, and have been tested successfully on events by Pierce and Gelsomino.

Fire is a constant threat in any motorsport, and soon, co-driver gloves could become as common as overalls or fireproof underwear in an important bid to protect.