Being that narrow somewhat upscale looking sneakers are fairly popular right now, I think that's why you see "drivers shoes" for sale at a retail outlet that isn't really involved with motorsports.

 

i always wore my climbing shoes, very narrow and sticky, made me look like a fool though and they hurt as climbing shoes are so tight. they did feel less clunky on my feet than running shoes or whatever.

narrow racing style sneakers are big now up in Boston and NY and i am sure else where. puma advertises up in boston with a guy in a mock race car wearing tiny little shoes heel toing a down shift. puma also has a contract with ferrari and sell mock f1 style sneakers in ferrari red. so if you are really cool you can have a ferrari hat, pit crew shirt and shorts, a bright red ferrrari lap top, socks and your very own shoes. you would be intimidating at the next autox.

 

Well if these were hot sellers they wouldnt have been on sale for 50% off, I think maybe they are just trying to get rid of them

 

I wear these Adidas shoes for auto-xing.

 

Why's that? I just don't want to hear somebody crying 9 months from now how they bought reebok driving shoes and the stupid tech people at the track wouldn't let them run because their shoes weren't made of nomex...


To put things in perspective, here's the resident asshole take on things...

I can only think of 2 reasons to buy NON fire retardant driving shoes.

1. You drive a car that has pedals so closely spaced that typical shoes get tangled between the pedals. I've only driven 2 cars where this was an issue. My FFR and an old Formula Ford. It's no longer a major issue in my FFR as I did some creative work with an angle grinder. The only way I see of fixing it in the formula ford is to cut the sides of the nose out.

2. You're looking to be hip and fashionable by picking up the latest Fast and Furious Tokoyo Drift licensed merchandise.

 

Honestly, why would you need fire retardent anything at an autocross?

I have exactly two pairs of shoes. One pair, new and very heavy; too cumbersome for autocross. One pair old and crappy, time for the trash. I went to the mall, looking for some light sneakers with thin soles. I found some. They were marketed as "driving shoes". So there's your reason number three.

I think you're onto something with the Tokyo Drift merchandising, though. That sounds like a gold mine.

You're a nice, friendly guy in real life, Leonard. I don't know the reason for bringing attitude to the forums.

 

There's lots of lightweight sneakers out there that don't look like racing shoes that are just as appropriate for comfort. I guess that makes your driving shoes a fashion accessory.

PS. I'm just as sarcastic in real life....


And really... if you're serious enough about autocross to get special shoes for it... then you're probably serious enough to eventually start doing some high speed events at real tracks. You may as well buy the real deal. Sure they're not required, but if you do move to club racing you've got them and you never know what can happen anytime you go to a race track. I hate buying shit twice because I bought the budget shit the first time.

 

I think fire retardant shoes are an overkill for high speed driving events. I laugh almost every time when I see someone with their fire retardant OMP or Piloti's with shorts and a t-shirt (which you can drive PCA with).

 

I've met Rosko and he is like 8 feet tall.
I'm sure he has similarly large feet. I would think any car's pedals are going to seem closely spaced for him.

 

I've met him too. He's nowhere near 8 feet tall.