Smart Suit: Alpinestars Tech Air Race

• Targeted protection

“A shoulder injury is not really critical; you can break your shoulder and easily survive. But, after impacts to the head, it’s the most-common roadracing injury and one with which we think riders are very familiar.”

• Pump up the volume

“Full inflation takes 45 milliseconds, and we guarantee five seconds of impact performance. There’s a small bleed-through in the system, so when the airbag is fired, operating pressure is above what we need and then it slowly drops. After six seconds, you still get reasonable protection. After 20 seconds, the airbag will be so soft you’ll hardly notice it. Then, it’s ready to inflate again.”

• Digital partner

“We worked with Cosworth on the electronics. They supplied all of the original data-logging equipment. The

coding, converting the algorithm into a format that could be understood by the microprocessor, was done by Cosworth. But the actual writing of the algorithm, deciding what mathematical formulae would be used and how the variables would be connected, was carried out in-house.”

• Same look, better protection

“We weren’t looking to make a radically different suit. If you do that, you’re starting from zero trying to fit riders. You always take something the riders are good with and then add effective and increased performance. We’re already exploring other ways to expand the system in the future.”

• Light is right

“Having a small system means all of the components that make up the system are also small. We didn’t want to add a few extra kilograms, because the rider will ask, ‘Is all that weight worth what I think the benefit will be?’”

• To blow or not to blow

“In the end, it comes down to pure math. If the crash is small, the energy involved is low, and there’s no point in firing one of the charges; the passive protectors in the suit will do an acceptable job. We set the system at a level where-by we believe the energy going off requires this sort of protection.”

• Patented dual charge

“We thought, ‘What if, after the rider crashes, the system deflates and he can ride again with the same amount of protection?’ Psychologically, it’s a big weight off his shoulders. It was also a new concept. After you’ve crashed your car, the airbag is finished. You don’t tend to drive it anywhere else.”

• Thinking ahead

“The key parameter, especially in racing, is how far in advance you can detect the accident. If you can detect the crash, say, 500 milliseconds before your shoulder hits the ground, you’ve got a lot of time. Our sensors are working on a two-millisecond cycle, so there’s new data coming in every two milliseconds, and the ECU has that window to process the data and decide what to do.”

MSRP for the Tech Air Race (European sizes 48-56; three colors) is $4995. Specifically intended for track use, this Wi-Fi-enabled, smartphone-compatible, CE-armor-equipped cowhide suit comes with an AC charger and an owner-transferable service book to document annual check-ups, software upgrades and crash repairs.