I get asked this question all the time by newbies that are not in the world of karting. And I wonder why drivers use reproductors, whereas in Formula 1, they don’t.

And I briefly explained to them that, well, first of all, the seat is very stiff, and due to the fact that they reach up to 2.5 G’s and having a resin seat that is not made of foam, as in the case of Formula One, they need to have rib protectors, because otherwise they would destroy their ribs with the high G forces that you get, especially in high grip conditions. So in order to not crack your ribs every session, basically you have to use your reprotector. And it is actually mandatory. It is homologated, and it’s something you need to use otherwise you just basically cannot race at an international level. And to be honest, it really makes sense, because if you drive without rib protector, it’s actually a bit of sudden masochism, and I’m not sure you you want to do that. Trust me, I had severe ribs injuries even though I was using a rib protector, so imagine if I didn’t use one, that would have been even more of an issue. In this guide, I will cover all of the frequently asked questions about rib protectors. So let’s get started.

Why are rib injuries so common in karting?

Rib injuries are so common in karting simply because you are going at super high speed through the corners and you reach up to 2.5 lateral GS, sometimes even slightly more. And the seats are made of resin. They are not made out of foam, as in the case of Formula One other single seaters and GTs, they are made out of resin. So if you go basically and hit with 2.5 G’s, so 2.5 times the gravity acceleration of 9.8 and you multiply that acceleration with your own body weight, and you throw it against the seat left and right, sooner or later, you will destroy your ribs. And yes, that will be more and more severe with a higher grip level on track, because with the higher grips, you will carry more speed, more G forces into the quarter. With more G force, there’s more acceleration of your chest cage being thrown left and right. So that is basically the reason why and why you have to use reproductors to prevent that

can karting beginners skip a re protector?

Well, I believe that’s a really bad idea, and I do not recommend it at all, actually, because they are beginners, they may get hurt more likely, and so they will need more safety than other drivers, even though, for sure, yes, being beginners, they will carry less speed into the corners because they have less confidence. And less speed equals less G forces. Less G force equals less strain on the ribs. But still, I would never, ever drive without a protector in my life, you know, I think one session every in my life, I realized in the outlab that I didn’t have it, and so I boxed right away, and I check and I have to put it on, because otherwise, you I would have destroyed my ribs. So it’s just impossible to hold yourself inside of the seat without going left to right, and so you’re just going to destroy the ribs. Now I know that in the past, like 30 years ago or four years ago, some drivers were quite heroic in the sense that some of them drove without a rib protector. They actually just put some foam on the seat internally and so that they would drive like that, some of them. But again, I think that is just not the way that is possible to do nowadays, because then just the speed and the G forces have gotten higher and higher. The karts have gotten also a little bit heavier. So just carrying more speed to the corners, more speed equals more G forces. And even though, even in the past, there was a lot of grip, but I think nowadays it’s just impossible. Like maybe in the past you could have had something like that, but now it’s just not possible.

What actually causes rib pain in karting drivers?

The thing that causes repainting the most is being squeezed from left to right with the high G forces. And really, most of the times is not just the G forces that are heavy, but also the use of curbs. When you use the curbs, you have sudden smashes on the ribs, so your ribs basically smash against your rib protector, and your rib protector smashes against the seat. So even though you may have a reproductor, you may still hurt your ribs, and you may still crack them if you just go a bit too aggressively over a curb, and maybe you’ve had already some pain, and maybe you were already straining your ribs. I had this issue last year. I was severely training three. Getting training, training without resting too much. And I was smashing the curbs, smashing the cribs in a wet to go faster. And I remember that I was a French record that I just overdid it, and my seat to be on it was a bit too tight. And what happened was just that I got a bit of a rib pain, and then I neglected it, but then kept staying there, and I got more and more of a pain, and then it actually became a big one, and I had to stay away from driving for for like, two months, because my ribs were

like tiny cracked. But when I was in 2013

one time I literally cracked my rib, and it was very, very painful, you cannot imagine. And I still had to finish the race, and I still had to do the whole weekend under injections and painkillers because I was fighting for the championship, and it was, yeah, very, very painful. In the end, I did not win the championship, but I finished p2 still, it was great, because I was able to, I think we win the pre final. And I remember, after the adrenaline stopped in the in lab, I was just like almost crying in the helmet, a bit like the scene that Ayrton Senna did when he won in Brazil, when he got stuck in sixth gear. And so, yeah, it felt really, really painful. So yeah, all in all curbs, plus high grip conditions are going to be a big issue for ribs, especially if you have to go and smash a curb flat out at, I don’t know, like 120 kilometers an hour. I remember in LA Conca in the past, you used to smash the curb so much. Now they changed it the last couple of years, so it’s not as aggressive on the curb. The curb is not that sharp, but we used to fly, literally, with four wheels over the over the curb and the chicane, and yeah, after I remember, there was a day where it was in summertime, there was so much grip, and I drove like 150 laps, but I used to do, like, two long stints, and I got quite, I got quite bruised, but I kept going, and then I kind of cracked the ribs there as well. So I had the had a bit of a bad luck over the years with my ribs, but then I realized I had to get the absolute best rib protector in the market. And back then it was the till it custom p1 and then now it’s still available, but of course, you have to fly to the UK to Steve, still the legend himself, and getting your rib protector being made custom molded around your ribs. And yeah, it costs quite a bit. It’s about 1000 euros, but it’s totally worth it. Now, it’s not a model gate anymore. Unfortunately, you cannot drive with it, but you can still use it in the free practice and in the testing. Overall, it’s just not allowed to race during the international races, simply because it doesn’t have the frontal chest protection that nowadays all rib protectors have.

How should a reproductive properly fit

rib protector should fit in a way that they’re very, very firm and they’re not too loose, of course, and they’re not too tight. If they’re too tight, they are going to obstruct your breathing and probably going to do worse, more harm than good, actually. But I prefer it to be a little bit on the skinny fit side, rather than on the loose side, because if we say on the loose side, then you’re just going to move around. And if you have no proper feeling of being locked in, basically in your rib cage, in your seat as well, then it’s going to be a problem. That’s why, also the seat has to be perfectly

fitting your rib cage in your chest. Basically, you do not want to have an oversized seat or too tight seat. You just need to be slightly tight, again, like the rib protector, slightly on the tight side, rather on the loose side. But you don’t want to be on the opposite side as well of being way too tight. For sure, being too loose is worse than being too tight overall. But yeah, I’ve had an issue where I had my seat being too loose, and because of that, I was moving inside of the seat, even though I put a lot of foam on the sides of the seat to try to basically stay more stuck. But still, that wasn’t a good decision. It was better than nothing, but still was not the right decision. That just the wrong decision was just not getting a tighter seat in the first place. So I will not make this mistake ever again, because that damaged my ribs. Just the fact of moving left to right, I should have been locked in, centered and perfectly locked into this, into the seat, but I was not, and so it destroyed my ribs.

What’s the difference between entry level and high hand rib protectors?

Well, the main difference, of course, is the protection and the price. Of course, the more protection you get, the higher the price and at the same time, the comfort. Now there are some rib protectors that are a bit low end because they’re not specifically. Um, brands that are dealing with reproductors, they are just designing them, just to add them in the category of products. But let’s be honest, that’s not their main speciality. So in this way, they just made some products that were okay, but not exceptional. And I’m talking about, for example, the sparkle reproductor, the Omp reproductor, which are, okay, nothing spectacular, but they’re not as good, near as good as the Bengio or the Tillet one I use a Tilletone

Are custom molded protectors worth it?

Absolutely yes, that I know the only custom molded protector in the world is from Tillet. You literally have to fly to the UK and get it done at their workshop. It’s just fascinating. And of course, it’s the best thing you can get when it comes to dealing with ribs and rip issues. Of course, it’s much more expensive than a normal reprotector that’s costing like 400 500 euros. In fact, the custom molded one costs up to 1000 euros. So yeah, you cannot get it for for cheap. But yes, it’s totally worth it, because it’s just perfectly reflects the shape of your ribs, and therefore you’re not going to have extra moving bits in your in your seat, between your seat and your rib protector, this is going to essentially be like a glove. So your rib protector is going to fit perfectly like a glove, and that is just perfect for for optimal safety and optimal comfort at the same time. And you just need to be one piece, just literally one piece between the seat, the rib protector and the the rib cage, it has to be just one single entity. If it’s for some reason too loose in between, or too large or too tight something, and you feel like it’s not one piece, well, then it’s going to be a problem, and you’re going to feel issues. You really need to feel like one okay. But unfortunately, custom molded protectors are not homologated because they don’t have the frontal chest protector, and therefore they are not allowed anymore, but you can use them in testing and free practices, as I still do, and I will keep doing it. I have one from when I was 15 years old, and unfortunately it doesn’t fit me anymore, but I still have it in my in my trophy room, but now I have this new one, and still amazing. So if you get the budget and get the chance to fly to the UK and do it well, you will never regret it. It’s gonna last for a lifetime. And I feel that, yeah, you will have this special pleasure of meeting Steve Tillet himself, the legend, and also have a look around the workshop. I’m not sure if they provide this service continuously, or if it’s just like one off, or just every once in a while, because, of course, it takes a lot of time, and it’s also physically demanding on them, because you have to smell all the fumes from the resin. So I’m not sure they can do it sustainably for a lot of people, but if you reach out to them, and you’re lucky, then probably they can still do it for you.

How do you know if yours is fitting correctly?

Well, you know if that’s fitting correctly? If, as I said it, it just feels like one piece, one block between the rib protector the seats and your rib cage. So you really need to feel like one. You need to be perfectly fitted so that there’s no movement in between. There’s no space, space in between. And if you feel like you need to have a little bit of space, like, like a couple of millimeters in between your protector and your seat. You can remove some washers from the from the seat, and just make the seat, make the seat a little bit bigger, like larger, but a bit yeah. Anyways, talking about the ray protector, how do you know if it’s fitting correctly? Well, you need to know, because it doesn’t have to be too large. Like, one of the common mistake people do is to get oversized re protectors. But that’s wrong. Actually, you need to get them right, just right, or even sometimes a little bit on the on the smaller side. Of course, you don’t want them to be too small, but you don’t want them to be too large. If they’re too large, then you’re gonna have, again, the problem that I had, which is, yes, you’re gonna cover perhaps even too much of your ribs, like that’s not ideal, because once it’s too large, you’re gonna move around a little bit in the seat, and that’s gonna move a bit, and even though you may strap it maximum, you still will not have the optimal feeling. So, yes, I mean, that’s why custom molded re protectors are just perfect. But again, you can’t do too much about them if, if you can use them in the race, the only thing you can do is you can use them in testing and then get a proper reprotector from Tillet or Bengio that is as close as possible to the custom molded one in terms of size.

What are the early warning size of rib injury?

You realize you’re getting an injury when you start to feel pain, and that you feel like you’re out of breath, but you also feel like a bit of like a shock. It’s like when you have an electric shock. So the first time you have that and you feel like you’ve. The shock. Maybe you have hit a big curb, or you went very fast in the corner, and like the G force pulled out of you, and you feel like you have a shock, then almost pulls you out of breath. Then it’s the beginning of potential issue, a potential injury. So what I recommend is to, like, stop for the day and make sure you put ice on and you just calm down for the day. Do not drive for at least that day, or maybe try again the next day. In the morning, if you still have the issue, then just stop for a few days and make sure we fix the problem at the cause at the source, which is by getting a proper protector and making sure that seat is not too large or too tight. And once everything is fine, after you have healed for a few days, make sure you get back in the car. And if, again, you have no issues, you should continue. But if right away, after you get back, then you have the same problem, you stay the same pain, then you have to stop. Because if you consume, continue to drive on top of it, unless there is, like a big race and you need to finish the championship to win it, unless that you are going to basically suffer for so long, and, yeah, it’s just going to hurt you so much, and it’s going to be actually worse, because then you’re going to be struggling to recover.

Do kids need different reprotectors than adults?

Well, of course, they need different protections in terms of sizes, but at the end of the day, it’s still the same, the same principle, the same design, just different size. Of course, a lot smaller. But yeah, the rib protectors from Tillet and from venger, for example, are exactly the same for both kids and adults, just the same size differs. And of course, keep in mind that every two to three years you may have to change your reprotector, or sometimes even less, depends on your growth rate. I could only use my rib protector from when I was like 14 all the way up until I was like 16, but then I had to, well, then I move up to cars, but still, like nowadays, I cannot use that reproductive anymore. It’s just too, too small for me, so I had to make a brand new one. So I expect that from when they’re eight years old all the way up until 15 years old, they will still probably have to change two or three rib protectors when that’s just natural. Just don’t be cheap with that, because if you expect to save up, you’ll probably damage your your horn ribs or your child’s rib.

How long does it take to recover from rib damage?

It does take a lot. It does take a lot. I took a couple of months like last year, I really had to stop for two months or so, or even more. I had to take quite a lot of medicines, a lot of injections of painkiller and cortisone. So that’s not a good place to be. When I was 14-15, I had the same issue. I had to only skip, like a month, even though I should have healed for longer. But I had to do the races because, of course, I was fighting for the championship. So that was not ideal in long term. And I still do feel like sometimes a little bit of pain due to that. But I mean, as long as you take the good precautions, it shouldn’t be that long. You just have to make sure that you should not even run. You should not even train for, like, a at least a full month. Because even if you’re not driving and you’re not having hits on your on your ribs, you may still stimulate your rib cage by breathing hard, by running, etc, and by just breathing hard and just training hard, you’re going to stimulate your rib cage, and that’s in turn, gonna,

yeah, not heal the ribs properly. So you don’t want to put too much stress on those they need to recover.

Does seat position and seat size affect rib injuries?

Well, yes, of course, you will have big issues whether you have an oversized seat, as well as if you have a too narrow of a seat. So you don’t want to have an oversized seat, of course, because if you do that, even though you may place tape or foam inside, you are going to have an issue, because you’re going to move left to right. You’re going to move a lot, and that’s going to increase the acceleration, basically left to right. You ideally want to be completely firm and stable in the car. You don’t want to move left to right. So you should keep that in mind at all times. And in terms of seat position, though, I believe that there’s not much to do about it, only whether the seat has been tightened up too much, and it’s like even though maybe the size of the seat is good, and you get in the seat is good, but maybe you tight it up too much, and you put too many washers and it compresses even more. I think that is not an ideal scenario, of course, and you want to avoid that at all costs, because otherwise, yeah, it’s just going to be too tight. And if it’s too tight, it’s going to create issues,

Especially when you jump over the curbs, if you use curbs frequently, do you increase the chance of getting rib injuries?

Yes, if you smash curbs flat out and your seat is not the best in terms of size, it’s either too tiny or too large, or your rib protector is not the optimal. It’s either too small or too large. And probably not the highest material safety. Well, that in that case, if you continue to smash the curbs big time, every lap, every day, there’s going to be a big chance that you’re going to damage your ribs, as it happened for me a couple of times even last year. So you really want to make sure that if you smash the curbs, because you maybe have to glue it because it’s faster, as I do a lot in the rain, there was a flat out curve I had to smash in French, accord that both in turn one and also into the last corner. If you have to smash it flat out, then I recommend you to make sure that you first take care of the seat and make sure that the seat is not too tight. I think that is the biggest issue, because if it’s too large, yes, it’s also a problem, but if it’s too tight and you like barely breathe, then it’s an issue. So make sure you you probably have to change it, or try to expand it and make it what, like couple of centimeters larger or otherwise, you may have to get a proper re protector. Maybe both things are needed. But even if you have a proper rib protector, like as I do at the end of the day, the rib protector can only influence a part of the equation, the rest is then influenced by the seeds. But yeah, curbs are a big enemy for ribs. You need to use them wisely and strategically, only if you can find extra lap time by using them. But yeah, just definitely at the end of the day where you’re putting a lot of effort on your ribs, you should place some eyes and heal them a little bit, some painkillers so that you can actually heal them a bit. But I’m not suggesting to use painkillers. Of course, you should talk to a doctor. I think painkillers are not the best because, of course, they’re going to reduce the pain so you may smash the curves even more. I think instead, you can use some like proper creams that actually reduce the inflammation. That’s a bit more useful

if you could only invest in one productive item after the helmet. Would this be it the rear protector?

Absolutely. I mean, I would spend even more on the rear protector. And rather than the helmet. Real is important, but the reproductor is, is equally important, or if, or if more actually. So yeah, I would spend whatever money required to get the absolute best ship protector on the market. And as I said, I already did that, if you want to do that too sure. But yeah, it’s definitely worth the money. And of course, the higher speed, the more powerful the category, and the higher the grip level you drive with, and the more curbs you’re going to use, the more driving days you do, the better and more worth it. It is to make an investment like this, it’s going to be a great ROI, believe me. And yes, I mean bench or tea. Let are the two options. You should try them out, perhaps at a local karting store, and then you should see what fits best for you. Just remember, repaint doesn’t make you tougher, it makes you slower, so make sure you keep protecting your ribs, which eventually protect your lap times and race wins. So I encourage you not to make the same mistake that I did and that most beginners do, which is by going with the cheap option at first and then progressively upgrading. Because if you are going to upgrade too late and you may get rib injuries too soon, well then that may cost you a lot of track time, potential championships, and sometimes it may keep you repaint for a long, long time, for years, as it happened in my case. So invest the time now, instead of double spending into a cheap option now and then an expensive later, I understand that the kids eventually is going to grow. And if your son is now eight, and then it’s going to be 10, and then it’s going to be 12, and then 14, you will need to get really different reprotectors, for sure. But equally, you need to just understand this is an expense that is part of the game, and if you want to get the results, you need to invest in a high quality reprotector. So I hope this guide was helpful. If you need to get some online coaching, you can apply to our onboard video analysis here at send it, or you can join the six months training program. I’ll see you.