Adidas Climacool smart race suit could improve driver safety on the track

Jumping on the smart clothing bandwagon, Adidas has officially launched the world's first smart race suit.

Developed in partnership with adidas motorsport licensee and distribution partner Fyshe along with tech company Otentico, the Climacool kit isn't about monitoring biometric data like Athos or Hexoskin smart clothing ranges.

Inside each suit lies a smart tag that has an NFC chip embedded into it that carries a unique identification number and is digitally signed during the tag's production. This is to ensure it cannot be tampered with or easily cloned.

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The chips can be used to authenticate the race suit, ensuring that it's a legitimate product and complies with FIA regulations. More interestingly, it'll also hold the driver's personal identification including medical records, which could prove useful if a driver is involved in a crash to aid treatment.

Away from storing driver data, it's also hoped that the tech could play its part in helping to authenticate memorabilia used during races that's sold on by auction houses or private collectors. Nobody wants to spend big bucks on something that's never been used by the driver.

The suits can be identified and authenticated from an NFC-enabled smartphone where you'll be able to scan to see a whole host of details including imagery and the manufacturing date with all of the data stored in the cloud.

It's already been worn by drivers from Dempsey-Proton Racing, Abu Dhabi-proton and KCMG teams during the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship earlier this month.

Will it make it onto a Formula 1 track anytime in the near future? The FIA has pretty strict regulations on the use of tech, so it might be some time before Lewis Hamilton and company throw one on before squeezing into that narrow driving seat.