Pretty much anyone remotely interested in automobiles knows of Alpinestars or can at least recognize its iconic logo. As a long-time user of its gear, I’ve always subconsciously been aware of the fact that this is one of the world’s biggest and best protective apparel companies. Even so, spending a few days with the Alpinestars team, first at the Austrian MotoGP round and then at their headquarters in Italy, was eye-opening, to say the least.
All Access
The immersion began at the spectacular Red Bull Ring, nestled in the foothills of the Styrian mountains. I’ve been lucky enough to have attended a few MotoGP races over the years, but this time was different, and that was entirely thanks to the access we had. Nearly everyone inside the MotoGP circus was a friend of Alpinestars, and that got us into places I never imagined possible. We watched the morning warm up from inside the Gresini MotoGP garage, got a tour of the Red Bull Rookies Cup Garage, and I was able to get nearly trackside at Turn 3 to watch the action close up. Later in the day, I couldn’t believe that I was getting to literally walk down the grid at the start of the Sprint race. Being so close to the action, I had to be careful to stay out of the way of the international TV crews and team mechanics as they completed last-minute bike setup. We were eventually steered off the grid just as the race was about to start, and I’m still processing what a special experience that was!
The Astars hospitality centre is another special spot in the MotoGP paddock. This was one of those gathering places over the weekend where various journalists, racers, team managers and crew members pop in and out, and it’s perfectly normal to see some superstars grabbing a coffee or meal in here. In fact, the KTM team happened to be seated over at the next table on Saturday night for dinner, and Pedro Acosta was in a very friendly mood despite the huge disappointment of crashing out of the Sprint lead earlier that day – he even took some photos with us. Him finally scoring that long overdue first MotoGP win the next day was something everyone enjoyed watching.
Where the Magic Happens
Perhaps the biggest eye-opener was the Alpinestars service truck that is driven to all the GPs on the European circuit.
I always imagined that crash-damaged race suits were simply replaced with fresh ones, but it turns out that most of them actually get repaired on-site (unless the damage is extreme), and it all happens in the service truck. The truck carries extra leather panels for all the riders’ suits with all the correct branding and colours.
The suits are cleaned in the truck, thoroughly examined and then repaired on-site by staff from Astars’ R&D headquarters using specialised tools and machinery.
The built-in airbags are removed, examined, and the data is analysed before being reinstalled.
Why go through all this effort? It’s because brand new leather suits are often stiff and take time to break in. As it turns out, most riders love to be back in that familiar, comfy old suit that already fits them perfectly with little to no resistance. And a comfy racer is usually a fast one.
Getting to witness the sheer scale of Alpinestars’ racing operation at MotoGP had me wondering. Just how far invested is this company into motorsport? Is its “Racing Ahead” tagline really that literal? As it turns out, the answer is an overwhelmingly emphatic yes. In fact, the chance to visit its headquarters revealed just how much time and resources this company dedicates to racing.
Hometown Heroes
Alpinestars was born in 1963 in the small town of Asolo, and it started off making hiking and ski boots for use in the Alps that surrounded the region. Company founder Sante Mazzarolo soon realised that there was genuine demand for protective boots designed for the sport of motocross that was just beginning to flourish at the time.
The company soon became a leader in the space of motocross and enduro boots, and it began to venture into road-racing boots in the 1970s. By the ‘90s, Astars was under control of Sante’s son, Gabriele, who still leads the company today, and this was when it began to expand its product line-up. Fast forward another two decades, and the company is now at the cutting edge of the protective automotive apparel space.
Astars is still based in the same town, but it now has three separate and sprawling locations. Two of them are R&D departments, with the first one we visited largely dedicated to racing. Some high-end products, like the Supertech boots and all airbag products, are also made here.
The sheer size, as well as the near-clinical cleanliness of this facility, was the first thing I noticed. As we walked through, we got to see how the racing suits are put together, and a lot of this work here is catered towards race teams and their ever-evolving needs. New sponsors or last-minute rider changes mean that fresh suits need to be created in very short timelines, sometimes in as little as 48 hours!
To give you an idea of just how invested Astars is into racing, I asked just how many top motorcycle racers it works with. Whatever number you just came up with in your head, it’s not big enough... Between the top road and off-road racing categories worldwide, there are over 520 Astars athletes! And that’s before you consider that there are entire racing championships where the whole grid wears Astars, including the Red Bull Rookies Cup and the TVS Racing International Championship. And that’s just two wheels – I’m told it’s another very large list of athletes in four-wheeler racing.
Racing Heritage
This really is a company that is racing first, and you can see the result of it in how advanced and widespread its product range is. For example, all those amazing airbag products are the result of over two decades of development into the technology, and it all started with racing.
On that same train of thought, racing is a colossally expensive business, and I now understand why Astars products have always been on the very premium end of the scale.
A visit to the company headquarters building really drove home Astar’s heritage and immense racing success. Walk in through the front door, and you’re greeted by mannequins wearing championship-winning suits belonging to Fabio Quatararo, Pecco Bagniaia, Jorge Martin, Pedro Acosta and Marc Marquez.
The waiting area even has bean bags made out of panels from used/crashed MotoGP and WSBK rider suits!
By far the coolest sight of all is the informal museum they’ve put together in the basement that is jam-packed with some of the most incredible motorsport memorabilia you can dream of. There are literal walls full of autographs and signed messages from the world’s greatest motorsport athletes.
You’ll find treasures like Michael Schumacher’s driving shoe, a damaged bumper off Travis Pastrana’s rally car, or Roger de Coster’s boots from the 1970s, when he won Astars its very first championship.
An especially cool one was the very sleeve that Jorge Martín scuffed when he so famously dragged his shoulder through Catalunya Turn 5. The list goes on and on, and it is absolutely jaw dropping.
My time spent with Alpinestars has shown that, above all else, this is a company that loves to push the limits and is constantly raising the bar of what is possible in the world of safety and performance. It’s that philosophy that has got it to where it is today, and from what I’ve seen, there’s plenty more to come.