The basic material of the racing suits has ever been true leather for tens of years. The most used leather (tanned processed leather) is cow leather, so called face leather. It is the most available high-quality material and it has a high strength and a great abrasion resistance thanks to modern processing methods.
The highly demanded leather is also a leather of kangaroo, resp. antelope. The kangaroo leathers show about 30% higher abrasion resistance than the cow leather shows. It is caused by inner structure and bonds in leather. Every part of animal leather has a bit different properties. For that reason particular parts of the suits are cut from the given part of leather during production.
There is an information for our friends of animals, to which I belong too, that they are not primarily killed for the leather processing but for the need of meat. The usage of leather is a usage of derived product indeed.
A couple years ago, new synthetic material entered into the clothing. The best-known certainly are, among others, aramid fibers, most often well-known under the trade name Kevlar. These products surpass all for the time used natural materials with their parameters. Actually thanks to these inventions, we are able to achieve the expected properties of suits when keeping their low weight.
The up-to-date materials we are testing in the suits of several racers now are ceramics-coated textile fabrics.