Ideas for racing in 100 degree heat

[swiftdrivr]

It's going to be hot a Roebling this weekend, and I'm worried about heat issues with the DB-1. Any ideas from people with experience running FFs in high heat?

[jchracer]

I've run a DB-1 at Roebling in the July heat and never had a problem. Make sure ALL air entering the cooling opening actually goes through the heat exchangers. Any gaps or leaks in the ductwork (however small) will decrease the effectiveness.

[TimH]

What are you doing to cool yourself? The phase-change packs work, though one does wonder what they would do to you in a fire.

[BURKY]

What are you doing to cool yourself? The phase-change packs work, though one does wonder what they would do to you in a fire.

I agree they do work great, but make sure the vest is actually fire resistant! My Coolture vest melted in a fire.

[BURKY]

Jim,

It was pretty toasty at Homestead last weekend and all the Swifts did fine. James will be there if you have any problems.

Good luck this weekend.

[alangbaker]

It's going to be hot a Roebling this weekend, and I'm worried about heat issues with the DB-1. Any ideas from people with experience running FFs in high heat?

Incredibly simple, but dunk your balaclava in ice water before you put it on. It will keep your head cool all the way through the wait on pre-grid.

Just this past weekend, I also took some clean shop towels (3), folded them to roughly chest size, soaked them in ice water from the cooler, and put them on my chest before zipping up my driving suit.

[S Lathrop]

When I was driving, I wore Nonex underwear under my driver's suite. I would soak the undershirt in water and put it on just before I got into the car. The water evaporating would keep me cool and as the race progressed, my own perspiration would continue to keep the top of my suite damp and working to keep me cool.

I had a heat incident in the car prior doing this to keep cool in hot weather. I never had another heat incident, and drove for another decade.

[swiftdrivr]

Thanks guys,
I plan to stay well hydrated and I like the idea of the ice-water Balaclava, but I was more worried about the motor. I hope the new aluminum radiator is up to the challenge. [But hey, they are predicting a break in the weather.Only 95 degrees on Friday!]

[Daryl DeArman]

You are in an open cockpit car with the heat generator and radiator behind you. You aren't going to get hot once on track.

If you have an RV put your dry gloves and balaclava in the freezer. Have an umbrella on pre-grid. Wait to put your helmet and gloves on as long as you can. Keep hydrated.

Sitting in still air in the sun is what is going to overheat you.

I'm not in triathlete shape, raced all over the so cal desert tracks. You get hotter in open wheel cars while on the grid than you do on track. That's where you need to concentrate on staying cool and hydrated.

[Jim Edmonds]

I respect everyone's opinion above but prefer to keep my driving gear as dry as possible to avoid being steam cooked if there is a fire. The correct "umbrella person" can reduce a lot of the heat on the grid. Ymmv. Jim Edmonds Phoenix, AZ

[alangbaker]

I respect everyone's opinion above but prefer to keep my driving gear as dry as possible to avoid being steam cooked if there is a fire. The correct "umbrella person" can reduce a lot of the heat on the grid. Ymmv. Jim Edmonds Phoenix, AZ

That's the thing, Jim: if it's hot enough to use the ice water method, by the time you're hitting the green flag everything is pretty thoroughly dry.

[TimH]

I agree they do work great, but make sure the vest is actually fire resistant! My Coolture vest melted in a fire.

I don't use the vest, only have room between my shoulder belts for a single pack. I doubt the plastic bag would be fire-friendly, but also wonder what would happen to the liquid. Did you get scalded?

[TimH]

That's the thing, Jim: if it's hot enough to use the ice water method, by the time you're hitting the green flag everything is pretty thoroughly dry.

Not my experience, even in 8% AZ humidity. In Florida? Forget it.

[Daryl DeArman]

I respect everyone's opinion above but prefer to keep my driving gear as dry as possible to avoid being steam cooked if there is a fire. The correct "umbrella person" can reduce a lot of the heat on the grid. Ymmv. Jim Edmonds Phoenix, AZ

Agreed. Which is why I said DRY gloves. Balaclava I'm okay with it getting wet right before as the helmet is a much much better heat insulator than the suit. As to the neck portion of the balaclava, the wind and heat will dry that out rather quickly.

Our suits rely on moisture wicking and the air barriers between layers to keep us insulated during a fire. It might take a second or two longer to bring that water up to boiling temp but once it does that suit is going to stay much hotter when you take away the external heat source.

Those cool vests under your suit aren't going to get hot enough to melt the plastic. If the internal temps of your suit were high enough to melt plastic filled with water you would not be around to know.

You know you can boil a plastic jug of water over a campfire without melting the jug right?

[BURKY]

I don't use the vest, only have room between my shoulder belts for a single pack. I doubt the plastic bag would be fire-friendly, but also wonder what would happen to the liquid. Did you get scalded?

Only the shoulder area of the vest melted where the flames came through the fire wall.

Luckily I was not burned.

[Dee]

I ran last week at auto club speedway temp 103 !
start to hydrate the day before with g aide if you are not urinating your not hydrated !
one driver in our class (f5000) had a heart attack when he pulled into the garage !

[S Lathrop]

Thanks guys,
... but I was more worried about the motor. I hope the new aluminum radiator is up to the challenge. [But hey, they are predicting a break in the weather.Only 95 degrees on Friday!]

I have never seen it done on a Swift but if you added a 1" lip to either side of the engine cover where the radiator air exits, you would increase the flow through the engine compartment.


Aluminum radiators are not more efficient than brass radiators. But what you bought might be better than what was on you car originally

[PRS56]

I swear by a simple gel neck cooler that you can buy almost anywhere.
Rehydrate the gel the day before and put it in a container of water in your cooler.
Put it on around the neck as you are suiting up.
It works on the premise that it cools the blood going thru the carotid artery to the brain.

[swiftdrivr]

Lots of good ideas! I nearly decided not to post this, but now I am glad I did.

[mikey]

Similar to mentioned above, in PFM we run a 1/4" piece of aluminum angle on the trailing edge of the side pod upper surface. This draws more air through the pod / radiators.

[Mark_Silverberg]

My favorite tip is to eat a banana 30 to 45 minutes before any session - it insures sufficient potassium in your system which can help considerably with heat related discomfort.

If you do not like bananas try Kiwi fruit or juice which is also high in potassium.

I am convince that most heat issues are a much diet and nutrients issues as hydration issues.

[cliff]

Open the suit and push a cup full of ice down in your crotch.
Main arteries down there and for me at least, it makes a difference.

[glenn cooper]

^ Smart man!

Edit - Silverberg!

[Garey Guzman]

Jim,
Regarding the car, my DB1 ran fine in 100+ weather at Buttonwillow including one race that took 90 minutes to finish in about 105° heat! My help had left for the day and I had a hard time buckling so I was in the car the whole time. A couple guys dropped out after the 2nd red flag before they moved us to the hot pits for another attempt to get through the race. As long as the car is moving (and your duct pieces are in good shape), your car should be fine.

I ran my DB6 at NCM a couple weeks ago and even with some of the side NACA ducts blocked off, I had plenty of cooling except for when the idiot pace car driver drove 25-30 mph for 2 laps during the Sat race. It was about 90-95° with very high humidity.

As for the driver, nothing helps like cardio workouts! Although I can't run anymore with a bad knee, I do at least 30 minutes of elliptical work every weekday. The closest I got to having a tough time was that 90 minutes, two red flag race but I still was able to load up and drive 2 hours home after the event! And since Ross Brawn always got caught on screen eating bananas, I've always had them, assuming he would discover me any minute....

[BURKY]

Open the suit and push a cup full of ice down in your crotch.
Main arteries down there and for me at least, it makes a difference.

I think I'd rather be hot.

[jim morgan]

Go faster, will increase the breeze in cockpit.

[Zcurves]

I'm going to Roebling this weekend as well. I had a wet vest that worked well until I put on my suit. It was like wearing a quilt so it blocked off the convection.

It's amazing what a new, higher pressure radiator cap will do. My car kept boiling over if it sat on the grid too long. Not anymore.

We have a blower which uses a dewalt drill battery to place on the shock tower cover, like F1 and Indy. Combined with the new Coolshirt club bag system, we stay cool as a cucumber. See link for the Briky PCB-1000 blower. It also works great in the side pod as well. Feel free to stop by the Area 81 Racing paddock if you want to check it out. We're usually near Turn 3.

http://www.elecmechinc.com/page04.html

[RussMcB]

I respect everyone's opinion above but prefer to keep my driving gear as dry as possible to avoid being steam cooked if there is a fire.

I've heard this before, but never quite understood the science behind it. I would have guessed the water becoming steam (which requires heat) means less heat transferred to the skin. What exactly happens in a fire situation that wet clothes increases the chance of burns?

[DaveW]

I've heard this before, but never quite understood the science behind it. I would have guessed the water becoming steam (which requires heat) means less heat transferred to the skin. What exactly happens in a fire situation that wet clothes increases the chance of burns?

What happens is that either the water conducts heat directly to the skin, or the water evaporates and the resulting steam penetrates inward to the body, or both, and you get burned in a short time. When clothes are dry, the air trapped between the fibers acts as an insulator and delays heat transfer to the skin for a much longer time.

[BeerBudgetRacing]

I've heard this before, but never quite understood the science behind it. I would have guessed the water becoming steam (which requires heat) means less heat transferred to the skin. What exactly happens in a fire situation that wet clothes increases the chance of burns?

Ask anyone that cooks if its smart to grab a wet towel and pull something hot out of the oven...

[Steve Demeter]

The best way to beat the heat.

Train for it.

Put on your sweats and go for a long hard bike ride in the heat of the day.

Only issue is that you have to do this for a while before you build up the tolerance to heat.

I am 60 and this has worked for me for a long long time.

I sweat a lot, but never get tired or fuzzy from the heat.

[DanW]

One of my friends races a gen 1 RX-7. Lots of heat from the exhaust radiates into the cabin. It gets to 130 inside the car on a 100 degree day.

He has a nomex shirt with pockets on the back of the neck, sides of his torso and chest. He puts small frozen cold packs into the pockets and puts on his suit over the shirt.

Cost was 1 shirt and the cold packs from wal mart.

He is good for grid and a 30-40 minute race.

[Revs2-12k]

As Tim mentioned above, our team also utilizes the COOL SHIRT CLUB BAG SYSTEM.

http://coolshirt.com/product/club-bag-system/

Suit up with the FR rated Cool Shirt Club Bag System about 30 minutes before race. (Lithium Ion battery cycles the ice/water mix for up to 2 hours.)
Calmly belt into car 15 minutes prior to session.
Drive to Grid with the system in cockpit (on my lap).
Detach 2 - hoses at 1 minute signal on Grid. Tuck them into suit.
While waiting in impound in the heat for SCCA's required 20 minutes...Simply plug it back in!

[Bob Wheless]

duh!!!thats a great idea,,,, i was trying to find a place in the car for the bag without it melting ... Thank you ,,,,,, im gonna need something for Daytona

[Spengo]

I used a concealable phase change vest from glaciertek last week at streets of willow in the formula skippies. Worked really nicely in the 104 degree heat, especially when sitting on the grid just baking while waiting to get rolling which is always the worst part. I do not like being wet when it is really hot either. Make sure your fuel lines and pump are well shielded and away from the manifolds, the cars kept vapor locking and the mechanics had to do some emergency heat shielding installation with zip ties.

[wannabe]

I train for it and use the steam room to do many of my exercises in the summer. drink plenty of water 2 days prior and put ice in ziplocks inside your suit at your heart level. After the race,its melted. you can either drink it or pour it over your head...

[EYERACE]

I ran last week at auto club speedway temp 103 !
start to hydrate the day before with g aide if you are not urinating your not hydrated !
one driver in our class (f5000) had a heart attack when he pulled into the garage !

You are somewhat more at risk for the heart to give out in those few minutes during the post phase rather than in the race phase........the cool down lap is for us and not just the car/engine/rads.