Cool T Shirt for Formula Car

Bob Coury · July 17th, 2012, 10:21 AM

Some time ago, a saw a cool shirt that was connected to a can of cooling agent small enough to fit in a Formula car. Does anybody remember who made them?

I have a "phase shift" vest, with the gel type packets. But I am leary of having that those packets between by body and shoulder harness in case of an accident.

Not much room in an old SE-3 to moved things around.

Purple Frog · July 17th, 2012, 10:30 AM

I consider the phase change cells to be extra padding under the front HANS arms. (I remember DaveW getting bruised by the HANS in a big hit years ago) I used mine last weekend at Atlanta in great comfort in the heat. I don't race in the heat without them.

Dale Carter · July 17th, 2012, 10:46 AM

A word of caution. Keith was wearing the vest last week at Gingerman and was held up on the false grid for over 25 minutes while cars from the previous group were being towed in. The packs usually last for around 45 minutes of cooling. After that it was hot water on his chest for the last half of the race. He didn't look or feel so good after the race. 20/20 hindsight, we should have yanked them out before he rolled out.

Bob Coury · July 17th, 2012, 10:54 AM

Froggy:

I guess my concern was having and impact the causes the packs to burst, and now you have slop in the belts. I guess I should try a fit check again, and hope that they do not move the HANS into the chin spoiler of my Bell.

Last year it was so hot at Daytona, That I felt that my family got the worst of it on the hot deck. Our fan in the garage offered little relief. There were a few times I left them on my youngest son who has a heart condition. He eventually got a golf cart ride to medical, some Gatorade cut with water, and an EKG. The medical staff, stewards, and other volunteers were very, very [FONT=Verdana]accommodating. [/FONT]

Purple Frog · July 17th, 2012, 12:49 PM

I understand.
Mrs Frog said "never again" to Daytona from April 1 to November 1. That after an August double SARRC there.

*racingflyboy* · July 17th, 2012, 2:25 PM

My "cool shirt" is cheap and better than nothing. Feel free to copy it if you want to. I got the idea from the guy I bought my car from.

Take a gallon(?) size zip loc bag, fill it half way or so with ice cubes. My wife puts it on my chest and then zips the top of my suit as the last step of getting me strapped into the car. It stays in the center, avoids the shoulder belts. (I guess it's actually before final shoulder belt adjustments.) Anyway, seems to work best if there's a very small leak or two in the bag, then as the ice melts, cool water soaks my nomex shirt. It's cheap, works quite well. The occasional long grid delay does cause most of the ice to be melted by the time I hit the track, but at least I'm still much cooler by that time than I would be without it. Last weekend at Blackhawk, it was around 100-102, it melted quickly, but I made it thru the race. Afterward, I found I was exhausted way beyond normal, not sure what would have happened with out it. But I do know what can happen.

A friend who races a GT-1, actually passed out due to his cool suit malfunctioning at Road America one Aug when it was in the mid 80's, maybe 90. (It gets over 150 in the cockpit) He was very lucky, passing out going into Canada Corner at 180+ is not recommended. Gravel trap stopped him, RA & SCCA Medical team saved him, in the Med center. It was seriously touch and go, we came very close to loosing him. 50 yr old in pretty good physical shape. So don't mess with the heat. Good advice by Mrs. Purple Frog.

Steve

*Darryl Wills* · July 17th, 2012, 2:45 PM

Is the product you were referring to. I have used the little cans in some really hot Texas weather. The cans only give about four or five good cool downs. I usually mount one can in the car on the roll bar and use another can on the grid to keep cool. I will cool down just before the one to go and then connect the mounted can to the suit for the race. In fact, I have never used the can in the car during the race but it sure feels good for the cool down lap and coming into tech.

*Darryl Wills* · July 17th, 2012, 2:47 PM

don't get the shirt with the head sock. The little cans will not push coolant thru the head sock. They work best if you can raise off of the seat a little to relieve the pressure on the back capillary lines.

GBugg · July 18th, 2012, 8:33 AM

The CoolShirt folks were at the SEDiv meeting last year and had on display a "saddlebag" version of the standard CoolShirt. It had two small, soft coolers that could be mounted just about anywhere and circulated water just like the standard system. Looked neat, but don't know how long it would last.

TedV · July 18th, 2012, 8:58 AM

I picked up a slightly used motorcycle cool shirt setup for the bike after riding in last summers 104 degree heat cross country. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet tho. It has a 6pack size soft bag cooler and supposedly lasts for 1 to 2 hours on a bike. I'm hoping it works better than soaking my gear with water which lasted 100 miles of the 150 mile fuel stints.

It does look like it will fit much easier in a formula car than the sedan sized hard igloo cooler.

Top · July 18th, 2012, 4:42 PM

I almost always wore a phase change vest in my SE3. People thought I was wearing a bulletproof vest when they first saw it. If it was not frozen smoothly it could be very uncomfortable under the belts. However, it worked well. After a pretty serious heat stroke I lost the ability to sweat for a number of years. The vest was a life saver for me. The late Rich Shafer went over my SE3 with me and at that time we couldn't come up with a way to mount the cooling agent that would work in the tight cockpit. Maybe someone has figured it out by now.

*mousecatcher* · July 18th, 2012, 11:29 PM

My experience with the phase change vest is that I can't get the belts tight enough and lose some of the feeling from the car. As the material melts, the belts loosen up. But even before that, on lap one the belts are just not tight anymore.

*farrout* · July 19th, 2012, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TedV

I It has a 6pack size soft bag cooler and supposedly lasts for 1 to 2 hours on a bike. I'm hoping it works better than soaking my gear with water which lasted 100 miles of the 150 mile fuel stints.

It does look like it will fit much easier in a formula car than the sedan sized hard igloo cooler.

I have one of Rich's first soft bag coolers. It fit nicely on a shelf in my LeGrand DSR. In my AMAC, there is no easy place to put it. In my FF, there is no place at all to put it. The full bag weighs about 12# so the mount and support structure has to be chosen carefully. The weight will break rivits and Aluminum sheet.