We just had a 1 hour race at Shannonville Motorsports park. Air temps in the low 30C, Humidex up near 40C. Drivers after that race looked like twice baked potatos. MightMouseTech was in there, and he was pretty worn out. I would have been in the race too likely had I brought my car, I would have also really suffered - that leads me to my question.

Who out there uses cool shirts, what system do you have? Do you like it, and how does it work for longer races? IE, one hour or longer? This was probably our hottest race weekend of the year for us, as we move now back to Mosport for the rest of the year, and August generally isn't quite as hot - but you never can tell. But I'm seriously thinking for personal comfort to get a cool shirt. I'm looking for feedback from drivers who have them. NACA ducts and hose can only go so far to keep a driver cool...

 

I have a Cool Sport vest. One of the removeable "ice"-pack variety. Works well. I've usually got some cold left at the end of a 35 minute race. Its bulkier than the cool-shirt type systems, but it works in any car and you can walk around the paddock with it on which drives the women crazy...

 

We used one for the GT1 driver I crewed for. Worth EVERY penny. He had one of the F.A.S.T. pro series ones though. Kind of pricey but it actually has dual pumps and pumps the ice water through the suit and the other one hooks up to a helmet with a fresh air plug on the side and you can either just run the fan or you can use the secondary pump to cool the air going into the helmet like A/C. The helmet portion is not really necessary as I don't think anyone could stand to run it all the time, but it is nice on grid or in short blasts. We just filled the cooler with ice up to the top then filled the leftover space with water. Lasted all day long through practice, qualifying and race and just sitting there baking in the hot sun. He says he's spoiled now and could not live without it.