Cooling Shirts

So, I'm looking into Cool Shirt and other personal cooling systems for racing in the California summer heat. Wanting input.

I'm planning to get Carbon X long underwear, and noticed that Cool Shirt has a Carbon-X long sleeved shirt with all the cooling tubing. Debating whether to go with one item, or two separate ones. Or will that just get in the way? They also have a model that also has a hood to cool your head under a helmet too. Looks nifty.

What about competing brands though? I've noticed this new 986 Pro-Shirt that's getting advertised in GRM. It is more expensive. I'm more concerned though that it's made of polyester, and Polyester+Fire=Bad. They do have a flame retardant version being released in February.

Also, what about crafting up your own cooler and pump? How many of you have done that? I've heard it's pretty easy and saves a bunch of money over buying one of Cool Shirt's fancy systems.

So... suggestions? Advice? Experiences? Thanks.

I have used the cool shirt at all of the lemons races I have run. I use the regular shirt with a Nomex shirt under it. Otherwise the cool shirt is almost too cold. I don't think I could run a summer event with out one though. The heat just kills me. We have used one of the other drivers coolers for the lemons races. It's on my list of things to do to build one. It can't be that hard.

This has been discussed over at specmiata.com. Check out this link to see how to do it yourself.

http://specthismiata.com/2008/08/03/homemade-cool-shirt-system/

Toyman01 wrote: I have used the cool shirt at all of the lemons races I have run. I use the regular shirt with a Nomex shirt under it. Otherwise the cool shirt is almost too cold. I don't think I could run a summer event with out one though. The heat just kills me. We have used one of the other drivers coolers for the lemons races. It's on my list of things to do to build one. It can't be that hard.

Are fire retardant shirts supposed to fit skin tight? Or more loosely?

The new brand with bladders instead of the clunky cooling tubes in the Cool Shirt are much more comfortable and do quite a bit better job.

Also my experience with Cool Shirt's customer service has been less than stellar.

I need to build a system like this....

I wonder if you could run the lines into your seat? Or would your race suit insulate too much that it wouldn't be felt?

Salanis wrote:

Toyman01 wrote: I have used the cool shirt at all of the lemons races I have run. I use the regular shirt with a Nomex shirt under it. Otherwise the cool shirt is almost too cold. I don't think I could run a summer event with out one though. The heat just kills me. We have used one of the other drivers coolers for the lemons races. It's on my list of things to do to build one. It can't be that hard.

Are fire retardant shirts supposed to fit skin tight? Or more loosely?

??? I don't know for sure. I bought all of my stuff in my normal sizes including my cool shirt. I put the cool shirt over the nomex because with the cool shirt next to my skin it was like getting ice water dumped over my head. Almost enough to make you gasp.

Toyman01 wrote:

Salanis wrote: Are fire retardant shirts supposed to fit skin tight? Or more loosely?

??? I don't know for sure. I bought all of my stuff in my normal sizes including my cool shirt. I put the cool shirt over the nomex because with the cool shirt next to my skin it was like getting ice water dumped over my head. Almost enough to make you gasp.

A brief search seems to indicate they're supposed to be skin tight. I wear either medium or large in t-shirts; depends on how I want it to fit.

I built my own cool shirt using that info on spec miata.

The only issue I have is that it can a long time to prime.

Here is an alternative:

http://www.coolvest.com/RPCM_Cooling_Vest/RPCM_Concealable_Cool_Vest.aspx

I use this in the Texas heat and it works pretty well. I went this way because I didn't want a another "system" to deal with in the car. Our races are typically no more than 20 minutes long, so it works fine. The downside is that they are bulky. I only put the gel packs in the front of the vest, otherwise they interfere with my seating. That also allows me to keep a gel pack set in the cooler at all times, since I rotate them.

The biggest help was buying a new suit this year. The old one was a G-Force PBI/Kevlar suit that was like wearing a snowmobilie suit in the middle of summer. The new one is a Pyrotech that was specifically designed for hot weather. It is more like wearing a wool union suit compared to the full snowsuit. Not near as hot, and I can feel the breezes running through it as I drive (open car). Big difference.

Okay, I'm dragging this back from the dead. I just sold some stuff and have some money to play with. I'm trying to decide on what to go with. I have decided that I will buy, not sew, a shirt. I have not decided whether to buy or build a cooler.

F.A.S.T. seems to be the cheapest system, at $400 for the whole thing, or only $140 for the shirt.

986 looks great, but is pricey$$$ Benefit is, I could take advantage of their discount for the first racer in a series in a region to buy their system. That still puts it at about $700-$800.

The idea of a cooling vest is nice too, since that's less for me to worry about. Also would be nice to be able to put it on no matter what vehicle I'm in.

Does anyone have experience trying different systems? Although 986 seems like it would be more efficient, but I regularly hear about tube systems being more than enough cooling.

My current gut check is a F.A.S.T. shirt with a home-made cooler.

I have a cool shirt that uses canned refrigerant. I bought it from Speedway Motors. There is no bulky cooler to deal with and it adds almost no weight. You press the top of the can to discharge the coolant as you need/want it. It has worked fine for me in my E Prod RX7(very hot inside). IIRC the cost was about $200 and the cans of coolant are about $11 from Speedway. I'm betting you can find the cans cheaper elswhere.

Salanis wrote: Okay, I'm dragging this back from the dead. I just sold some stuff and have some money to play with. I'm trying to decide on what to go with. I have decided that I will buy, not sew, a shirt. I have not decided whether to buy or build a cooler. F.A.S.T. seems to be the cheapest system, at $400 for the whole thing, or only $140 for the shirt. 986 looks great, but is pricey$$$ Benefit is, I could take advantage of their discount for the first racer in a series in a region to buy their system. That still puts it at about $700-$800. The idea of a cooling vest is nice too, since that's less for me to worry about. Also would be nice to be able to put it on no matter what vehicle I'm in. Does anyone have experience trying different systems? Although 986 seems like it would be more efficient, but I regularly hear about tube systems being more than enough cooling. My current gut check is a F.A.S.T. shirt with a home-made cooler.

We have worked with F.A.S.T, 986 and Coolshirt in the past. Both F.A.S.T and Coolshirt are reputable companies making good products:

F.A.S.T. http://www.freshairsystems.com

Coolshirt
http://www.coolshirt.net

In either case, make sure you let them know you are a GRM reader, and a regular on our message board.

sachilles wrote: I wonder if you could run the lines into your seat? Or would your race suit insulate too much that it wouldn't be felt?

I've never heard of this happening, but I do know that OMP makes versions of their WRC Carbon seat and I believe one of their roadrace seats that has the halo support for the head that has forced ventilation built in (corrugated air pipe going to a fitting on the back of the seat and ventilation holes in the shell of the seat to get some cool air going), and if you didn't mind hacking into a FIA or SFI certified seat and probably making that certification null and void, you could build something very similar with some aluminum plating, a TIG welder, a 1/4" drill that wouldn't eat itself drilling repeatedly into aluminum, just build something that looked a lot like a ventilated range hood on the back of the seat, drill a bunch of holes in the back of the seat to allow ventilation, and run some sort of an AC hose to the back of the seat, only problem is then you have to either run the AC pump off the engine (robs power whenever the AC kicks on) or off of an electric motor (extra weight and wiring) and devise some way to either have the pump come on automatically or to make it relatively easy to flick the AC on. and there's the obvious problem of screwing up the certification for the seat if you don't want to fork out for the OMP seat

In reply to Joe Gearin:

My name is Bruce Baker and I am the Racing Director for Cool Shirt and the folks at GRM have offered me the opportunity to answer some of the questions posed here and I will try to be as honest as I can.

I would encourage anyone thinking about building their own system to buy a shirt and not try and make it themselves. We have custom sewing machines that allow us to avoid puncturing the tubing, further we have developed a special, non-kink tubing that allows you to cinch your belts down tight without worry of cutting off the water flow. If, however you choose to build your own cooler and need fittings and/or hoses, please give us a call and we would be glad to help you with that. Remember that Cool Shirt hoses will fit FAST shirts but FAST fittings will not work on Cool Shirt shirts.

The canned refrigerant cooling from Speedway Motors is from Cool Shirt and while it will give a feeling of cooling, it does not actually cool the core. A can will typically last about 45 minutes.

The cooling vest using gel packs is also available from Cool Shirt. Customers tell us that they become very cold where the gel packs are and still warm everywhere else. They are also bulky and heavy and once the gel or ice packs have melted, they tend to trap heat making them even more uncomfortable.

The bladder based 986 shirts use a water wicking material which some folks like and the large bladder does provide a larger surface area that some feel get too cold. We have heard about racers in Japan using this system and found that upon acceleration the back bladder was compressed to the point that water flow was disrupted and it got hot. Something else to consider is that if your system should fail you will have a large piece of plastic bladder to trap heat under your driving suit.

Someone mentioned a problem with being tethered and our solution to that is a “safety pull release” fitting that can be disconnected by a quick tug on the hose. This would be particularly useful if you need to exit a car quickly during an emergency and forgot to disconnect your hose.

Earlier in the thread the Carbon-X shirt was discussed. Cool Shirt is currently offering an alternative, Firewear shirt. Firewear also has an SFI rating and is much more comfortable than Carbon-X or Nomex.

We will be introducing some new products at PRI and would encourage anyone to stop by our booth if you are considering a driver cooling system. If you have other questions or wish to discuss ideas for building your own cooler, please give me a call and I will be glad to offer suggestions to the best of my ability.