I am now a little girl

Kevin Butler · **Posted:** Tue Aug 17, 2010 1:08 am

For the past 3-4 years I've been telling my cool shirt clad colleagues at the track that cool shirts are for little girls.

Tonight I just completed construction of a cool shirt cooler. Shortly after I hooked it up to my just arrived cool shirt. Add an ice maker bin full of ice, water and voila! Cool goodness under a 3 layer fire suit! Truly amazing. I guess I'll have to rescind my previous comments. :wink:

This new system will recieve an endurance race trial this weekend during the Chump Car race at Roebling Road this weekend.

It's a 19 qt marine cool/dry box. After you mount the pump and a baffled protection wall for the pump, it looks like you have room for a gallon jug of ice or maybe something slightly larger.

Since stuffing ice cubes into gallon jugs really sucks, I'm thinking on a couple of old coolers full of dry ice (-100* F). Have 4 jugs for driver rotation and surely by time the 5th round comes up, jug 1 should be refrozen. I'm really sold on the ice jug thing because a) It will last longer than loose ice cubes; b) The jug is too easy to change - no fluid dumping req'd. Just open cooler, swap jugs, add water as necessary.

What other jugs/ice containers have you LeMons, Chump Car folks used? How about my refreezing plan? Any experiences out there you'd care to share?

P.S. The dry ice can also serve as great entertainment in the post race evening hours on Saturday. (Ever put dry ice in a plastic bottle? :twisted:

)

Jason Tower · **Joined:** Wed Jun 11, 2008 3:31 pm **Posts:** 1173

gee i wonder what changed your mind about cool shirts?

WalterHouston · **Posted:** Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:01 am

Several of us have wondered about gender identity issues with you already. :wink:

I was convinced of the value of the cool shirt after only a few minutes on track at our first Lemons event in July. The gallon size ice cubes are the only ones that last. A bag of ice will melt in an hour, but it will be really cold for that hour!

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:02 am

There is no better feeling than being out on track and have the coolshirt pump turn on. Its like a Mr. Freeze for the body.

What we do is freeze 2L Coke bottles and 20 oz Coke bottles, stuff as many as you can in there, then pack crushed ice in to fill in the gaps. The pit stop rules are a bit different for Chump, so you should be able to refresh your ice during a stop (can't for Lemons unless you go back to the garage). We keep the frozen bottles in just a regular cooler.

Do you have a switch to turn the pump on and off? It helps to preserve the ice if you flip it off under caution, VK installed a pimpy pump timer for ours that's on for 15 mins, off for 10.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:06 am

We have learned more than you want to know about a cool shirt system.

The thing with Lemons is you cannot add ice in the hot pits, so the amount of cooling you have better last a long time. Larger cooler = more volume = longer cool time. Hell, the Duff Beer guys used a 96 Quart one in the last race! We started with a 24 quart in the first race, which lasted about 2 hours and graduated to a 48 quart the last race, which lasted almost 8 hours. And yes, I know more ice/water = more weight, but we are talking about a race that runs for 14/24 hours so having the driver not pass out from heat stroke is more important.

As far as the little girl thing, you are probably thinking 20 minute NASA sprint. Ramp that up to a 2 hour stint in Lemons and your philosophy changes pretty quick.

Karl Shultz · **Posted:** Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:59 am

I guess this doesn't apply to the Lemons guys, but for those who have minimum weights to meet, could you use a giant cooler as part of your ballast?

jimpastorius · **Posted:** Tue Aug 17, 2010 9:24 am

Vincent Keene wrote:

As far as the little girl thing, you are probably thinking 20 minute NASA sprint. Ramp that up to a 2 hour stint in Lemons and your philosophy changes pretty quick.

You need to try a sprint race. Trust me, the cool shirt is awesome even for racing.

We actually use EB Ice coolers and pumps...$30 on eBay and they hook right up to the shirts.

Bernie Baake · **Posted:** Tue Aug 17, 2010 9:42 am

Kevin, It's not called being a little girl, it's called finally getting SMART.
I know alot of racers that say they don't need cooling.....until they try one then they're kicking themselves for being so stupid( and uncomfortable) for so long.

steve remchak · **Posted:** Tue Aug 17, 2010 9:54 am

and they are a great cure for the nagging effects from the festivities of the evening before the race. :lol:

i drove the midnight to 2 AM stint without mine thinking it would be cool enough. never again.

also , Kevin be damned sure it doesn't leak. we got pulled in twice at CMP because we were dropping fluid from our cooler.

WalterHouston · **Posted:** Tue Aug 17, 2010 1:32 pm

Quote:

Kevin be damned sure it doesn't leak. we got pulled in twice at CMP because we were dropping fluid from our cooler

That would be my bad. :oops:

Sean O'Connell · **Posted:** Tue Aug 17, 2010 2:08 pm

i think some type of switching device is a must. be it a fancy timer like VK used or the toggle switch we wired up for the last race. with the ability to turn it on only when you need it the ice will last much longer. i liked to turn it on occasionally when i needed a relief.

WalterHouston · **Posted:** Tue Aug 17, 2010 3:45 pm

Sean O'Connell wrote:

i think some type of switching device is a must. be it a fancy timer like VK used or the toggle switch we wired up for the last race. with the ability to turn it on only when you need it the ice will last much longer. i liked to turn it on occasionally when i needed a relief.

My fat @$$ had it on the whole time! VK (aka LED gadget Jedi Mater) love to fabricate cool stuff. We had a toggle switch in our car.

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Tue Aug 17, 2010 4:03 pm

WalterHouston wrote:

VK (aka LED gadget Jedi Mater) love to fabricate cool stuff.

I'm telling you right now, if the Prelude does another night race you will be able to see us from the MOON!!!

Kevin Butler · **Posted:** Tue Aug 17, 2010 4:55 pm

The box I got has an o-ring seal. In the Chump Car we have an on/off switch. In my Spec E30, I'll probably rig a dimmer switch to control the flow rate.

Stuff like Cool Shirt systems, Fire systems don't technically count as ballast, but help you to make Min Weight. If you have scales (which I now do) you can strategically locate Cooler, Fire systems to your advantage. In my case, the location of the max 125 lbs ballast is specified.

Next project will be a water cooled cup - Kool Nutz. It'll protect you from the 5-7 straps plus keep the boys kool.

steve remchak · **Posted:** Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:21 pm

Dude. a cool cup? didn't you learn your lesson after the infamous Gold-Bond Menthol incident of 2006? drop your junk already and just go racing. :twisted:

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