quest for race pilot's equipment...

[Gibbs]

Hi folks,

I'm not so familiar with race pilot's equipment, so the question: for what is the black bag (?) (or cap?...) with this flexible tubes on Steven's breast - as seen on many photos or here in the interview:

http://www.liveairshowtv.com/video.php?vid=94

Gibbs

[kiwiracefan]

Re: quest for race pilot's equipment...

Hi folks,

I'm not so familiar with race pilot's equipment, so the question: for what is the black bag (?) (or cap?...) with this flexible tubes on Steven's breast - as seen on many photos or here in the interview:

http://www.liveairshowtv.com/video.php?vid=94

Gibbs

they are for the pilots cool suit, with most of the top gold contenders quest to cut drag down, the ductings for cockpit cooling get sealed off and its tough work in the cockpit racing so keeping the pilot cool is a big ask, kinda like the cool suits some race car drivers wear, it will be fed via dry ice or such with water pumping around the suit to keep the driver cool

[Gibbs]

Re: quest for race pilot's equipment...

ah yep, thanks kiwiracefan!

I remember, similar like this also can be seen on videos from inside NASCAR cockpits.

Gibbs

[SkyvanDelta]

Re: quest for race pilot's equipment...

There are a lot of blood vessels and surface area near the surface of the skin in the scalp, hands and feet. The cold water in the skull cap helps cool the blood. The scalp is the most practical area to cool as compared to the hands/feet. I also believe they make vests for the torso that do the same thing. Lots of small tubes connected to a source of cold water and a pump sewn inside a shirt or skull cap.

I vaguely remember hearing from back in the Apollo Astronaut days, that you can fool the body to thinking that it's cooler than it really is by cooling the scalp/brain area. I believe they wore them.

Just found an interesting fact about cooling the body:

• Using cold air on your head or an ice cold towel on the back of your neck is only sending perceived cooling input to your brain from you hypothalamus gland. This is not truly reducing your core body temperature.
• Cool water transfers body heat 28 times faster than cold air.
• In order to cool the human body, you must cool the blood by contacting at least 30% or more of the skin surface with cool water, not ice water.

from here: http://www.hrpworld.com/client_image...ader/849_3.pdf

[FuryFan]

Re: quest for race pilot's equipment...

Oohhhhhh, I thought those lines hooked up to a bota bag......you know, enjoy a little vino while cruisin' the sticks......

Kevin