ApexPerformance

Cool Shirt has announced it is changing their water shirt tubing to exit from the RIGHT side of the shirt instead of the left. We have a small supply of shirts with left side exit tubing. Otherwise, left exit tubing on shirts can be special ordered which will take approx two weeks.

Also, they are discontinuing the BLUE shirts and replacing with Black so we are phasing out blue shirts we currently have in stock.

The plan is to eventually switch all tubing on all shirt models (nomex, 2Cool, FR, etc) to right side exit and they may add the safety pull release connectors as a standard option on the shirts sometime in 2015 (which makes sense to us for safety purposes. If you exit the car on the left but the tubing is exiting the right side of the shirt, it will pull away easily and not break if you forget about it).

We will confirm with customers on future orders for a while about the tubing changeover prior to processing orders.

Below is a link to all the Cool Shirt accessories or feel free to contact us with questions.

https://www.apexperformance.net/ProdList.asp?scat=308

NaroEscape

any reason they are going to right side tubing?
I see the value if you have a box sitting in the passengers seat area, but:

1) makes it impossible for someone to help you with the connections
2) its not easy to run lines down the middle of the car if you have the cool suit box up front.

ApexPerformance

Totally agree with you - we questioned them this morning why they changed it. They said racers were requesting the tubing on the right side. We don't understand why they made the change for safety purposes, pit crew assistance, hose routing, etc. Think it makes sense to keep them on the left and special order right or turn the shirt inside out if needed with the tubing against your skin.

Another headache for us especially for folks that already poked a hole in their suit pocket to accommodate a left exit shirt and call to order a replacement or backup shirt.

The only way we found out was we had a customer order two shirts, he received one with tubing on left and one with tubing on right. Would have been nice to know ahead of time. Figured we better post something out there to keep everyone informed.

KaiB

Tubing exit on the right also reduces the length available during a bail out when time is not available to disconnect while seated.

surlynkid

I was the customer and was like WTF. Linda has been great about getting it squared away though. I only want left side connections.

StoogeMoe

Just put the shirt on backwards and the tubes move to the other side.

I got to think of everything.

KaiB

DOH!!!

multi21

hahahahaha, fits perfect with your avatar and reminded me of Curly's famous line, "I'm trying to think, but nothing's happening"!

ApexPerformance

Yep. Some customers don't like the tubing against their skin though!

Matt Romanowski

Backwards not inside out.

Vonschmidt

Can you post a link for us to bombard the manufacture. I'm all in favor of progress however in this case our cars are designed to run up the left, my crew hooks and unhook when necessary, I can get in and out of car with the system running, and if god forbid I have to bail the hoses are long enough to get me out not trap me in a car.

Frankly beyond stupid as far as I can see, no advantages unless your cooler is bolted right seat, which is fine but not where we have them. When you have a product people are using that requires plumbing its darn stupid to change it without asking, and giving people notice and frankly a choic.

ApexPerformance

Keep in mind that shirts can be special ordered with the tubing configured on the left. It will not cost more but will delay it for approx two weeks

We, as a dealer, may opt to stock shirts with tubing on the left for our customers. It will just be a matter of having them in stock for customers. We normally have a good supply of shirts but odds are you'll get a customer order a white XL shirt and we only have blue XL.

If anyone would like to contact cool shirt regarding the transition on the shirt configurations, their general email is sales@coolshirt.com

COOLSHIRT_Jeremy

Hello everyone,

Just want to introduce myself and try to answer any questions that you all may have. My name is Jeremy Ellis and I am the new director of Motorsports for COOLSHIRT SYSTEMS. Some of you may be aware that the company changed ownership several months back. Our main goals under new ownership are to make sure that the racers are taken care of and that our product is the very best that we can make it. With that said, we have gone to numerous races lately to get real-world input and one thing kept coming up. Racers would ask why the ports came out on the left side when most of their coolers were mounted on the right side of the car. We took this into consideration and started making the right side ported shirts. With that said, the left side ported shirts are NOT going away. We will still manufacture and stock them. If that is the shirt that you prefer then you will still be able to get it with no delay. We are asking our dealers to specify which side they would like the port on when they place an order because we understand that some customers will still want the left side port. And racers, if you want the port in a specific location we can customize the shirt to place the port anywhere that you desire. This is where the 10 business day (2 week) lead times come into play.

We have been working to upgrade some of the products. We have started with the shirts and coolers. The shirts now have a flat manifold that is much more comfortable to the driver than the old-style square one and it also flows better. The tubing size has been increased 30% for better flow to help cool the core better and the coolers have been upgraded with a new industrial-style pump that is rated for a 15,000 hour life span.

Also new is that all racing shirts and systems will come standard with our quick release fittings. What this means is that if you have to get out the car in a hurry you no longer need to worry about manually disconnecting, no matter what side you have the port. This is a safety feature that we believe is a must in a racing application. No one wants to be tethered to a burning car.
Lastly, we want you to know that the Motorsports division is now headed by racers. We race as much as we can so we understand some of the concerns with safety and the difficulties associated with it. We want to make COOLSHIRTs a racing item that makes you comfortable and alert and helps you WIN races.

If anyone needs anything I can be reached directly at Jeremy@coolshirt.com. We want to keep the same great quality that COOLSHIRT has been known for over the years and make any improvements that can benefit you as a racer. Please let me know if we can help make the product better. We want racer feedback. If we don’t know about a issue then we cannot work to fix it. Thank you all for your support of the COOLSHIRT products.

Thanks,
Jeremy Ellis
Division Director of Motorsports
COOLSHIRT SYSTEMS

ApexPerformance

Great news from Cool Shirt. Glad they listened to our customers and will offer the shirts with either left or right side port access. We'll make sure to update our website to indicate this option on future orders. Also a bonus that the tubing & pumps have been improved & quick release fittings will now be standard going forward!

RickBetterley

Hi Jeremy
Welcome aboard - I bought my first Cool Shirt when we built the new Cayman. The builder encouraged me to include it, I wasn't so sure.
Oh my - what a mistake that would have been. Love the product. Too bad I can't take it with me into my student's cars!