dogger15

After reading the recent posts on in-car fire threats, I'm rethinking
my plan to use an off-the-shelf portable cooling vest like the
Veskimo.

I thought it would be nice to have a portable for use during driver
training so I could concentrate more on learning instead of how
hot I am. Unfortunately, the Veskimo looks to be constructed of
a vinyl like material, hardly what you want next to your skin in a
fire.

I know there are several companies marketing Nomex cool shirts
for in-car systems. Does anybody know if a portable system can
be had with a Nomex shirt, or if a Nomex style shirt can be
adapted to a portable system?

ExMB

Apexperformance

LuigiVampa

Traqgear had an awesome coolshort as well as a portable cooling device.

Gary R.

Keep in mind that is a cotton shirt and it will burn easily but at least not melt into your skin.

I'm all for being protected, but there is some serious fear mongering going on here lately with fire protection. Wear a single layer suit or better, NO synthetic material anywhere, and you will be 99.9% better protected than 99.999% of all DE driver's that have ever driven on a track. I would love to know what the data is on # of fires vs. number of cars driven at DE's since day one. I bet cooking has a higher incidence of serious burns.

nxfedlt1

agreed. I'm also in the oil business, and there was big push for FR clothing for the guys on rigs in the last boom. We had more issues with dehydration than we ever did before FR started showing up. Just remember, everything is a cause/effect, so you need to be more on top of your personal conditioning if you're going to stay in FR in the heat.

That said, I am still an advocate of FR. The army banned the "under armor" / moisture wicking type clothing because of the fire hazard and the fact they promote dehydration from preventing or minimizing your body's natural cooling mechanism...sweat.

Be responsible about it. Measure your own risks.

dogger15

Perfect! Looks like both companies offer nice solutions.
With the Apex cotton shirt, I could wear it under my Nomex undershirt
and still have four layers of protection between a fire and the cotton.
With the Traqgear, it looks like that system will work with a Nomex
cool shirt so I can replace my Nomex undershirt with the cool shirt.

I bet you're right judging from some of the responses I've read from folks
just now buying driving suits after many years of DEs. Unfortunately, I've
been in a flash fire (ex fighter pilot), and I don't take any short cuts when
it comes to safety anymore. I plan to race my car so I might as well get
used to wearing all the mandated safety gear from the start.

Good point, and a good reason to incorporate some kind of cooling device
into your gear.

Thanks for the help, guys.

ajcjr

I use a coolture vest before i bet in the car to lower body temp. Always wear my nomex, i shake my head when i see guys with t shirts on under the firesuit.

RJFabCab

The Veskimo is a rubber sealed plastic container with a pump and freestyle wiring wrapped in an Igloo zip bag. The lithium packs last forever.

The Veskimo 'vest' is not FR, but all you need to do is make an adapter to Coolshirt ends and hook up to an SFI Traqgear shirt.