Motor racing cooling strategies for drivers 🏁🧊
Which is most effective?
Driver Cooling Strategies to Mitigate Heat Illness in Motorsports: Physiological Impacts and Recommendations
Study Details
This new study recruited physically fit participants to complete 6 x 60-min heat chamber cycling trials (32°C, 80% RH) whilst wearing full fire-protective racing gear 🧯
The conditions were as follows…
1️⃣ Cool shirt
2️⃣ Helmet blower (ambient)
3️⃣ Helmet blower (cold)
4️⃣ Suit blower (ambient)
5️⃣ Suit blower (cold)
6️⃣ Control (no cooling)
Key Findings
After 60-mins the best cooling methods (as assessed by skin temperature) were…
🥇 Suit blower (cold) = 34.85℃
🥈 Cool shirt = 37.99℃
🥉 Helmet blower (cold) = 38.71℃
👉 Control = 39.74℃
For core temperature measures the best methods were…
🥇 Suit blower (cold) = 37.51℃
🥈 Helmet blower (cold) = 38.05℃
🥉 Control = 38.32℃
👉 Cool shirt = 38.58℃
Conclusion
The most effective strategy for mitigating thermal strain are suit blowers with cold air, with helmet blowers also offering significant benefits 💨✅
Cool shirts may be useful but provide limited additional benefit ❄️
Reference
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41774482/
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