Driver cooling in a autocross car.

The hot season is upon us unfortunately. The Abomination is fixing to be a very uncomfortable place to be. I did a lot of insulating to keep some of the heat out of the drivers compartment, but now it's time for active driver cooling.

I'm thinking about a variation of the cool suit. Call it a cool seat. Rather than hoses that have to be disconnected every time you want to exit the vehicle, I'm thinking about running the cool lines through the seat and maybe also a loop down the belts.

Tell me why this won't work. Or why it will.

Subbed. Relevant to my project.

And maybe my daily.

That's a pretty good idea.

I'm thinking seat-back vs. seat-base.

Are you wearing a suit? Will it be too thick to get any of the cooling off of the seat?

Chadeux wrote: Are you wearing a suit? Will it be too thick to get any of the cooling off of the seat?

I think he's more of a Tuxedo guy.

For autocross, I wear shorts and a moisture wicking shirt.

I've ordered enough stuff to do the back and the bottom if necessary. I'm hoping to have it built and installed by Sunday's autocross.

Ok then I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't work then.

It's been done before for a LeMons car, by someone on this board. Like you said, same as a cool shirt, but the tubing runs under the surface of the seat.

Yup. Just do a build thread when you do it. Cool seat + shade when in the paddock and you should be able to remain quite comfortable.

I've read about a few chump/lemons teams that tried that. It works okay, but not as good as a cool suit. I think I read that it was about 50% as effective. Honestly, for an autocross run, that's probably good enough :)

Hmm... What about implementing one of those fancy ventilated seats? Blowing some air through the seat from under you would likely do quite a bit to cool things down. If you can live with a little weight gain, that could even be air conditioned...

Hate to sound rude, but honestly I'd just say suck it up buttercup. It's autox, you're going to be in the car for a matter of minutes, and the run itself is what...30 seconds, 60 seconds? You're also probably not wearing a driving suit, so you can wear shorts and a t-shirt.

I know some teams in LeMons that have done what you mentioned and had decent success, but not "great". I wouldn't put anything in the harness, I'd be worried about getting tangled or the lines pinching.

Even if you did that, do you really want to put something like a cooler full of ice water in the car, especially in autox? Remember, autox is a lot of quick left, right, left, one after the other. You're going to get an awful lot of sloshing around. It shouldn't spill in the car, but still could be distracting.

Really, I'd just hydrate and deal with it. Way back when, I used to autox my FFR Cobra in the middle of Philly summers. It was hot...351W engine with little cabin insulation and exhaust right next to the doors. I'd stay in the shade as long as I could, and once when I was really hot, just kept an umbrella with me that I'd hand off right before I was getting ready for my run.

Toyman01 wrote: For autocross, I wear shorts and a moisture wicking shirt. I've ordered enough stuff to do the back and the bottom if necessary. I'm hoping to have it built and installed by Sunday's autocross.

If you already ordered the parts, why did you ask us if it would work?

Useful or not - Saab and maybe some other people had air conditioned seats. Might be worth looking into.

My main concern with all of this is gonna be added weight.

In reply to Klayfish:

I've been sucking it up for a lot of years, I'm past that point in my life.

Our run groups are usually around two hours of sitting in hell's chariot. 2nd degree burns off of the transmission tunnel are common. The summer months are 95+ degrees and 95+% humidity and the modified classes always run in the hottest part of the day. Since I have the ability to make it moderately comfortable, why wouldn't I.

Yes, I really want a cooler of ice and water in the car. Sloshing being distracting won't be a problem. Have you ever driven a uncorked rotary at 6K rpms and up. You can't hear yourself think, much less anything else.

In reply to z31maniac:

I'm reasonably certain it will work, I'm just hoping some of you had already tackled this issue and had some pointers.

Thanks for reminding me of why I want to stay in Street Prepared with a car that has functioning A/C.

Go get yourself a trailer roof vent, the little aluminum popup ones, and make a small vent somewhere else for the air to escapr. Install roof vent right above your head so the air hits your face. Boom, nice 20* or more cabin temp reduction.

Gaunt596 wrote: Go get yourself a trailer roof vent, the little aluminum popup ones, and make a small vent somewhere else for the air to escapr. Install roof vent right above your head so the air hits your face. Boom, nice 20* or more cabin temp reduction.

I think his car would be quite difficult to put a roof vent in.

Most of the cheaper "A/C" seat are actually just a blower that pushes air through the seat foam. I rigged one up in my DD car and love it. The blower is a straight 12v and ground with a switch. The blower is only a pound or two.

There are more elaborate seat cooling systems with components that actually do some cooling, but probably not necessary for this project.

I think your idea will work wonderfully with the clothes you are wearing. You are at worst 1 layer away from the cold source in your upper body and that layer will likely be wet from sweat to help with transfer (at least in your lower back).

Have you considered an easily stowable shade source (like an umbrella) to have over you while you sit in the car waiting for your run?

Want a wacky idea? Use a Peltier devices (Thermo-Electric Cooler (TEC)) and just remember to heat sink the hot side or they'll die quickly. You could even use the water cooled heat exchangers for CPUs and run it to an external radiator. Run everything off of 12v.

Toyman01 wrote: In reply to Klayfish: I've been sucking it up for a lot of years, I'm past that point in my life. Our run groups are usually around two hours of sitting in hell's chariot. 2nd degree burns off of the transmission tunnel are common. The summer months are 95+ degrees and 95+% humidity and the modified classes always run in the hottest part of the day. Since I have the ability to make it moderately comfortable, why wouldn't I. Yes, I really want a cooler of ice and water in the car. Sloshing being distracting won't be a problem. Have you ever driven a uncorked rotary at 6K rpms and up. You can't hear yourself think, much less anything else.

Damn! Maybe autox has changed a lot over the years since I've done it. I don't ever recall sitting in the car for more than maybe 10 minutes at a stretch. We didn't get in the car until it was relatively shortly before it was our turn to go....there were maybe 10 cars in line at a given time. Never sat in the car for 2 hours at autox, that's for sure.

If you're really sitting in the car that long with the engine running and no chance to get out, then just do a proper cooling system. Don't know if this is legal in autox, but in LeMons we all have cool shirts. They aren't that expensive. It's the cool box that's really expensive. We have an Igloo cooler that has a small bilge pump mounted at the bottom, and we strap it securely into the passenger side of the car. Works great, I love it.

I know the burn on the legs feeling...I burned my calf once or twice getting out of the Cobra.

Haven't driven an uncorked rotary, but raced next to one many times. Loud isn't the word I'd use...hearing loss guaranteed is a better description.

It's been a long time since I've been forced to auto-x a car without AC.