NASA SoCal racer Viktor Czapla was driving in a race at Buttonwillow in his Nissan 350Z — before purchasing the Audi R8 we covered in 2019 — in typically hot summer weather. As he emerged from his car after the race feeling a bit light-headed, he started looking into driver cooling systems.
“I think it was like 105 or something outside or maybe even more. It was just excruciatingly hot,” Czapla said. “And I usually like to go in the sauna. I like it hot. I never minded it. But then at that race I came out, I was like, ‘Ooh, that was a little too much.’”
Because he didn’t want to use a big, bulky cooler, he experimented by making smaller versions of ice-based cooling systems, but they didn’t last the full duration of a race. He then tried using Peltier elements, but they also weren’t up to the rigors of racing, so he knew he needed to develop a system with a refrigerant. He settled on 134a.
“We played with other refrigerants, and in the future we might go a different route, but for now it’s 134,” Czapla said. “It’s not flammable, so in the event of a crash or if the system gets punctured for whatever reason, there’s no flaming gases and it’s also not toxic.”
The result is Cool Boxx, a self-contained system that weighs around 13 pounds and draws around 30 amps to run it. The system cools roughly 300 milliliters of water that you pour in the opening under the blue cap. The system adapts to existing cooling shirts via an adapter, but Cool Boxx also offers its own zip-up vest.
Czapla studied mechatronics engineering in his native Germany, so he had the requisite skills to make something excellent. He partnered with a former Spec E46 driver Matthew Rivkin, who is on the business side of the company, so as you can see, Cool Boxx is built by racers for racers.
Cool Boxx also offers an upgraded system, the Cool Boxx EVO, which uses the same equipment, but it is a bit more efficient. The regular Cool Boxx was designed with the amateur racing budget in mind. At the time of publication, the basic Cool Boxx system is priced at $2,999.
“Our machine is pretty much the best on the market right now. There is nothing out there that can sustain a water temperature this low at a temperature that’s going to up to, let’s say, 160 degrees Fahrenheit air temperature,” Czapla said. “And the water temperature would still be in the mid 50s, which there is no machine out there that can even compare.”
ChillOut seems to be a competitor with a similar product. I have two additional race cars to install a cooling system. How do these two brands compare?
Seems like this unit uses way more power than the Chillout. I run the Chillout Quantum Pro model in my TA2 car where it goes up to 140 degrees and it never has a problem. It only draws 13 amps
Cool Boxx was designed to work under extreme heat conditions, that’s why peak amps. can go up to 28-30amps. to keep the water at temperatures below 55F even in a 150F hot cockpit environment for unlimited amounts of time. Under normal temperature conditions
the draw is on average around 15amps. Many Pro Racers that ran both Systems know that Cool Boxx is unbeatable when ambient is over 100F.