If your car is right on the edge of its minimum weight, or you can’t bear the expense of a full-blown driver cooling system, or maybe you just don’t feel you need one, the Phase Change Cooling Vest Powered by Hyperkewl is a viable alternative to combatting heat inside a racecar.
It’s not connected to the car so there’s one less thing to remove in an emergency exit. The vest uses cool pack sleeves that you chill in your refrigerator or cooler you bring to the track. The vest comes with four cool packs that slip into pockets in the vest in the front and back, although drivers might not want to place the packs in the back of the vest so they can sit flat against their seat.
The ”phase change” material in the cool packs contains a lighter-than-water, nontoxic, carbon-based liquid, which freezes at 58 degrees Fahrenheit and holds that temperature for two to three hours. That makes them suitable for sprints and enduro stints. The vest is made from quilted nylon with the trademarked HyperKewl PLUS fabric interior. It zips up in the front to secure it to your body and you can wear it over or under your Nomex underwear. TechNiche also offers a vest made with Nomex fabric for additional fire protection. Available in blue, black and silver — and yes, it really works. $207.32 at time of publication.
Use the discount code NASA2022 for a 20 percent savings.
