NASCAR cars are some of the most advanced machines on the planet. They’re designed to go fast but do not have a lot of the regular comforts that one can expect from a car. Among the missing features in these 3,000-pound mechanical creatures is air conditioning. With the temperature inside the Next Gen cars falling between 100 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit, how do drivers keep cool?
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One of the first steps towards being able to manage the heat that is generated inside the car is to manage the driver’s body weight. The men behind the wheels are required to be physically fit and undergo severe endurance training. They also wear racing suits made of fire-retardant materials but these suits do not aid much in lower body temperatures.
However, the suits are breathable and help in wicking sweat from the body. Another important measure towards being able to keep the eyes open throughout a race is to take in calories. Drivers drink 20 to 40 ounces of liquid per hour while racing. This totals to around 300 calories an hour according to Xfinity Series driver Landon Cassill. Even then, drivers sweat more water than they take in.
How the Next Gen car and cool shirts help regulate body temperature
Drivers sometimes sport cool shirts, which have piping through them to circulate a fluid that lowers body temperature. Cassill told Fox about its use, “You definitely don’t ever feel cool in the car by any means unless it’s 50, 60 degrees outside. But it does help manage your body temperature.” Apart from the shirt, there are certain mechanisms in the Next Gen car that are designed to keep the ambient temperature low.
First off, there is a hole in the back of a driver’s seat where teams could mount cooling tubes to blow air. Second, there’s an option to place a hose on the car’s side that will pull air from the outside and circulate it inside. Teams seldom opt for this choice since it could mess with the aerodynamics of the vehicle. NASCAR’s Managing Director of Vehicle Systems explained the updates that the Next Gen brought to instill cooler temperatures.
“One of the most visible updates to the car is an aqueduct to ingest cooler ambient air into the cockpit of the car from the windshield,” he said. There is also a matching set of slots towards the rear windshield that can also ingest cooler air from up top. Despite these measures, the ball falls to the driver and their ability to withstand heat at the end of the day.
