Opening a can of worms

[Dan Bennett]

Years ago, I ran across a NASA study on human performance. They found a major effect from temperature, but the only one that seemed to matter in drag racing was heat stress. I've built quite a few computers since then so have lost the file and the original link.


I went over the data with a team I was working with and the driver decided to get a cooling system for the suit and helmet. He was widely ridiculed for being a wimp. And honestly, no real improvement could be verified but that was due imo to the driver and not the system - not naming names, but it wouldn't have mattered.


This is still a thing. A reseacher from Harvard, now at Rutgers, ran a study and found "It turns out even young, healthy college students are affected by high temperatures. During the hottest days, the students in the un-air-conditioned dorms, where nighttime temperatures averaged 79 degrees, performed significantly worse on the tests they took every morning than the students with A.C., whose rooms stayed a pleasant 71 degrees."


A later test "found that just a four-degree increase, which participants described as still feeling comfortable, led to a 10 percent average drop in performance across tests of memory, reaction time and executive functioning." 2 of those factors directly affect drag racing, at the starting line and the finish line.

Yes, your opponent will be racing under the same conditons and no one's body acts exactly the same. But even though people thought I was nuts at the time, I still believe there is a performance advantage to be had.


Just food for thought. Most sportsman budgets are not going to allow a coolsuit system, but everybody can go overboard in making sure they're completely hydrated.


I know a lot of people are sitting there thinking "it's just a part of summer racing and I can handle the heat". You may think you can, but science says it makes you worse. So I'd advise, do what you can and keep this in mind.