SUPERCARS has acted on the hottest topic in the category, swinging a change to its driver cooling rules.
Brodie Kostecki and Thomas Randle were both subbed out of the Sunday action at the Darwin Triple Crown, the former succumbing to illness and the latter exhibiting delayed symptoms relating to a Race 18 cool suit failure on the Saturday. Their respective absences sparked cameo appearances from Todd Hazelwood and Mark Winterbottom.
Cameron Hill then battled a cool suit failure in the Sunday contest.
While there has been discussion around the 33-degree temperature threshold that triggers mandatory monitoring of cool suit and helmet fan systems and whether that figure is too high, Supercars has another particular concern in its sights.
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From Perth, it will be mandatory for drivers to have a means of unplugging their cool suit and draining fluid should circumstances arise where they experience a cool suit failure.
The regulation will be “highly recommended” but not compulsory for the upcoming Townsville 500.
“Irrespective of predicted temperature, any Driver Cooling System used in any race which supplies a flow of fluid to the Driver’s cool suit vest must be fitted with a suitable mechanism, capable of discharging the fluid from the cool suit vest if the system fails in operation,” the updated rule reads.
Pic: Ross Gibb
Triple Eight driver Will Brown recently spoke to how a malfunctioning cool suit is actually worse on the driver than not wearing one in the first place.
“The cool suit is just so counterproductive when it fails because it’s not like wearing no cool suit, it’s like wearing a hot shirt,” he said via the Lucky Dogs Podcast.
The Townsville 500 will take place across July 10-12, with the Perth Super440 scheduled for July 31-August 2.