RACING

3M

Nextel

ceramic textiles keep cockpit temperatures down for race car drivers

SHIFT article, Heat Stopper - 17950 Stopper Heat

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bout the last thing a driverwants to worry about in the middle of a NASCAR race is burned feet or heatexhaustion. Yet both can be big prob- lems. Drivers routinely face ambient cockpit temperatures of 115°F or more and floorboards hot enough to boil water.Most of the heat comes from red-hotexhaust collectors located inches away from the footwell. Without effective protection, says Kevin Lepage, driver of Roush Racing’s No. 16 NASCAR Winston Cup car, “There’s nothing you can do in a race but burn up.”Fortunately, Lepage and his team think they’ve found a cure. It’s 3M™Nextel™ thermal barriers, a lightweight ceramic textile that effectively blocks heat before it gets into the vehicle. Used to keep the space shuttle’s tile “skin” cool during orbital reentry, the material is widely used in the aerospace industry to shield components against heat and flame from such sources as jet engines.Lepage was impressed with thematerial, installed on his car for the NASCAR Winston Cup finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway last fall. He credits the Nextel thermal barriers for shielding his right heel, burned repeat- edly in several previous races. “It was a problem getting it to heal up,” Lepagesays. “We’d tried several materials, but this one worked best. I didn’t have any heat problems at all in Atlanta.”Exhaust headers aren’t the onlysource of heat problems for NASCAR drivers. Their cars also soak up heat from the track surface (typically at 120°F) and dry sump oil tank behind the aluminum driver’s seat (about 280°F). A sunny day also dials up the cabin temperature. And as vehicle aerodynamics improve, available air flow inside the cockpit drops off.“Basically, you’re sitting in anoven,” confirms Randy MacDonald,

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