When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
My new racecar had it's 1st race weekend as the shakedown. It was totally clean not a speck of dirt on it. After the race I really noticed the layer of muck dirt residue on my once pristine clean dash. We have to be breathing that muck. Has anyone thought about what nasty stuff we might be breathing? Is there a way to filter the air we breath? When I pull the headsock up over my nose with visor down my glasses fog so that does me no good. Anyone else have solutions?
The fine dust is likely a mixture of brake pad dust and rubber. A tight-knit balaclava tucked into your shirt and the visor down is all you can do. Make sure your top helmet vents are open (fogging)
If you autopsy the lungs of someone who lived in NYC they look like someone who smoked every day.
When you think about the amount of time we are actually in our cars out on track breathing that "track air", as a percentage each year, I would say that it is a rounding error.
If you autopsy the lungs of someone who lived in NYC they look like someone who smoked every day.
When you think about the amount of time we are actually in our cars out on track breathing that "track air", as a percentage each year, I would say that it is a rounding error.
If you saw dust on the dash, did you then blow your nose. The snot would indicate if you were breathing in the dust.
My new racecar had it's 1st race weekend as the shakedown. It was totally clean not a speck of dirt on it. After the race I really noticed the layer of muck dirt residue on my once pristine clean dash. We have to be breathing that muck. Has anyone thought about what nasty stuff we might be breathing? Is there a way to filter the air we breath? When I pull the headsock up over my nose with visor down my glasses fog so that does me no good. Anyone else have solutions?
I use an air blower with filter attached to helmet top air inlet and drive with visor down of course. Collects air from naca Duct in quarter window. I also have it piped thru my coolbox to cool the air to hemet.There are similar systems the off road guys use.
Last edited by wellcoached; 01-17-2023 at 10:08 AM.
If you saw dust on the dash, did you then blow your nose. The snot would indicate if you were breathing in the dust.
Next, you're going to tell me the wax in my ear does the same thing.
I was cutting brake rotors and drums in my teen years and then worked demolition construction in NYC in the late 80s - not a mask in sight at either place. The mesothelioma commercials sometime concern me and I have had my chest x-rayed. I worry more about stuff that happened to me 30 years ago rather than grime at the track.
Originally Posted by 177mph
As I head into the bus stop at 150, hoping the brakes, tires, and suspension hold, I often think - "but is the air going to hurt my lungs?"
I think you are confusing piloting an aircraft with driving a race car. That quote has nothing to do with air quality, but rather the decisions you make while piloting an aircraft.
If all the air I've breathed while racing turns out to be bad for me, I figure that I'd rather die at 74 having had some fun driving, than passing away at 84, in much better health, having done nothing.
01-16-2023, 11:18 AM
What's going in our lungs?
