The championship has warned teams of the impending change to the regulations which will be in place from the Hidden Valley event onwards.
Driver welfare was thrust into the spotlight at this year’s Sydney 500 season opener when Broc Feeney, Will Brown and David Reynolds suffered malfunctioning cool suits.
Brown and Reynolds were both admitted to the medical centre in the aftermath, while the former was again required to attend medical after a similar failure at Taupo.
Previously, Supercars rules required “one or more” of the three stated cooling methods (helmet air, seat air and cool suit) to be operational when the ambient forecast is above 32.9 degrees.
As detailed in the below updated regulation sent to teams this week, both the helmet air and cool suit will be mandatory when the heat policy is active.
A specific temperature requirement is now also in play, replacing the previous policy requiring “a temperature lower than the ambient temperature surrounding the car”.
“The driver’s cooling system must be able to reduce the driver’s body core temperature using both methods listed below operating independently of each other,” reads the updated rule.
“A) Supplying a constant stream of air to the driver’s helmet at a temperature lower than 25°C, monitored and recorded by the systems in accordance with Rule C15.
“b) Supply a flow of water to the driver’s cool suit vest at a temperature lower than 25°C, monitored and recorded by the systems in accordance with Rule C15.”
Rule C15 details the operation of the sensors on the cars that allow Supercars officials to monitor temperate readings in real time.
No teams were deemed to have breached the rules following the dramatic scenes at the end of the Sunday race in Sydney.
Team 18, however, was fined $1000 for not having any cooling system operational during Anton De Pasquale’s pole-winning run in the Top 10 Shootout.
With the team having elected not to run a cool suit for the single lap, there had been no secondary system in play when the car’s cool air stream failed to work.
Supercars can force a team to pit a car if its driver cooling systems are not working, as it did with Cam Waters at the 2019 Adelaide 500.
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