The Advantage of a Light-Coloured Uniform

[Websta]

As darker colours heat up quicker and to a higher temperature in sunlight, is there an advantage in having lighter coloured racing suits and uniforms for the mechanics and drivers? I remember Team Lotus / Renault using gold suits instead of the usual black in Malaysia in 2011, I'm not sure if that was because of some promotional stunt or if it was in fact because of the searing heat, but it made me wonder whether McLaren and Mercedes have a minute advantage in this area over teams like Team Lotus and Red Bull. Of course, the mechanics are only in sunlight for a long time when they are preparing the cars on the grid and thereafter only during pit stops for pretty brief periods - but they aren't exactly returning to nice air-conditioned offices afterwards (aside from Yas Marina).

I'm more interested in the drivers. At some circuits when they race at midday, the drivers must be in quite a lot of sunlight for most of the race. I also reckon that the McLaren cockpits would be at least slightly cooler than that of the Lotus or Red Bull cars. If that is the case, surely there would also be an advantage if a driver had a highly reflective helmet, like the chrome McLaren pit-crew helmets? The race helmets must become oven-like at some races. What do you guys think?

[Nando]

As darker colours heat up quicker and to a higher temperature in sunlight

Not always. It´s not the color that decides how fast the paint heats up, it´s something else in the paint, forgot the name of it.

But basically you can get a white car to heat up faster then a black car as crazy as that might sound.

[Richard]

Its the emissivity of the coating that counts. As a general rule, darker colours have higher emissivity.
http://en.wikipedia.orge/wiki/Emissivity

Combinations of coatings that result in phase shifts can emit more heat than they admit like a heat pump, or visa versa. You'll see glazing companies in cold climates advertising coatings that allow solar heat to enter a building but not bounce back out.

[Carbon]

Hmmm, black didn't seem to effect Team Sky's recent performance at Le Tour, and those guys spent hours in the sun each day.

[Cam]

Interesting read on the subject where an experiment was performed and results published. Article is halfway down.

An excellent student experiment about color and heat absorption
Question
Does the amount of thermal energy (heat) produced by a colored fabric after 30 minutes of intense light relate to its position in the spectrum?

http://www.colormatters.com/color-and-heat-absorption

[Cam]

Hmmm, black didn't seem to effect Team Sky's recent performance at Le Tour, and those guys spent hours in the sun each day.

Psychology plays a part as well and can be attributed to why certain people wear very uncomfortable clothing for the sake of fashion and looking good.

[Carbon]

True, but likely not in an event where athletes are asked to perform at the top of their game for close to 3 weeks.

[Cam]

By the looks of it, they have 2 uniforms (or is that another team?), so I'm not sure if they run the entire black one all day everyday for 3 weeks. Also, it's quite lightweight and doesn't cover the entire body. They probably don't even notice.

[NowyszRacing6]

I race karts, and I actually own a black suit and a white suit. Driving a kart you're basically 100% exposed, and I've noticed a little bit of a difference between them. Not too much though. They also have slightly different materials in them, but I'd always go for the potential advantage of staying cooler in the white one. Plus it looks awesome

[Websta]

Its the emissivity of the coating that counts. As a general rule, darker colours have higher emissivity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emissivity

Combinations of coatings that result in phase shifts can emit more heat than they admit like a heat pump, or visa versa. You'll see glazing companies in cold climates advertising coatings that allow solar heat to enter a building but not bounce back out.

That's really interesting stuff, thanks (spent nearly an hour reading about it!)

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2011/04/04/g ... -heidfeld/
According to Renault: “Nick and Vitaly will be using sparkling golden suits on race day in Sepang.

“It’s to allow them to stay a little cooler than they would otherwise be in their traditional black versions. Expect these suits to make several more appearances during the year at the hotter races.”

Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't recall seeing the Lotus drivers in these gold suits at any other races, so it probably made very little difference to the drivers. I am a bit surprised by that actually. Back in highschool, my soccer team had black uniforms that we used to absolutely bake in - so much so that we got them changed to a white jersey. I reckon it was about 3 or 4 degrees cooler. The white uniform was much more breathable as well, perhaps that's why the difference was so great. I am just always surprised when I see professional teams like the NZ and Australian ODI cricket team or some of the Tour De France riders as Carbon mentioned wearing dark uniforms. If it were me, I would always want my athletes to be as comfortable as possible.

[Cold Fussion]

By the looks of it, they have 2 uniforms (or is that another team?), so I'm not sure if they run the entire black one all day everyday for 3 weeks. Also, it's quite lightweight and doesn't cover the entire body. They probably don't even notice.

Cavendish's jersey is that of the world champion, where as Wiggens has the standard Sky Jersey. And yes, every day Team Sky rode wearing full black, apart from when Wigens was wearing yellow as the race leader, and Cavendish rode in his world champions jersey.

[Nando]

It´s not F1 related but Bruno Spengler drives the all matte black BMW in DTM and they had to replace the roof with a white one due to the heat at one event.

But keep in mind it was matte so no coating to reflect anything.

[Richard]

We also have to include evaporation effects, a fabric that rapidly transmits moisture enables evaporative cooling.

[rjsa]

You have two major ways of heat transfer on day to day phenomena: radiation and convection.

Conduction/Convection has to do with the temperature gradient of the body in question and the air surrounding it.

Radiation transfer occurs even in vacuum and that's where colors make a difference. A white body has the lowest radiation heat transfer capability. A black body has the highier capability. That's important to keep in mind the this is valid both ways. A black body will receive heat faster when it's cooler than it's surroundings but it will also give away heat fast when it's hotter than the surroundings.

So the answer is: There is no right choice for all situations. If you are in the shadow and the air really hot a black uniform might keep you cooler. If you are exposed to the sun the white one would be the correct choice.

The classic example against the beliefe that white is cooler is the space shuttle heat shielding. In reentry the shiled is heated up from the friction with the air. Conduction/convection are in fact pumping heat into the shuttle. The only way for the heat to be returned to the environment is radiation. So to maximize this heat exchange the heat shield tiles are black. And they get literally red-hot in the process.

[Ledon Racing]

I've done pitstops in both light and dark race suits in very hot countries and its not the colour thats an issue, its the construction of the suit thats the most important fact for staying cool.

I'm a LMP mech btw, and we have to do a lot more work than the F1 boys in our stops!