Hey Anthony, engine oil is SUPPOSED to be warm, there is sort of an optimal range to keep it in, which is why people let cars warm up in the winter sometimes. So running cold engine oil through an oil cooler can actually be harmful, or at least take much longer for the oil to reach operating temperature. A thermostatic adapter keeps the flow to the cooler closed (bypassed) when it's not yet at operating temperature, and then opens up when it is. For this reason, we usually recommend thermostatic adapters for street-driven cars, whereas normal full-flow adapters are usually fine on track cars.

Hey John, no they don't require a special filter

Hi Minh, these continue to use the stock oil filters.