Track/Performance Data Acquisition | FerrariChat

Track/Performance Data Acquisition

Discussion in 'Tracking & Driver Education' started by lashss, Oct 8, 2016.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

  1. lashss

    lashss F1 Rookie

    Nov 26, 2003
    2,564
    DC
    Full Name:
    LSJ
    #1 lashss, Oct 8, 2016
    I want to record data to test new parts and setup changes.

    Besides investing in a full scale professional data recording system, what else is out there for more casual weekend monitoring?

    I remember the G Analyst and Vericom VC200 from the old days and then the Gtech from the early 2000s.

    I know there are phone apps now that can do a lot of the same functions.

    Are the Gtech era devices any good? Are they worth the $25-50 they are getting on ebay and Clist?

    Are the phone apps better?

    I would like a reasonably accurate but supremely precise solution.

    So, I'm not totally concerned about the solution showing 0.92g if my car actually does 0.90 but I would like to know if setup changes increased or decreased by the correct amount of g.

    And, yes, the clock would be the best way to tell if something works or not! :)

    This would be for the odd Sunday afternoon when you are tinkering with ideas.

    LSJ
     
  2. ProCoach

    ProCoach F1 Veteran
    Owner

    Sep 15, 2004
    5,465
    VIR Raceway
    Full Name:
    Peter Krause
    #2 ProCoach, Oct 9, 2016
    Oh, my goodness!

    I STILL have a gAnalyst kicking around, but that was the best there was in 1987-88!

    When you say you want "a reasonably accurate but supremely precise solution," that rules out the phone apps, IMO. Reliability issues plague those apps, too. I think the GTech's are old tech, too and not worth the $35-$50 on eBay, unless that is your budget...

    IMO, software, or the ability to display and compare crucial performance measures, is key. This is why the apps, the G-Tech and the gAnalyst are not a good option for doing what you want to do.

    There are two inexpensive solutions that would be the best devices for this purpose. They come equipped with fully featured, very powerful software packages and they are limited to data only. GoPro and other video can be combined with the measures afterwards with a third party solution (RaceRender 3), if you wish. I think video is very valuable, but I digress...

    The two solutions are the VBOX Sport and the AiM Sportline Solo. Each are about $400, the secondary market is strong if you buy them and want to sell later, but the Circuit Tools 2 and Race Studio Analysis software, respectively, is both easy to use and leverages the information collected by these devices to a very high degree.

    The next step up is a logger capable of accepting external sensors and/or displaying them on a panel. $2K-$6K for AiM and MoTeC, to start... Or the $400 units combined with video, the VBOX HD2 ($2780) or the AiM Solo DL/SmartyCam HD Rev2.1 solution ($1698).

    But, the measure accuracy (speed, g's, track position) are as good on the $400 units as the $2K-$6K units now, thanks to GPS and GLONASS technology.

    If you're going to do it, do it right. You NEED good information to make intelligent choices and to be able to observe accurately any changes in your platform.

    Good luck!
     
  3. Joeyung

    Joeyung Karting

    Mar 9, 2011
    173
    Kentucky
    #3 Joeyung, Oct 12, 2016
    I have a video vbox but found Harry's lap timer app for iPhone to be super easy to use and provides a lot of data.

    Joe
     
  4. Entropy

    Entropy Formula 3
    Owner

    Jul 10, 2008
    2,149
    #4 Entropy, Oct 13, 2016
    Hmm. OP, first off, Peter's advice on the technology and tools is right on. There are a lot of options out there that collect a lot of data, what's more important is your ability to actually be able to analyze and understand it - and then correlate to what the car is doing.

    You say you want data to "test new parts and setup data" - but candidly I'm unsure if you're looking at lap times as your primary proxy for "this is better than that" comparisons, or if you're trying to test spring rates, damper settings, ride heights, etc.

    Obviously, 1) lap times and 2) how the car feels doing those lap times (the easier to drive, the better) is key. I might be too biased to fully complete data systems and to a methodical, engineering approach (which is probably overkill for most).

    Where I struggled when starting out was figuring out WHY the car was doing certain things and what impacts changes made; it was easy to see the data where I was entering faster, braking later, or perhaps late to throttle. For setup, took me a long time to decipher why the car was behaving a certain way (i.e. setup, track conditions, tires, driver inputs). Do I drop the rear? add rear toe? go to a stiffer damper? etc etc.

    All depends on what you're looking to do. Peter set me up with an AIM system on my 430C and I had more data than I knew what to do with! it was also key to have repeatable, apples-to-apples data.

    have fun
     

Share This Page