While you're at epiphero's site, you might want to check out their slick timer app for iPhones. RaceTimer+ is a great way to track your (or a competitor's) times.
For those folks who use Race Technology systems, they have probably been frustrated with having to wait to get to the track to set their start/finish marker. Well, LAPgen is a nice little page that lets you select a spot on Google Maps and then create a LAP file for the marker. You can then put that in your system so you're ready to go when you get to the track.
While you're at epiphero's site, you might want to check out their slick timer app for iPhones. RaceTimer+ is a great way to track your (or a competitor's) times.
2 Comments
At some point, when you decide to get a data system, you’re faced with what data to gather. If you have a car where you can tap into the CAN Bus, you’ll probably have all of the info you want with a simple two wire hookup. For those with an older car, you’ll have to start planning on what data you want and how to collect it. Regardless of the brand dash / data logger you’re using, they all accept a multitude of sensors. Or as Buddy Fey says in Data Power, "Brakes are like lawyers - they cost you every time you use them."
I've been reading through the book again and I'm amazed at the number of good rules of thumb, insights, and concepts that Buddy lays out for you to use. Even though it's expensive, Data Power is worth every penny! Everyone knows the old adage “A picture is worth a thousand words.” In data, we use all kinds of pictures – regular graphs, XY plots, histograms, and many more. Those graphs, while technically pictures, sometimes lend themselves to those with a “math mind.” When we add video to the data, it really adds 1,000 words. So we’ve probably all tried to read the manual that comes with our data logger. You’ve probably also read a book or two (hopefully you’ve check out the great bibliography that Peter Krause put together here). And since your reading this, you’ve probably read a number of feature articles here.
It’s time we get back on track with the blog and keep learning from our data. One thing lots of people say (which works really well) is to get someone faster in your car to see what they are doing. This works great when there is a pro, or even data from someone quicker than you in a similar car to share data with. By having their data, you can see where their inputs (throttle, steering, and brake) are different. With the help of GPS, we can even look at line differences.
Does it make sense to put a $400 AiM SOLO in a $500 Lemons race car? Of course it does! Within our small team of 5 folks, we were each able to improve our individual lap times by comparing our speed, longitudinal G, and lateral G force graphs. Throw in the ability to use the GPS features to compare our driving line and we had one teammate lose over 3 seconds on a one minute 31 second lap. That is a serious improvement! Sometimes we just need to look at things a little differently to reinforce what we’re seeing. Even though two different style graphs are showing the same information, we can get more out of one. It’s important to remember this when we’re looking at our data. Remember to look at things multiple ways to see which makes the most sense to you and is the most helpful. This contribution comes from Dave Scott, Lead Instructor at RaceCoach.Net. Dave has experience working with many drivers across all levels of driving and has helped a lot of people learn to drive faster. Check out what is important to him in teaching folks to go faster. I coach a lot of drivers. A majority are racers (from rookies to very experienced) or folks actively preparing themselves to race. The rest are experienced track day instructors and drivers looking to improve their skills. |
Featured ArticlesHere is a collection of articles from some of the best professional coaches, drivers, and data engineers. Archives
May 2017
Categories
All
|