Poppy's Vette

Here's a short vidoe of my first outing in my Z51 C6. It sure is different than my TransAm ... way more refined & sneaky fast. It will obviously take some time getting used to. I miss my harnesses and stickier tires but they will come. I absolutely loved the way it handles even setup completely stock.

Warning .... this is an open track event, not a race so it won't be like watching some of these "pros" on this forum

PA Z06

Pretty cool

AU N EGL

Poppy's Vette

Thanks.

I wonder if anyone can give me some tips with the whole video deal. I recorded through a 520-line Chasecam lens on a Canon Digital Video Camcorder (Elura 60). It records on the mini-digital tapes. I transfer them to my PC using Windows Movie Maker and they are excellant quality. Once I uploaded to Photobucket I lost sound and the video quality went to crap. My original recording on the PC was an MSDVD but I needed to redo it as an AVI file to upload. Maybe it degraded somewhere along the way.

Any advice would be helpful. Is there a basic tutorial to making good quality movies from my camcorder to my PC and then to the internet?

TIA

AU N EGL

Just about all the video hosting web sites take the lower resolution, so no real need to worry about that. But sound would have been great, but stuff happens.

Google Video needs THEIR software for uploading, which is free.

Dirty Howie

Nice job. Whats your exit speed on turn 9 ?? Whats your speed down the front straight. Did you time your sessions.

Wish I could have made it .... you guys had pefect wether and light turnout. Did you see Frank in the blue convertlble C5??

I'm hoping to make Nov. 14 but just left my car for new engine today.

I'm just getting ready to buy video setup. Which bar do you have. Did you get the I/O camera mount? Why did you need the Chase cam?? You should be able to get a better view....seem like it is crooked and has too much interior view....but thats just from other vids I have watched.

Hope to see you at WSIR


DH

emf

The middle lap was a ~45, end lap looked to be ~ the same. easy to tell by the vid.


Not to speak for the poster, but the Chasecams have less mass and a higher resolution than most other cams [specially camcorders]. For a full race setup, they're significantly easier to stick in . . . . . more unique spots, and end up being easier to cable if you use a PDR100

Less mass == less shaking == better video, usually.

Dirty Howie

Well I didn't want to tell him he looked slow.....I have a hard enough time making friends

Did you see the camera and bitch'n video it puts out that John Wurth is using??

http://www.wurthmotorsports.com/In_C..._for_video.asp

http://www.wurthmotorsports.com/Hors...lap_videos.asp

What do you think......


DH

emf

It's OK . . . I'll be out to do ridealongs with the broomstick as needed. I think at one point or another everyone's been in 40+ land, with a passenger it's a far safer bet.


I know a couple guys that have used elph's as in-car cameras -- the earlier versions were a bit more problematic than the newer ones, but it'd likely work for what you want to do. Just get lots of extra SD cards.

Poppy's Vette

Lot's o' questions.

I have a timer I intentionally did not use. I wanted focus on learning the car and not so on my speed. I admit to pouring over 2 hours of video though to try ang get a handle on a decent lap time. None to be found to brag about. Probably 1:45 / 1:46 would be the best and 1:47 the most consistent. I'll put the timer in in November. I exit 9 around 90 and start to break usually around 125 although I was over 130 a few times. My biggest nemesis on this course is 2. I had a major mishap a coule years back coming out of 2 going in to 3 and I have a hard time keeping my speed though there. I'm usually only in the high 70's. At one point I rejoiced bacause in was at 82! Ah, the simple pleasures.

Yeah, we spoke with Frank quite a bit in the morning but he wasn't pitted near us so kind of lost track through the day.

I won't be there for Nov 14th. I am there for the weekend Nov 3 & 4 then back December 12th I think.

No bar yet. I'm shopping, I'm actually following some of your other threads. My camcorder lashes behind the drviers seat so the Chasecam lens gives me flexibilty to put the camera anywhere I want. I had a cage in my last car and mounted the camcorder on my roll bar mount but still used the remotre lens. My track buddy has the same setup and mounted his Chasecam lens in the front grill of his Viper this time. I haven't seen but a sneak peak when we at the track, but it looked very cool.

I don't want to bore anyone but here's another short video. I think the video quality is better and there is now sound, The "instructor" is my buddy. He has a Viper and he runs mid 1:30's. As a matter of fact he had a couple 1:33's Wednesday.

AU N EGL

Keep your lap times as consistent as possible. Hit your same marks lap after lap after lap. So consistent that each lap is almost boring.

Then pick one or two sections to work on increasing your speed. Speed increases in 1/10s of a sec not always full seconds.

Poppy's Vette

Excellant advise and exactly what I plan. I honestly don't really pay much attention to my speedometer. I was pretty much guessing on speeds, although I can't help look at my speed through 2 because of my history there I'm more interested in learning my line, braking points and excelleration points. That's why I didn't even install my timer. I didn't want to be tempted to focus on lap times yet.

TRACKMAN2

its ok to have some fun once in a while.. but the more you practice you driving skills and be patient the experience will last much longer.. for you and your car...be carefull .. keep it fun

emf

Your buddy was dead on w/ a couple points where you're losing time, but consistency is key at big track. Driving deeper into 1 always helps with times, since it's a fairly deceptive turn (forget freaky as all hell since you can't see the apex until you're nearly on it, and can't see the exit until you feel like you've almost driven off the track.
2 takes a while to get used to, as does the exit since you should be hard on the gas for more of the turn than you'd figure. The 3-4 combination eats up tons of time if you get it wrong, as does trying to take 5 at anything than a straight run down the hill. 6 needs to be much tighter, and everything 'till 9 should be flat out. Your exit speed in 9 looks good, but you can track out farther which sets your T1 entrance speed ~140-145.

All that said, keep doing what you're doing. Start working on easy things first, like braking later in T1 and turning in later . . . . the first few times, you'll feel like you're driving off the track, but there's plenty of black stuff where you need it.

Once you get more comfortable with T1, start taking 2 MUCH wider on the entrance, and track out farther. Once you see the apex, start feeding it gas -- you'll nearly drift out to the candycane at the exit.

Make sure that the downhill into 5 is natural, and work on the setup to 6 -- you should apex way late in 5, and aim for a straight shot over 6. Some people try to aim farther left in 6, but I'll usually aim for the straight shot through 6, and make absolutely sure the wheels are straight for when the car settles (usually, it settles farther out to the left from where you started).

The key to 8 and 9 is usally more gas, and tracking out wider . . . both of which come with feeling more comfortable in the turns and in the car. Don't worry about being a member of the sand-n-gravel club, there's a ton of grip in 8, and 9's usually harmless unless you catch the rut on the INSIDE of the turn. I'll usually aim for the pit road coming through 9, which is convenient since that usually puts you right at the end of the candycane in 9 with a straight shot through to T1.





Anyway, back on topic

The Chasecam is pretty light, which means the suction-cup mounts will end up working well. That may end up giving you some extra mounting options that are quick, easy, and cheaper than installing a harness bar to mount.

Last C5

Advise on computers isn't likely to come from me! However, when I used UTube for videos they did pick up the sound. They didn't pick up the commentary I had added later. Here's a short video I made at Thunderhill with sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k34FCAo66_I

Dirty Howie

Good tips on tracking WSIR


DH

Dirty Howie

Where exactly is the Chase Cam mounted ???

I was in the 1:45-1:47 times for quite awhile.

Getting thru 2 over 80mph is good for me, as is 9 at 90mph.

I will definately be going Dec. 12 ..... see you there


DH

Dirty Howie

What does "elph" stand for ????

Have you seen a Hardbar with I/O camera mount setup in a C5 ????

This is what I'm considering ..... but don't know if this will provied a good visual angle. Someone said the Hardbar sits kind of high.


DH

emf

Canon Elph -- similar cam type, canon rather than panasonic.


Not sure I can answer the "good visual angle" answer, since that's kinda subjective. IIRC the Hardbar mounts (like most) on the seatbelt bolt on the b-pillar, which should be pretty easy to eyeball. Worse case, if it's a bit higher than you like, get an articulating cam mount and adjust the cam height to whatever you want (w/in reason).

Do the math and see if it's still w/in your definition of "cheap", though.

Poppy's Vette

It was mounted on the glass roof all the way back at the latch. I had to order a 3" extension from Chasecam to drop the lens down. I used to mount it on the front windshield in my TA and I liked that. I may go back to it. I wanted to see some of the action in the car. Again, that's why I like using the Chasecam, you can experiment with lens placement very easily. If you're filming through the camera's lens you're much more limited. I have done that too, before I got the Chasecam. I had a camera mount on my rollbar cross member placing the camera height at about shoulder level and it was a pretty good shot.

If I didn't have the Chasecam already I would really consider that Lumix, or whatever it is called. That looked pretty slick and not very expensive. I don't suspect it has an input for a remote lens?

I hope we get a chance to meet at WSIR in December. I have a tendancy not to mingle much once I get there. I go with a couple buddies, neither drive vettes so sometimes I'm out of the loop. Not intentionally.