seamus2154

Tracking a C6Z using a GoPro and Harry's Laptimer. This has proved a bit difficult and have found a lot of lost lap times/data with freezing on Harry's lap timer .

I own and like the GoPro. Is there a lap timer w/ data that is reasonably priced to overlay onto the GoPro? Or imprint on the video? Something easy?

Bottom line I want video w/ lap times and data as cheap as possible. What setups are you using? This is just a hobby…..or addiction, but 1-2000 dollars is a set of tires for me!

Thanks guys for you suggestions!

aaronc7

I haven't had a chance to play around on the track yet... but I have been messing around with all the various apps quite a bit.

Laptimer seems to be a good lap timer with lots of useful info that you can view right there on the phone/at the event (I made my neighborhood a 'track' to test it out lol!). To me it was overly complicated, and I could never get my $100 bluetooth dongle to work right with it on the vette.

Next I tried HPtuners' TrackAddict app (free) with their RaceRender computer based program. They have free and paid versions of that. Since they are made by the same folks they work together great, tons of customization on the video rendering side. Really kind up to you how much you want to get into it..it has basic templates you can use/edit/save to you don't waste too much time with this side of things. On the app side, I had zero issues getting up and running quickly with bluetooth dongle and external BT gps. It has gopro record/sync feature as well IIRC. The app itself is more basic, not as 'good' of a in car lap timer.... which is better probably depends on what you want out of it. Either way it's free so I say check it out.

Quick test clip I have... this is a basic template that's in the program.

Charley Hoyt

It depends how much you want to pay. There is a RaceChrono system for sale in the For Sale section. I previously owned this system and liked it a lot! That is a great system for $300. There have also been a few Trackmate systems for sale lately. I have never tried the Trackmate but I have heard they are quite good also. The only downside is that I believe you have to hard wire the tach input. If you want a new system the AIM systems are very popular. I have an Aim Pista dash connected to a Smartycam HDGP which is a fantastic setup because everything is integrated.... But it was not cheap. The stand alone Aim systems are in the $600 range I believe. All are good, and reliable.

rbl

Looks like Hwy 58 past Hillville going to VIR

seamus2154

Thanks guy! The racechrono looks good at a good price point. How hard is it to sync the overlay to your GoPro clip??? How does it match up the two?
Thanks again!

bdanyluk

I've only used Trackmaster so far. I've recently purchased Harry's Lap timer (I used Samsung S6, no Crapple stuff for me), since it just came out a few months ago. Haven't tried it yet, but will next year on my next HPDE day.

Here's an example with Trackmaster and free version of Racerender. I've never had Trackmaster lock-up either while using it.

JeremyGSU

I'm not a fan of Phone App's and trying to over lay anything. I have watched countless videos of people using Harry's or Racerender or some other kind of data recorder and the phone ones just never seem to be accurate to me. The speedometer's always seem to be off and if you're going to have a MPH feature I want it to be accurate, not close.

From what I've seen TraqMate and AIM do a true job of capturing data, but yes they are expensive.

Plus, depending on the tracks you visit you have to worry about cell signal, etc.

blkbrd69

Using my phone GPS didn't work worth a darn, had to upgrade to a 5-10K Bluetooth one stuck on the windshield.

Racerender works fine but is a pain to index properly, takes a bit of time.

Phone had to be put in airplane mode then re index Bluetooth and wifi for gopro connection. Worked OK after that, but cant use phone during day without reindexing everything.

Need a phone charger running also.

Worth the money to just buy a good data system.

aaronc7

Depends on the setup. Most guys from what I gather just get an external 5 or 10hz GPS, use the phone's internal accelerometer and that's it. Works OK-- I have a 10hz unit and speed lags behind a bit. You need to also datalog off the PCM directly- I grab MPH, RPM and accel pedal position. I use a bluetooth dongle for this as well, the logging rate is sufficient and having a central logging location (phone) makes syncing everything up easy/nothing to do. When I first tried this.... I did the PCM logging on EFIlive but it was a big hassle syncing up 3 different things and making sure the data was in the right format for Racerender etc. With TrackAddict doing all the logging/work.... its simply drag and drop or just sync data to video if you don't have a supported external cam.

It took a bit of effort to figure out initially... but once you get it all sorted out it's not too bad, IMO. At least for me, who will only be doing this a handful times a year, etc.

franman69

I use HLT with an external GPS. As long as you put the phone in Airplane mode (as mentioned above) it won't get "interrupted" and lose data. You can overlay on the GoPro footage by bringing the GoPro movie into the phone and lining up the lap end time. Works like a champ once you get the hang. For $29 you can't beat it, if you already own the GoPro and the phone... my ten cents.

truth.b

Here's what I'm using:

• Data Recorder: Samsung S4 using Torqe App
• ODBii Bluetooth reader: OBDLink MX Bluetooth Scan Tool
• Overlay Software: RaceRender3
• Qstarz BT-Q818XT 10Hz 66 Channel Bluetooth GPS Receiver -->
  Link to Amazon
  Link to Amazon

I run 2 cameras, external mic, then telemtry so the hardest part is getting everything to sync up, but for what you're interested in it should be pretty straight forward. Also I'm only running the GPS at 2.5Hz (sample every 0.4s interval) but I have been able to get clean 10Hz (sample every 0.1s interval) data out of this unit.


**Note: Change the video format to 1080P or it'll run at 480P and look like crap in the viewer. **

96GS#007

AIM Solo DL
GoPro

Merged using Race Render. Track map shows braking zones (red), steady state (yellow), and WOT (green). Pay no attention to the oil pressure, I have data error of my own doing that I need to fix. Best viewed using 1080P

wtb-z

I use racechrono2avi to generate the overlay video file, which is free software.

It was (presumably) originally designed to work with data files created by racechrono, but with massaging you can get other data sources into a format it likes. Not user friendly in the slightest, but very low budget.

tmtraylor

You may not need to give up on what you have yet. Myself and several other track buddies have had issues with using the phone to supply the GPS signal. Most if not all cellphones use a 1Hz GPS chipset and we would "miss" the start/stop line, not start a session and other frustrating behaviors. When we went to the external GPS puck, that went away. We use the 10Hz (DUAL SkyPro160 - $150 or so and it uses Bluetooth).

For data from the car, I have the supposedly nice OBDLink MX Wi-Fi ($100) but I end up using a cheap ELM-327 ($15) clone device because the WiFi one will not join an existing WiFI network so you can't make it work with a WiFi Go-Pro and Harry's at the same time.

Your car should have a much faster bus speed than what I get in my C5Z. I expect the OBD data would be much smoother than what I get.

I use the phone's camera for now, and here's a sample of what I get from Harry's.


Taking the budget consideration, you MAY be better off adding one more piece to your current setup. Good Luck!!!

Charley Hoyt

Why are the Gs reading backwards? I had that same problem with Racerender.

Charley

aaronc7

I would guess a discrepancy between how the AIM Solo logs and what format racerender is expecting. One thinks "positive" values in the x direction is G-load to the right....other thinks it's left, etc.

That's one of the reasons I stuck with using TrackAddict w/ Racerender....same company so they play together nice. I haven't played with Racerender in awhile but I believe you can get into the settings to fix these sort of things for that run and future run files.

96GS#007

I didn't bother to go in and correct the formula. Ditto the oil pressure not quite reading right, something in the kPa to psi conversion Once I get back in town I'll probably update it.

JeremyGSU

That's exactly why I don't like cell phone setups. Your speedometer is all over the place. Who knows how fast you're going.

tmtraylor

Good point, the C5 OBD port uses a slow protocol compared to newer cars. I only get 3-4Hz of data from the car and the mph provided is all over the place. The throttle position data and rpm follow suit. (My summation is that's just what you get from that cars OBD connection)

Here's the same lap using the 10Hz external GPS data for speed. Harry's allows you to select OBD or GPS for the speed used on the data overlay.

http://youtu.be/KRQryvyDLYs

RDnomorecobra

I use RaceChrono on a Droid smartphone, a Qstarz external GPS running @ 5Hz, ELM327 bluetooth OBD reader, a Kodak Playsport HD camera, and RaceRender software to merge it together and make the vids. '03 c5z06. Once you get the hang of downloading the files and pulling them into RaceRender, it doesn't take too much time or effort to put it all together.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...cussion-2.html