After 5 years of track events I feel I am at a place where without something that gives me actual measurements I will not improve beyond my current ability.

After some research decided to go with traqmate and sony camera so video and track data is synced. Another person who is with me at the track also purchased the system so hopefully we can reduce the learning curve and share data so we both become better.

Plan on installing it this weekend. Anyone with pictures of their install or helpful hints would be greatly appreciated.

Bob

 

You can install it pretty much anywhere.
In my 92 I have it very close to the CG of the car in the console.
The antenna is almost smack dab over it on the outside of the targa top.

I've seen them mounted all over the place in C5's and C6's.

If you are going to switch it between vehicles use the cig lighter cord to power it.
Use extra velco for the unit and antenna mount. Works best if the recorder is on the center line of the car and the antenna is the same.

 

I had mine mounted in the center console of my 07 but found that it got to hot. So I mounted it on the rear floor in the center with some wireties thru the carpet. Did you get the display? If so, are you going to mount permanant? If not I made a bracket that goes in the drink holder so I can take it in and out. I wish I could say it was my idea but it's not. Contact Bob (BEZ06) he may have pictures or give me a call and I can explain. My car is in the shop and not were I can take any pictures of the setup. JD

 

Thanks guys.

 

You mean over 700+ RWHP naturally aspirated isnt enough to go super fast anymore :-)

Can you take a few pics of your install and make a thread? I want to add a section to the sticky Im writing for this section on toys like that... and a nice thread would help. Oh, and its on my wishlist for next spring too :-)

 

jealous

 

About time you got one Maybe you get that big HD flat one day to watch the video back on

 

Its only 570 to the rear wheels

And yes I will document the install and my impressions.

 

Installed mine under the passenger seat. Ihad to move the OEM sensor to the front a bit to clear my passenger track seat bracket.

 

how much into that setup OP?

 

$1500 plus camera (sony camera is integrated with TM which makes life a bit easier i was told). I did buy the complete HD kit which is more expensive. I should be able to wire in tach and brake light which is important to me.

When you buy it they provide you with a long list of parts included but I think that is just to make you feel better since i saw the small.box it comes in.

It is not cheap but if I can shave time off my laps then well worth it considering hiring a coach or going to a school will cost much more.

 

I mounted the antenna on the cowl and the logger where the ash tray was it seems to work the best there and easy to turn on. Here is a picture of the antenna.

 

Had a chance to use this at WGI this weekend.

Just started to download all the data and play with it. Found places already where I am braking too early or too much by comparing my laps to my best theoretical lap which traqmate computes for you. Since traqmate is using my data I know the projected times are obtainable but the downside is it is only as good as me.

I plan to merge other drivers data with mine and see where else i can pick up time but this is a good start to analyzing my data.

Btw its a humbling experience to see exactly what you are doing wrong.

 

This is where I installed mine. Pretty clean install. I connected rpms and brake light to the digital ports. I have some analog ports left so I want to add oil temp, oil pressure, throttle position to the data but not until the winter.

 

Hi Bob, regarding the "theoretical" best lap that Traqmate gives you: last winter I read a book on race car data acquisition (The Competition Car Data Logging Manual by Graham Templeman). It was not specifically about traqmate and it covered a lot of subjects from sensors to software to interpreting the data.

When talking about the theoretical best lap the book advises to be careful in how you interpret the data and recommends using the fastest rolling lap instead. The theoretical best lap is calculated by splitting the lap into sectors and then adding up the best time in each sector for the whole session.

From the book:
The big problem is that the driver may absolutely fly through (say) Sector 7 (which gets added to best lap time) and arrive at the beginning of Sector 8 with the car on the wrong side of the track and in no position to turn in where required. This leads on to a slow time for Sector 8 which is discarded in the adding up of the fastest ever lap.

In other words - going fast in one sector can compromise other sectors and actually lead to slower overall lap time, but the theoretical best lap calculation does not show you this. I'm no data logging expert, don't even own one. I'm bringing this up as a discussion point to see if you or others with more knowledge will chime in and give your thoughts. I know a lot of people focus on the theoretical best lap. Sometimes their theoretical best lap even beats the track record. But according to the book this should really be "taken with a grain of salt".

What other events are you guys doing this year, I'd like to try and meet up with you'all.

Brad

 

that's actually a great idea

 

The book is right, but the software should let you discount certain laps in the theoretical best calculation... so if you know you blew a lap just uncheck it and let the software do its thing. I don't know if the TraqMate software does that, but my AiM does.

 

Brad good points and thanks for posting.

As with anything it is only a tool so what you do with it is just as important as the tool itself. TBL is one of the tools. Create TBL and then overlay other laps and see where the difference is. Using that along with video you should be able to say "this turn was slow because lap traffic was in the way" or "I had to make a late pass which put me in the wrong position for this turn" or "I missed the apex by 10 feet"

As far as track days we will be at NJMP 9/28 with tracktime4cars and 10/14-15 with trackdaze. I think that might be it unless I can get to fixing my abs prior to that and find another track day or 2.

 

Ahhh...yes, that makes sense, just don't include the "bad" laps in the calculation.

As you analyze the data - if you or anyone have other tips or can post some examples with explanations please do so. I will eventually get a data logger and I would like to be able to understand and interpret the data correctly, so anything I can learn now will be helpful.

Two days on Lightning (Oct 14-15)...hmmm. Let me know when/if you guys sign up. Normally Id say a 2 day there would get boring but if you and Roger and George, etc are there it will be a lot of fun doing Cat-n-Mouse. Ummmm...except I can't keep up with you LOL.

 

lightning is not my favorite course (actually I try to avoid it completely) but George and Roger signed up and trackdaze is fun to run withplus their price is right so I went ahead and signed up already.

would be good to see you down there and we could all video tape each other and have fun on/off the track.