Just wondering if I can add telemetry similar to PDR to a 2014 corvette using 3rd party equipment. Anyone done this and have links to products/install.
Thanks

 

I have no doubt that it can be done but the issue would be how much it will cost. Good luck. Don

 

There are various levels of this that you can accomplish with various bits of hardware and various amounts of money.

The small end of this would be something like an iPhone and an app called Harry's lap timer. Excellent software ($20.00) combined with a suction cup holder for your iPhone and you would be good to go with about 85% functionality of the PDR.

You can go as far as full racing telemetry for thousands of dollars. Even Cosworth makes hardware to accomplish this for race teams.

 

Check out Torque on Android with the track recorder option. I don't have my C7 yet, but from the demos, it seems similar.

 

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

 

The PDR's most unique strength is the level at which it integrates into the car, and GM will earn plenty of PDR option sales for that reason. But otherwise, you can do pretty much everything the PDR can do and more with 3rd party equipment. The dedicated data acquisition hardware options are typically somewhat pricey, but can be pretty powerful, simple to use, and sometimes all-in-one.

There are also a number of smartphone-based solutions out there, which range from crap to being pretty good. The better ones can support optional high-precision external GPS add-on devices, as well as OBD-II interfaces, so that you have a good amount of reasonably solid data to work with. You can save a lot of money going the smartphone app route, but of course, it still may not match the capability of the high-dollar dedicated hardware options, and you may need to be somewhat technically inclined if you want to get into using add-on devices.

As it happens, I'm the creator and developer of TrackAddict HD for iPhone (Android coming soon), as well as the RaceRender Video+Data software for PC and Mac, both of which are now happily part of HP Tuners (as am I).

When I go to the track, I use TrackAddict HD on my iPhone, mounted to the windshield, to pretty easily record 1080p video + GPS + accelerometers, time & predict my laps, and sometimes stream live telemetry data over the Internet too. I often like to go a bit further and use a higher-precision 10 Hz GPS (Dual XGPS160) and an OBD-II interface (OBDLink MX WiFi or GoPoint BT1), then I'll usually take the raw video and data files into RaceRender to produce an even more advanced video, sometimes including additional picture-in-picture video(s) from a GoPro or similar. This is from my last motorsports event in my C6, using the setup that I've described:
The TrackAddict HD app has some built-in standard video+data overlay options, but the OBD-II interface enables me to log a wider selection of available data channels (varies by vehicle), which I can then use RaceRender to custom visualize and overlay onto the video, along with other options. Being that I've owned both a C6, and now a C7, I've spent a fair amount of time figuring out some of GM's more interesting enhanced OBD-II parameters and supporting them within TrackAddict HD, which most other apps can't do, and none do to this level for GM. My favorites are logging accelerator pedal, clutch pedal, brake pedal, engine knock retard, and the next app update should also have steering wheel angle for the C7 (very happy about that!). Now I just need to get those first 1500 miles on my C7 and get out to the track!

 

AWESOME, thanks for the time spent for that info. I will definitely look into that stuff.

What product are you using in that video to record the gear/clutch/brk/thr?

Thanks

 

I'm using the TrackAddict HD app with a compatible OBD-II interface... It was a GoPoint BT1 in this case, but I'm now recommending the new OBDLink MX WiFi, which seems to be a bit faster and should be able to get into the GM LAN (which we may utilize in the future for even deeper GM-specific enhancements).

Clutch and Brake are enhanced GM parameters that TrackAddict HD supports on the C6, C7, and some other GM's. Currently, there are 3 levels for those pedal readings: off (0), light pressure (1), and heavy pressure (2). RaceRender will interpolate between data samples to give it that smoother or more progressive look. Throttle is available as a standard OBD-II parameter that most cars have, but we also have the ability to get the actual pedal position on certain GM cars here. Gear is automatically determined based on observing engine RPM vs vehicle speed, as it's often not directly available via OBD-II parameters... That works on some cars better than others, but it was developed using my old C6 6-speed manual, so it usually does well on the Corvettes.

 

....if it works on an iphone, that implies it would work on a iPad ?

Presuming one could work out a mount method that doesn't interfere with drivers view, that is...

 

Very Nice, thanks
I think I need the GoPoint as the OBDlinkMx is only wifi for IOS. I don't have a data plan so don't think I can establish a connection vs the GoPoint being BT.

 

Yup, iPads work too... You'll of course need a compatible GPS to do any of the lap timing or mapping functions (only the cellular iPad models come with an internal GPS), but some people have used iPads without GPS for just OBD-II logging.

 

Great to know about the app and the desktop software! Can you share a timeline on the Android version?