avi8tir

I have been out of the tracking game for a couple of years now - basically since I sold my 997.2 GT3.

With my 991 arriving any day, its time to suit up!

I opted to not get the Sport Chrono again as I don't see any real purpose on the GT3 - EXCEPT for the track app. Which I have heard is not that great anyways.

I have to assume that over the last couple of years there have been some decent track apps created for iOS and Android? I have seen some videos on youtube of people having there phone mounted up in the dash utilizing some sort of app... cant tell what it is though.

Recommendations?

rookie1

Disclaimer: I don't know the Apple/iOS world, I assume Harry's Laptimer is the standard there but I'm on Android so can't really confirm about that.

In the past I tried Harry's Laptimer, Race Chrono and Trackmaster on Android with an OBD2 BT dongle and a Quartz GPS BT receiver in my 981 Boxster S.
I have to say that Race Chrono for me is the most reliable, even it might lack some features the others have. But it's rock stable, I never had data loss or weird glitches. But I know Harry's app was recently updated again, so maybe some of the disconnect issues I had in the past are fixed.

Some recommendations:

• get a good BT GPS reciever (that supports 10hz)
• make sure your phone has nothing else running at the same time (no other apps, no background services, etc)
• make sure to pair the phone only to your OBD2 dongle and your GPS receiver... disconnect from incar PCM!
• you might want to consider a OBDlink MX OBD2 adapter, their throughput is supposed to be better than the cheap ELM3270-based dongles

Spyerx

I messed with these iPhone apps, got high speed gps, obd, etc, all was hacky and just didn't work well. Got AIM SOLO DL and recently a smartycam hd and haven't looked back. Hard wired to car, start car, timer starts, camera starts when on track. Literally, no buttons to push, realtime track times, massive amounts of data, and when done pop out SD card out of camera and watch session with data already overlaid.

Of those for iOS, harrys lap timer is probably the best.

orthojoe

If you are just dabbling in track events, Harry's laptimer is the defacto app. The inherent problem with using a phone app is that it is not a dedicated piece of hardware, so it unavoidably will not be reliable. Wireless obd2 dongles and GPS sensors always lose signal and drop out. It sucks when you're running a good lap only to find out that nothing is recording. The data also means a lot less when it is interpolated and not true data points.

If you are serious about timing and data analysis, the AiM solo DL is great. Combine that with the smartycamHD, and you are roughly the price of the Porsche app, except you have a camera AND it actually works.

If you like dabbling with software, programs like dashware, trackvision, and race render will let you create some great video to study.

Porsche track app:


Harry's laptimer:


SmartyCamHD:


Dashware + Aim solo DL data


Trackvision + Aim solo DL data


Dashware + AiM solo DL data (currently my preferred setup)

Macca

100% Have Aim Solo DL OBD2 (so I can move between cars) with Smartycam HD 2.0 (seperate mic) and wont look back. So easy everything happens automatically.

orthojoe

Macca, can you post some video with the smartycamHD 2.0? I can't find any examples online and want to see how much better it looks/sounds

bigkraig

Can the smartycam do 60fps 1080p? it looks so good from my hero 3+

bigkraig

that dashware looks good, gonna have get that one

Spyerx

Downside of smarty hd is its 720p. Below video is smarty hd2. Video in upper left is from bumper cam gopro.

The main video comes out of the smarty just like this with the overlay. Only edit to this video is I added the 2nd video.

Anyway, as a training and coaching tool you cannot beat this for simplicity. If all you need is video gopro is best.

Ignore the slow lap times :-)

orthojoe

Thanks for posting. Thumbs up for the multi-camera view!
It looks to me like the smarty2.0 video is a touch better, but still not near gopro quality (trust me, I'm not a fan of gopro for many reasons, but I stick with them because I haven't found better quality video... yet). The audio is also little better than before, but still needs an external mic, which I believe is an option now with the smartycam2.0, but never materialized as an option for the prior version camera. I don't know the track, but it looks like good smooth driving to me!

Macca

Thanks for posting this. Im still trying to convert mine and upload to Youtube. What software do you recommend for editing the footage (cutting it down to a short sequence)? Mine looks similar to yours but I went with the 120POV and overlaid the data above as per below screenshot. Yes its not 1080 but it is the best tool Ive seen to learn the track.

Spyerx

I debated the fov options way too much. I wanted slightly wider similar to my gopro on med fov. Overall happy with narrow and can still see my wheel inputs which is key.


I use race render on a Mac. I had bought this for doing data overlay before I got the smartycam hd. I found it to be a simple tool for adding another video and creating shorter videos and exports in multiple formats.

I actually haven't tried pulling a video out the smarty and up to youtube. Does it not work native?

If you have a Mac QuickTime should allow you to open the file and trim it to a shorter length and export it to a format that works with youtube. This comes on all macs.

Macca

Spyrex. I debated long and hard about the POV on the new SmartyCamHD Rev 2.0 but no one could give me any examples of the field of view. I too wanted teh same as my GoPro hero3 Black on medium setting (the perfect setting I found) which should have been 115 degrees but of curse what you dont know about AIM Smartycam lens is the focal length! In the end the 120 degree option was wider than I would have ideally preferred as I have the unit mounted on half cage bar. I think this FOV would work well on the window but I dont want it there. The 60 degree version like in your video has some advantages too being more of the track in view, although I do like to see the driver and passengers heads. Im still playing around with the position to reduce the drivers helmet getting in the way and think I may have found a better option for next time. In reality the ideal POV is probably in between your and my cameras - just wish they had a system that allowed the POV to be changed by a setting.

I ended up cutting a single lap video from a random session using RaceStudio3 which has a basic edit suit for the smartycam footage and I uploaded it native to Youtube tonight here in Oaxaca Mexico where Im travelling...be pleased to compare notes....

bigkraig

I ordered an Aim Solo DL today, i'll probably keep with my hero 3+ and try it out with some dashware. If I can manage to make the battery last with the remote i'll look at grabbing another for a bumper cam

orthojoe

Thanks for posting this. To me, this looks much better than what my friends were getting with their smartycams. Just needs an external mic and I would be satisfied! LOL

Multi view FTW! LOL. If you go with dashware and like the 996 GT3 gauges I'm using, PM me and I'll get you the template for them. It was given to me by another rennlister. One of these days I'll try to make a 991 GT3 template on my own.