StormRune

This weekend I braved the Texas heat to go autocrossing. Temps peaked at 101 but at least we had some breeze and lots of water. I have been using a simple dash cam, a Vantrue X2, but I wanted to see how that compared to something instrumented. I tried both a Waylens and Harry's Lap Timer. I also used the dash cam to record video of my steering from behind my seat. This will show up as an insert on the videos later.

The Waylens bills itself as an enthusiasts' driving camera and as such the programming doesn't have all the functionality of a racing camera, but it can show some car data and G info overlaid on the corresponding video. It also has a 0-60 and a just-introduced 0-100 performance test mode. There are plenty of detailed reviews online so I won't go into too much detail other than describe how it performs for autocrossing.

Harry's Lap Timer is an established app that has functionality targeted to the track. The full version also has an autocross mode. I used it on my iPhone 6S and used the Harry's-recommended SkyPro XGPS160 and OBDLink MX to provide 10hz bluetooth-linked data feeds.

Waylens
The Waylens display and video quality is pretty good. It can provide 1080p at 60hz. The mount is a sticky cup mount but is surprisingly small for a fairly heavy device and doesn't stick as aggressively as the ones on the windshield phone mount I used for Harry's or the cup on my Escort Max radar detector. I had it fall of my windshield in the heat a couple of days ago, but fortunately the cord attachment I had kept it from falling and damaging anything. The mount is the smallest sticky cup I've seen and allows for more vibration that I'd like. In the video you can hear some rattle, but that may be coming from the phone mount hardware although I don't hear that on the Harry's recording. In the autocross recordings, at the first sharp left there are a couple of dips in the pavement that lead to a lot of shake in both videos just as you turn in.

With the Waylens you need to ideally remember to press the steering wheel mounted record switch at the beginning and end of each run to make sure it saves everything. With a 32GB card it records less than 2 hours of video, not quite enough for our typical autocross group runs (including the time on the grid). 64GB would have been fine. I ended up losing all but one full run because I kept forgetting to press the save button and I forgot to unplug the camera after the runs, so it recorded idle times and my drive home and overwrote the runs I forget to press the button on. You can put the camera in a non-overwrite mode, but I forgot to do this too. Duh. If you do the non-overwrite mode, reformat the card just before starting your runs.

A problem with the Waylens is that it runs hot and can go into a overheat power-down. The manufacturer admits this and recommends not using it except when you are recording runs you'd like to save. So it isn't useful for general use as a dash cam. I had it overheat when I was recording the demo runs of the Soul Exhaust recently. As to video quality and the value of the data overlays, you can judge for yourself in the following video.

Harry's Lap Timer
Harry's Lap Timer has an autocross mode in the full version. There are a couple of start modes, but the one I used had me stand at the start line, record its location and orientation, and then walk the course the the finish line and record its position and orientation. This allows it to record the shape of the track and to automatically record your runs. A problem here is that we have running starts in our autocrosses, so we hit the timing device on the run. It appears to take Harry's a few moments to start the video recording, so you lose your video/audio during the launch and right after passing the finish. However, this could be handled by setting the starting position early and the stop late. The official time is what matters anyway, so the Harry's time. On a good note Harry's reported lap times were always within 0.2 seconds of the official time. The amount of shake you get depends upon the mount you use for your phone.

I recommend using the SkyPro XGPS160 to get the 10hz updates on position and speed. It also has about double the accuracy of a mobile phone and 10 times the update rate. I've seen it tracking up to 15 GPS satellites and a high number of GLONASS (Russian) satellites as well... it uses both. The OBDLink is very reliable too, although the one-time WiFi password setup is a bit annoying. With both, you typically have to go into the settings on the phone to manually connect them during each power-up of all of the devices.

Results
So first I'll show you videos from both on two different runs, then I'll show a few additional things about Harry's in a second post. The second video was actually my second fastest run but I made a clear driving mistake in it. I've selected it to highlight the post-analysis that can be done with Harry's. There is no post-analysis with the Waylens other than observing your speed/position and video on the screen. In both videos I added the interior view insert during post-processing.

For me, Harry's was a clear win for autocrossing and even with the extra devices it is affordable. I can't say how any of this compares to real racing devices like the VBox though since I haven't tried one.

Waylens with Dashcam Insert - The selection of overlays is configurable.

Harry's Lap Timer with Dashcam Insert - The blacked-out video sections are where Harry's was not recording audio/video, so I switched to the dash cam audio for a moment.

StormRune

Here is some more info showing the data available from Harry's beyond what you see in the video. Here are the images from the app. It can also export all of the data. In the graphs, an arrow icon shows you where you were on the track shape shown in the upper left. The video insert shows you the image at that point. You can use your finger to swipe around on the data to move the bars to explore the data.

Even though this was my second best run of the day, during the Harry's version of the video at around the 7-8 second mark (as seen on the Harry's display) you can see/hear my trail braking bringing the rear of the car around a bit to much and I was worried I might hit the inside code nose-on. Looking at the different graphs, it shows up as a 23mph, 5 degree yaw moment. My other runs showed better speed through here.



This highlights that I probably did the best job of keeping the car near its lateral G moments at the end of the course along the sweeper and into the last slalom... indicated by the long sweeps of yellow and red.



Here I hit my highest speed before braking hard and setting up the turn where I ended up bringing the tail around a bit, resulting in the increase in yaw causing a scrubbing of speed as shown in the graphs after this.




The graphs can also show a range. Across the range is where the car sustained the highest G's for the longest time, accelerating into the slalom after the slightly decreasing radius sweeper.

Larry Cable

so net-net is waylens worth $449-499 vs HLTP and a good phone mount?

StormRune

The Waylens isn't worth it to me and my intended use cases. I'll be selling it soon, but I know my negative posting about it here isn't going to help that! I'll probably just post it on eBay rather than attempt to sell it to a fellow Rennlister. I did buy it used in the first place since I was skeptical from what I'd seen about it online.

It seems to me that Waylens has positioned itself oddly feature-wise and strangely provides a fairly weak factory mount given that it is designed for aggressive driving. It is neither a great dash cam due to its price and overheating problem, nor is it very good for track/autocross. There are more affordable solutions that do each of those better. I was hoping to find one that did both well.

It is solidly made from an aesthetic and manufacturing point of view though! I guess it might be a good solution for making interesting recordings during occasional sporty drives due to its data logging and overlay features.

For Harry's, I spent $28 for the Grand Prix edition with all of the features, plus $135 for the XGPS160, plus $80 of the ODBLink unit, plus $25 for the windshield mount... for a total of $268 + taxes. My Vantrue X2 dash cam was roughly $150 when I bought it on sale along with its GPS mount. That gives a lower cost for all of the devices than the Waylens and they are all good at what they do (ignoring the cost of the cell phone which I'll have anyway). Plus I end up with a good OBD-II reader in the process. I'll probably get a better dash cam one day, the Vantrue X2 is nice and has high 1480P resolution, but it has the nasty habit of having the be reformatted occasionally even though I'm using a high quality UH3 memory card.

For real track use, I'd think that Harry's just might be a good solution based upon by autocross results but I can't personally say. It's possible the hardcore racing VBox units or other similar ones might be worth it, but others will have better knowledge about this than me. Those are awfully expensive though.

Larry Cable

^^^ confirmed what I suspected!

GregD

AutoX is magic to me... I'm a track guy, I get where the track goes. I wanna love Auto X because it gives you great skills and it's cheap... But everytime I go, or see such a video, I see...nothing.... Cones here and there, makes zero sense to my brain ;-) I'm watching your video (great BTW) and I'm utterly lost as to where the next turn is! It's probably me, I feel just as stupid in Martial art classes when asked to reproduce what was just demonstrated to me ;-)

BradB

You are not alone! I'm a diehard track guy who couldn't find my way through a sea of cones if my life depended on it!

OP: Nice job, looked great!

StormRune

Thanks guys. Yeah, it seemed daunting to me as well the first lap or two the first time out, but there is a logic to it and I have no doubt you'd pick it up quickly. It's clearer in person than it is in the videos.

You walk the course two or three times first thing in the morning before the meet actually starts to give you more time to absorb what the lines through the course are. Most clubs have a novice coordinator that walks the course with all of the newer folks too. It's a nice cheap and low risk way to have fun pushing the car a bit... I'd recommend giving it a shot. Most autocrossers are also very supportive and willing to answer questions and provide ride-alongs if you want to see it done in person. People often come to watch or ask for rides and in our club there is no charge for that. Three of my five runs this weekend had strangers ride with me just for the experience.

On the flip side I envy you guys that are gutsy enough to track your cars. I'm too risk adverse to give it a go and too cheap to buy track insurance. I may eventually do it once just for grins. I have been out on the COTA track for a high speed demo drive of the 991.2 but was held back a bit for safety by a DE running in front of me. It was quite a blast even then!

mdrums

Yep you can get pretty...CONE-FUSED...at an autoX...LOL ;-)

bkrantz

If you try to find your way by looking at the cones in real time, especially at speed, you will likely get lost.

The essence of successful autocross is the ability to memorize the course before your first run. And to have a pretty good idea of how to drive it at maximum speed, from car position and apex points to gear shifts and braking. Somebody once told me that expert autocrossers can close their eyes, imagine driving the course, and mentally complete it in a time close to their actual runs.

BradB

I do that with road courses...but in my head I am WAY faster.

aryork

As a track person waiting on my car to get out of the body shop, you are looking really smart to me on all fronts!

TuonoR

Any updated thoughts on the waylens system? vs. harry's, aim smartycam...