orthojoe

ApexPro Digital Track Coach Review



I've always been a sucker for electronic gadgets and toys. There is a new product out there for track day people designed to help us learn how to become better drivers called to ApexPro Digital Track Coach. I had never heard of the product until Clark from Apex Performance told me about it recently and suggested that I test out the product. The checked out the website, and it seemed interesting, but the website didn't really give a ton of information and left me with a lot of questions.

https://www.apextrackcoach.com/

The premise of the device is very simple. It's an LED bar that shows how much more you have to go in terms of the limit of the car when it comes to traction/grip. If the bar is totally green, you are at the limit. If there is red, you are not there. From what I gather, the device is an accelerometer that calculates Gsum and can figure out what the max Gsum is for your car at any point on the track. Gsum is the combination of Gs from multiple different axes. Your tires can only handle so many Gs before they break loose and this device can tell you how far you are away. It's not a simple constant number, either. That 'max' will change based on weather, track conditions, tires, and each corner of a track. You can see what the limit is while you are driving with the LED lights and you can review afterwards on an app which displays the track and how you did on each corner. It also gives you a total 'score'. The unit also acts as a lap timer, which I've found to be accurate. I've only seen a few hundreths of a second time disparity between the apex unit and my AiM solo DL. A neat feature is that your lap times will live stream to a server so anyone who is interested can download the app and watch your times roll off live as you drive.

Getting the device setup is super simple. You just mount the device however you want. They supply a magnetic mount that attaches with adhesive. I've found attaching it to a solid suction cup mount allows better visualization while driving. If you mount it on the steering column like I did on the GT3, you can't see while the steering wheel is turned. After you mount the unit, just turn it on, and then use your app to connect to the unit so it can stream/collect the data/times. It needs to be calibrated when you first mount it using the app. One thing that wasn't addressed is a battery indicator. You have no idea how much battery life is left in the device and how long it needs to be charged. That being said, I left it on an entire day and the battery didn't go dead.

Here is a video of the device running in my GT3:


You can see that the steering wheel blocks the view
This is the data summary of my laps that the app displays:

Attachment 1353289

Here is a video of the device running in my GT4. Way off pace of my best time for various reasons, but gives you a good idea of what the device does.


The suction cup mount is much easier to see
This is the data summary of one of my laps:

Attachment 1353290

Based on what I see here, it appears that most of my time improvement potential seems to be in braking.
If you look at the video, I've calculated Gsum from my SoloDL data using racestudio2 math channel, I and displayed it on a bar gauge for you to compare to the ApexPro unit. I use Gsum to determine how well I am executing a corner. This is a VERY useful tool to see how you are doing at the corners and braking. For those of you who have interest in learning how to calculate and read Gsum, the apex pro will basically do it for you. The interesting thing is how the Apex track coach can determine what the Gsum limit is for each corner since it will be different based on the camber/elevation/tires/conditions/etc.
So the real question that every wants to know is, 'Will this device make me faster??'
The answer is, yes, but you have to use it properly. I think the best way to take advantage of this device is reviewing video of you driving which includes the device in the camera view so you can see points where you can go faster. It is difficult to pay attention to the device while you are driving.
I think that if data logging and interpretation is a foreign concept to you, then this is a great device for you.
If you are a data geek, then that data you are sifting through Aim Solo and Vbox data has just as much to offer and more.
If you are novice, intermediate, or slower advance driver, I think the device can be very helpful. This is a much better tool to spend money on rather than a harry’s laptimer that most people start off with.
If you are a seasoned, fast driver, I think you'll find that most of the cornering is green and your butt will tell you if you can go faster just as well as the lights can. There's also the issue that if you are driving near 10/10ths, you aren't going to be look at lights.

This unit has the most value if you are running video that shows your driving as well as the lights. Most people aren’t going to be able pay attention to the lights in the middle of a corner they are trying their best to manage. Reviewing afterwards on video is akin to reviewing the Gsum meter I calculate and display in my videos. Again, if you're not a video/data nerd, then this device will bypass the hurdle of learning how to do what I do with my videos.

Lots of cool stuff coming out for track days these days. The ApexPro unit is something that can be useful for a lot of people. If you're interested, contact/PM Clark-ApexPerformance. Here is a link to their website:

http://www.apexperformance.net/APEX-Pro_c_241.html

Hope that helps!

Matt Romanowski

I think you're conclusion about it working best as a tool in the video review is very good. One thing I noticed in using the Apex unit is that the LED lights do not show correctly in a SCHD video. They are on the wrong frequency with the video, so it does not pick them up correctly. Also, while the iOS app is very good, the Android version is far less developed.

Great review!

ProCoach

I've sold almost a dozen of these so far and several users really like them for immediate feedback. For many, this can be a more useful tool than poring over squiggly lines. It's a good way to calibrate their butt...

Andrew and his team have done a good job and the system is well integrated with iOS devices.

There are a couple good dealers, listed here: https://www.apextrackcoach.com/shop2/

In case you think it's only good for n00bs, look at this video from Jake Eidson, Pirelli GT3 Cup series front runner. On top of this page: https://www.apextrackcoach.com/tutorials/

boxer-11

OK so G-Sum pretty much tells you how much grip you are using. So far as I can tell though, it takes more sophisticated sensors and data measures than are typically present in something like a SoloDL or a VBOX HD2 setup (even with direct CAN taps) in order to tell you how much total grip there is to be had. As such it seems to me on the face of it that this little box has something a bit unique going for it if it really can tell you, in real time even, when you are leaving grip on the table and an indication of how much.

Would you guys agree with that or am I missing something obvious in the [HD2] overlay data and squiggly lines that I'm using most now??

Matt Romanowski

They have a video on YouTube giving the basic premise of how it works. It takes in g force, accelerometer data, and gps data. It then has an algorithm that watches your best performance I a corner and applies it to other similar situations.

Edit:

Here are the videos


and

ProCoach

You are on the money!

It's a far more sophisticated piece of kit, for what it does, than the simple three axis electromechanical accelerometer in the Solo and the GPS calculated two-axis values in the Solo and the VBOX.

It takes into account pitch and roll, as well as camber and elevation.

Most importantly, it "learns" with some significant speed and accuracy.

It's a great tool and augments in a completely different way (than can be done with conventional logger analysis) driver control input and the amount of vehicle capability used at any given point.

Just like loggers, it's not going to tell you what to do, but it will tell you what and where the deficit is...

boxer-11

9-axis IMU/gyro and GPS...that's a lot of motion information for sure

Just as a thought experiment, from digging in the Segers book I know there's a way to get to the same available grip information from less raw data position data if you have some data from the car. The problem is that it takes car data that aren't typically available; at least not to me.

Over and above channels you'd almost always have -- velocity, lat/long-G etc. -- I think you'd need yaw rate and the steered wheel angle for the outside tire.

I drive Porsche cars with variable steering racks so that means I'd have get the car on turn plates and map out the steering wheel turn to wheel turn ratios since steering wheel angle is all AIM/RL presently deliver.

Yaw rate isn't on offer from either AIM or RL systems either. Is it even possible to add a sensor to yaw rate to either of these systems or do you have to go to MoTEC or something more pro-grade to get to that normally??

Upshot of the thought experiment: seems like the Digital Driving Coach is using more position-motion related data to remove the need for vehicle specifics...that's a pretty good trick! Underscore that with: generally there's no practical way to get the same available grip information from systems like SoloDL or VBOX HD2 [happy to be proved wrong on that ]

[as an aside, I know that steered wheel angle must be on the CAN bus in modern Porsche cars because you can get that in one of the PCM info screens. And besides that the Track Precision App gives you you an over-/under-steer indication and I'd bet a latte that they use steered angle to get to that...probably yaw rate too...sigh...wish the CAN decodes were more complete!]

Ducati1199

Looks amazingly simple yet amazingly effective. I think I'd be with Joe in that it would be safer to review lights on a video in garage afterwards rather than looking on track!!

My question - could / would this work on a motorbike? I track both and know I push harder (for me) in a car than on a bike as the consequences of losing traction on the bike are / can be a bit more severe!!

ProCoach

Well, it's very good motion information. Not calculated, but measured, and GPS specific. This means it can "grade" for topographic differences to take those differences into account in generating the "score." That means the corner score, as well as the entry and exit, are specific to those corners. Plus, the system "learns," so the better you get, the further the goal posts are moved.

Agreed, you can get BETTER and more complete information from Jorge's calculated values, but as you point out, you need platform information with error correction. So, wheels speeds, pitch, roll (both the latter derived from suspension position), steered angle, as well as other values and measures not present on 99% of the cars present at a track day, but frequently present in DTM, IMSA (and in testing at restricted pro and semi-pro series). His is quite an elegant solution, but he's spent fifteen years building it and validating it. Simple tools, though.

Both AiM and RL allow construction of math channels to turn the less useful steering angle into the desired "steered angle," which when combined with track, wheelbase and other chassis measures, can really give you tremendous insight into the performance of the car. AiM can show this information in a number of ways, and RL can write it to the video, real-time. But this requires time-consuming review...

Both AiM and RL can add electromechanical yaw sensors (the new generation of AiM dashes and EVO5 already have one in them), but even MoTeC's yaw value is a calculated value. The pro level equipment from RL actually generates the best yaw measurement, which is why the OEM's use RL for testing and validation of their own sensors. AiM's new dashes and EVO5 incorporate pitch, yaw and roll measures in them. So it's good...

As you point out, any of these conventional systems are aimed more towards car-engineering than DRIVER-engineering. The latter is what the DDC is exclusively concerned with. It's really been only recently, in the last eight or ten years, that this information that has been collected by pro teams for the benefit of the CAR engineers, has begun to be use to help me, other coaches and the drivers to engineer THEMSELVES.

My study of drivers over the last several decades, aided in no small part by accumulating gigabytes of objectively derived driver data from novices to a WDC, indicates that there is still FAR more improvement possible from the driver than from the car. This device is certainly a significant movement towards shortening that curve and improving the loose nut behind the wheel. And the ease of use is key!

A lot of drivers get "stuck" in elevating the quality and consistency of their braking and transitions. This system basically puts in a box, with visual cues and feedback, much of what I work on with drivers as their greatest challenge. I spoke to Andrew and his team last year and after hearing their pitch, shared with them that this could streamline and distill the crux of the analysis I do with AiM, Racelogic and MoTeC data, my basic methodology, in a very timely way, plus give immediate feedback to the driver. It's cool and I have only scratched the surface of it's use. Looking forward to using my own more.

Frank 993 C4S

I tried one of these and frankly, it was useless for me during actually driving as I don't tend to take visual cues from inside he car while on track (except for shift lights). Initially, the lights were actually quite confusing to me as I tended to mistake them for shift lights.

It's probably good for reviewing video afterwards, but personally I need more information than just lights.

Matt Romanowski

John Block has an available grip math channel that he includes in his webinars (they are terrific - www.auto-ware.com). Their are also lots of places to tell you how to account for banking, uphill/downhill, and more.In the end, it's still the speed channel that determines what is fast. In the end, it's still up to the user to determine how they learn best. Some folks it's the squiggly lines. Some folks it's video with integrated data. Some folks it's someone (or something) next to them saying "go faster."

I had one of the first DDC units and have a later unit and have used them at a few tracks. I chose not to sell them.

boxer-11

+1 for John's webinar...he does a _great_ job with that.

I've implemented his approach to grip modeling but that too requires steered wheel angle that is not typically available [I did a crude interpolation/approximation to try and account for the variable steering ratio given that I don't have a proper empirical translation table...but it didn't work very well].

Matt Romanowski

I think we might be talking two different things. The grip used formula doesn't include steered wheel angle. It uses all 3 axis G force, frontal area, speed, and weight.

All the ways that quantify understeer have to use steered wheel angle. You can evaluate understeer with just the steering wheel angle, but it will not be quantified.

Sorry to the OP for getting a bit off topic here. We can start a new thread if this keeps going.

ProCoach

It's certainly not for everyone, but I have an equal number of people who are able to assimilate the information, using it to grade a specific exercise or evaluate and grade their performance improvement (or not) at a specific transition area on track through their peripheral vision.

I think you're one of the most thoughtful and thorough users of data, especially linking and validating through multiple measures and perspectives. You have what you need. Even more so, you USE it.

For some others, the DDC has shortened the curve in calibrating their asses to "the limit" and it's been instrumental in providing feedback to help them do that immediately.

The one thing I have learned in the last decade and a half of working with this tech nearly every weekend is that different drivers assimilate information differently, and apply that information in different ways, on different schedules!

Vive la difference!

boxer-11

I understood the "Cf used" math was as you say for grip used but not for potential. By contrast the under/over calcs tell you about the available limit; well in passing at least from the limit exceeded side. The latter seemed more comparable to me when thinking about the gadget Joe is reviewing here. But it's certainly possible that my understanding is weak or broken given I'm a bit of a newb at this stuff compared to you as a long time expert, Matt. [I learn a lot from these discussions!].

Horses for courses not doubt, but for me a simple representation of the gap between grip I'm using and grip I could be using seems more useful and more immediate than purely looking at what I am using. Immediate to a point. I don't have a Digital Coach box but I suspect I'm not far enough ahead of the car to be able to grok it real time around the track but I look at video between sessions routinely so Joe's idea of putting the box in view of the camera sounds like a winner.

Not to take away from the value of a G Sum trace: I've been focused on that one a lot this season and that alone has helped me find places where I'm now doing a much better job breaking and entering and that of course is reflected in the speed traces creeping up and lap times creeping down!
Ditto. That said, my intent at least is to explore what you can and can't reasonably do with other data systems to get at equivalent information as a means to better understand how the Digital Coach differentiates itself.