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In my analysis software I can let it auto-generate sectors the first time I run the analysis SW for that particular circuit. Recently I found the sectors generated were poorly placed for one circuit.
So as I added markers to create my own sectors I began to think, "what is the best way to do this" ?
Can anyone shed any light on best practices for generating track segments? ie: do you generally pick the start of a braking point or maybe the center of a straight or ... ?
As you can see here the markers are dense on one side of the course and nearly non-existent on the other side. It looks like they were placed at the mid-point between each corner, which usually winds up being the straights.
Three or four sectors for Watkins Glen, right? I have one with three that is working but I am thinking of adding another.
Now the default number of sectors shows me having a glorious 2.02 theoretical best which is amusing as it took several sectors from a passing exercise session I did with new solo students where I think we were going 2.30.... Normal sessions with 3-4 show a more reasonable 2.04-2.05 which is in sight from my current 2.06 best.
Seems like there are lots of ideas about this and not all agree which is perhaps confusing. I suspect the differences may lie in what you are trying to accomplish.
What I've been taught is that sector starts are ideally placed in the middle of a braking zone. Then you group corners with the straight that follows. Past that group corners together where the sequence influence each other. This strategy is designed to give you sections that are reasonably decoupled from each other (which is why starts are in mid-brake) so in theory an improvement in any one sector made this way isn't depending on what happened in the one before and doesn't compromise the one that follows...net result being that when you look at the fastest sectors from your collection of laps, gathered in the theoretical best lap, that is actually something you can probably achieve. Lots of very small sectors do the opposite -- you end up with very good looking theoretical bests but those individual sector times aren't really achievable in a single driven lap.
Seems like there are lots of ideas about this and not all agree which is perhaps confusing.
I suspect the differences may lie in what you are trying to accomplish.
What I've been taught is that sector starts are ideally placed in the middle of a braking zone.
Agree that it depends on what youre trying to accomplish.
Disagree that there here are many ideas on how to do this, at least from the engineers, drivers and crew who perform this on a regular, daily basis, as I have since 2001.
STRONGLY disagree with the idea that ANY sector begin or end in a brake zone or potential overlap with the beginning or end of a brake zone due to the incredible inconsistency most drivers exhibit in their deceleration rate and position, lap to lap. THIS is what introduces some of the greatest variance in calculating eclectic or theoretical best lap calculations. The first thing I learned from Joe Hullett, Chris Brown, Jorge Segers, Marc Manning and David Murry MANY years ago.
To start, place the sector markers AT or AFTER the point of progression to WOT to the next point of progression to WOT, or place the markers at the point of EARLIEST vMax in the sample range.
Most analysis programs automatic placements are not very useful except in a very broad sense.
I, along with others who perform this analysis, have a very specific goal were trying to measure in sector analysis, not a shotgun approach. Thats very important...
Most analysis programs automatic placements are not very useful except in a very broad sense.
That is for DAMN sure...
To put it in plain English - if you want to do anything meaningful with the sector times, they have to be pieces of a lap you could actually stitch together, in the cockpit...
Interestingly I heard the middle-of-the-brake-zone advice _directly_ from one of those named individuals... Be that as it may. If you guys that coach for a living all agree there's an obvious set of rules/guidelines for setting up sectors, I'd love to see a declarative list written down and an example track to show how those are applied [I guess I'm assuming that isn't asking you to give up "IP" material to your business though??]. Setting some sort of informal standard like that would help us wannabe's compare notes better I think.
Last edited by boxer-11; 06-22-2018 at 03:03 PM.
Reason: typo
Looks good. My advice for tracks the size of VIR and Watkins Glen (3.27 and 3.30 miles) is to use between 8 and 12 sectors.
The information for the ten sectors is IMSA supplied from permanent timing loops placed all around the circuit for timing and scoring, as well as to locate cars. T5-T6 is the speed trap sector to measure vMax for all the cars.
Ben Wedge uses this in his post race analysis and IMSA publishes the split times and eclectic for each session using these permanent sectors.
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I'd do it slightly different. Sector 1 - S/F to mid point of T1 & T2. Sector 2 - to just before braking zone of bus stop. sector 3 - to exit of carousel. Sector 4 - to just before braking zone of 7. Sector 5 - to mid point between 9 &10. Sector 6 - to S/F. You could maybe further divide a couple of corners in the boot and maybe separate 10 & 11. But for calculating TBL, I think you'd have some pretty good sectors.
I know that in practice more is not necessarily better for people to interpret but in theory; wouldn't software be able to model better as N --> infinity? If you could hold other variables constant, with enough laps, you could build formulas that could add up all the deltas between segments and tell you exactly where to give and where to take.
And if you're using any sort of display make sure you're placing your sectors in spots that are easily visible from inside the car. It does no good if your analysis sectors and in vehicle sectors aren't in the same location. I've run into this issue with the Race Technology hardware, in particular, as the latency between the sector ending and sector time then being displayed on the dash is significant.
06-21-2018, 02:31 PM
Question about Sectors / Sector Times
