Tier1Terrier

I'm getting ready for my first Track/HPDE event. I'm looking for a cheap (preferably free) Iphone app that will record video from my phone and/or will easily overlay with my GoPro without having to buy additional hardware. Just looking for something that will record my sessions and hopefully provide a little bit of data and analytics. I don't really feel like investing in anything substantial for my first go at it. I'm not 100% ruling out making a small investment in something that can be scaled up over time should I go further down the rabbit hole.

Matt Romanowski

I'd look at Harry's Laptimer or TrackAddict

jhenson29

I was just down this rabbit hole. I was trying to decide between Porsche Track Precision and Harry’s for my second HPDE (they didn’t allow anything for beginners in the first one; or at least strongly recommended against it).

But then I thought about getting a Garmin Catalyst as that was recommended to me by someone else at the event.

Then I decided that I’d (eventually) want OBD and be able to review raw data and started looking at Aim Solo2 DL with smarty cam. But I don’t have a decent PC at home to run RS3 either, so there’s a significant investment for all of the hardware and PC.

So, then I decided to buy a sim racing rig at the end of the year and to double that PC for RS3. So, I went back to looking at pure phone options in the interim.

However, I bought an Apex Pro with OBD over the weekend. I’m still (tentatively) planning the Aim setup at the end of the year. But my thought here was that the Apex Pro is less expensive than any of the other hardware options listed, provides more immediate feedback on grip use, and will possibly get added to instead of replaced when/if I add other hardware.

That doesn’t tell you what free app to use for a first HPDE, but I was just there recently and thought I’d share where I ended up and why.

pmiranda

I’ve used Harry’s a few times for track days and it’s free and easy. Don’t bother looking at the details during the day, just make sure it worked and go back to look at how you did later. If you’re a beginner you’ll get more out of an instructor in the right seat than data. But if you don’t have an instructor then a GoPro or any video to look at between sessions is great to see what you’re doing. Just don’t get hung up on lap times since that’s what gets you in trouble

ProCoach

Beautiful! As a long time dealer (and the first non-factory dealer for both the Catalyst and the Apex Pro), all of these are great tools!

The subscription for the Apex Pro that allows substantially more features to be unlocked is worth considering. The app is huge, because it's so easy to use, plus video integration.

Bottom line is that the building of confidence in the grip levels is what most new/intermediate drivers struggle with the most and cause the most plateaus. The Apex Pro lights and score are, to me, the most valuable stats I use (in all other loggers, as well) to help assess a drivers use of the demonstrated available grip. The beauty of the Apex Pro is that as you get better, it moves the goalposts to match that.

steveP911

I started out with Harry's and found it to occasionally be flaky. Wasn't 100% that it would actually work for every session. And it absolutely would not do Summit Point Shenandoah, despite loading the track. Tried many times, even using manual GPS start/finish coordinates.

I next went to Track Addict Pro (plain TA only allows three sessions to be saved; a no brainer to spend the $40 to upgrade to Pro). This app is pretty powerful and you can do some modest between-session data analysis on your phone. I don't think I used the phone camera option; I just collected data and I did use an OBD dongle to get some engine info, and an external 10Hz GPS to improve accuracy. Found it to be reliable and not problematic. Easy to integrate data into my GoPro video using Race Render, but syncing could be tedious.

Lastly, I moved up to Apex Pro. Good system but I am not enamored with it. I (maybe it's just me) cannot see and make use of the cornering effectiveness LEDs while I am driving. They are useful for video (if your external camera has them in the field) and also for analysis. I found the data analysis on my iPhone in between sessions to be pretty good with Apex Pro. Especially useful if you can compare with another buddy's data to help each other see relative weaknesses. I used the iPhone camera option a couple times but not a fan of the bulky phone up front, and the Apex data for video is not notable. I used their OBD dongle but never got all of the data I had expected.

Here's my two cents. I would recommend the Track Addict Pro until you have exhausted its effectiveness for yourself, and then look at the Garmin or AIM or VBOX setups. In retrospect, I wish I had gone/stayed cheap (TA Pro) and then taken the plunge to a more complete system. Engine data is a discriminator for the upgraded systems, so you'll have to decide what floats your boat on that.

My only other comment would be to consume and process as much good right seat instruction as you possibly can. Document all of the good advice, whether it is in general or specific to tracks that you drive. Instructors are "free" and the best tool for improvement, hands down, IMO.

Good luck!

Speed2k

You should at least get an external GPS device because the one built into the phone isn't very accurate.

I've used Trackaddict and I find it pretty easy to use.

If you have an Android tablet, you can pair this with the external GPS and use Circuitstorm, which is free with ads. https://www.petreldata.com/ I lot of my Autox friends use this (for both Autox and Track).

Skid

I have been using the TrackAddict base app just for overall lap times but ignore the segment times, top terminal speeds, min corner speeds etc as they seem spurious and vary a lot more from lap to lap than I know is correct. I would love to dig deeper and get accuracy on those metrics. Will upgrading to the Pro level of the app + adding a 10Hz external GPS suffice? Is the Garmin Glo2 the right tool? There’s a lot of cheaper devices (“trackers”) on Amazon but none disclose Hz, polling frequency nor mention track use as an application.

Tier1Terrier

@Speed2k Can you recommend a good, easy to use, and inexpensive GPS unit?

ProCoach

I'm not him, but this has been the most popular unit for many years.

https://www.dualav.com/product/gps-s...-gps-receiver/

Matt Romanowski

I always suggest to people to consider where you are going to end up before buying more and more for a phone app. I've got a lot of customers who went down that road only to end up with a Solo 2 DL.

If you want to borrow a Solo 2 for an event, let me know. You can try it out if you pay the shipping.

Speed2k

My friend moved away and left me his XGPS150 to use, which is the little brother to the unit ProCoach recommended. The disadvantage with this unit, when pairing
it with an iPhone, is that it only runs at 5hz, but the data seemed accurate enough. If you know other people that track, perhaps they have a unit that they’re not using. I ended up buying a Catalyst for this season and just gave the unit I was using to my buddy to use.

Note that not all GPS units are compatible with an iPhone!

ProCoach

The Catalyst is certainly the easy button, in my experience.

quickboxster

As far as stuff I have on hand Trackaddict with an OBD dongle on an iPhone has worked for me.

At minimum it give you good enough video compare what you're doing with videos from fast drivers and apply.

Tier1Terrier

@quickboxster
Can you recommend for me a good, inexpensive OBD dongle that pairs nicely with an IPhone, TrackAddict, and my 991.2? Is there one with a GPS built in?