Joe Weinstein

Hi all. I am trying to familiarize myself with Circuit Tools, but I find it less friendly and less capable than the analysis tool from race-technology. Has anyone else
experienced both, and ideally tried exporting/importing data in a way that
allows one program to process the data from the other?

If not, I'd be happy to pay for an hour of a Circuit Tools expert to show me
whether its possible to display VBOX and/or Porsche Precision data the way
I want.

Thanks!

Joe Weinstein

nevermind about the RT software, I found a race-technology forum, and it's been asked
many times. They don't allow csv input or any other format except their proprietary .run
file.

So it's Circuit Tools or buy a race tech logger...

ProCoach

How about a VBox logger?

Joe Weinstein

Hi Pete, yes I would like the system for its functionality but first I have to
get comfortable that Circuit Tools can show me what I want for analyzing
autocross data. I am borrowing a VBOX sport to collect some data to
pick through and to see if the PPA can work well. My first forays into
Circuit Tools with some preliminary data were not too successful for me,
so I'll be seeing if I can find someone to show me if I've missed something
in how to use it.

ProCoach

Ok, the folks at Racelogic USA are very helpful and may be able to help.

I think a large part of the value is the synced video. The VBOX Video HD2 hardware has a buffer that allows 10 seconds previous to the record trigger to be recorded, then the record trigger could be on speed (coming out of the start box, for instance), then the stop trigger could be the stop box...

Joe Weinstein

Thanks! I'll contact them. What I am hoping to get with displayed tablular data
as a list of rows, each one a different lap/run, and the columns would be for
each sector on the course, and each entry could show multiple values about
the particular run of the sector, including entry speed, average speed, exit
speed, and distance traveled. When I get decent PPA data, I would like to
see graphs, again per sector, comparing speed, throttle, brake, steering angle,
and G-forces.
Video would be great once I set it up right, to see when I'm looking ahead
compared to at what's right in front of me. It seems the car data would tell me
if I do a brake-tap instead of a lift, and how much that loses etc...

ProCoach

Sounds to me like you're used to the Race Technology way of doing things!

There is a way to export to .csv, too.

Sounds like your analysis may be a little more difficult than it needs to be, because after you set up the sectors (which can be done after the fact), you can save that "course" and compare multiple runs.

In the sector time values, which can be selected individually, those values are red if they're slower, green of they're faster and purple if they're the quickest. Within the analysis window, if you have CAN or sensor data, that data will be shown ONLY for that sector, and as many as six laps (oops, runs) can be compared.

So, the circuit tools software does have the ability to do this and to do it quite quickly and in a graphically efficient way. When you add the video (automatically synced with the sector time and sensor strip charts), you have four windows, plus a track map, possible.

Total run time and sector time spreadsheet top left, video top right, sensor strip charts for speed, delta t, throttle, brake, distance and time, as well other CAN data in the lower right quadrant and individual values (at the cursor point) on the strip chart to the lower left. All synced and linked.

The really cool thing is that when the cursor is moved, and the "position" comparison mode is selected (as opposed to time or distance), the comparison between two or more runs is justified to GPS position, which is awesome!

Joe, I think this thing would work well for you, and the information could yield strategies for improvement much more quickly. Particularly when faced with back to back runs.

-1986 BFG North Carolina Autocross Champion, E Stock

Joe Weinstein

yep. What I was able to learn from the race-technology program was
important for autocross, were cases where for two laps in a given sector,
A and B, A's entry speed was higher, average speed over the sector was
higher, and the exit speed was the same as B's, but because the line
(distance covered in feet) was 5 feet longer for A, B was faster.

And because sectors in autocross are usually highly interdependent, that
you may trade off elapsed time in one, and get it or lose it unavoidably
in the subsequent sector, because of the way you did the first. So
having the tabular data allows you to mentally combine adjacent stuff...

I will plug away with Circuit Tools and see...

ProCoach

Yes. I use this exact methodology every day at the track in CT2.