chris walrod

CC, here you go.... The transponder is what's used worldwide...it does many things....this magical little box that is the end-all, tell-all. Some drivers hate it, the fast ones love it... It separates the men from the boys, filters out any tall tales the driver has about being 'flat through 7, honest'....you get the idea

Dont get me wrong, DAS has its place in the modern race car, by all means I agree with you. But it is not THE driver/engineer tool, just one of the tools teams have in their toobox...

chris walrod

Yeah, these cars are a bit crude by F1 standards (and budgets), but with 900hp and 4700lbs. of downforce, who's arguing

JackOlsen

It took some work for me to see the actual picture of the Holy Grail of data acquisiton. So let me re-post it:

chris walrod

Thanks Jack, I accidentally uploaded it as a word file..oops..

Greg Fishman

I agree, to use an analogy. Laptimes talk and bull **** walks.... That is why the tall tales at a DE or similar event about lap times is pretty funny when you know you are passing that same guy once or twice a session but his "best" time is signficantly faster than yours.

ColorChange

Chris W: I'm with you 100% on the "truth" of the DAS. Will you be able to offer anything on driver analysis beyond segment times? If not, let me know and I will let it go. It seams you have excellent access to some cool stuff. What is your area of expertise? Can you post a resume? Can you put me in touch with a data analysis engineer? I promise to be on my best behavior with anyone you might refer me to.

chris walrod

To be honest, we as Champ Car team, we never looked at data to improve the driver, rather to improve the car for the driver to get the most out of it, any given day of competition. In reality, racing is a different animal vs. DE.

The way I look at it, DAS is a great tool for extracting hundredth's or even tenths. Speaking of myself, I look for seconds per lap. This is why I feel driver instructing is more important for gaining seconds..

Will post more about my role later tonight as my lovely wife and I are meeting some friends for dinner, gotta go..

Robert Henriksen

So nowawadays a stopwatch is in the form of a blue box, I see.

chris walrod

CC, sent you a PM regarding your previous post.

mitch236

Your kidding, right!

Lothar

He promises to be on his best behaviour. Hopefully, that will be in stark contrast to his behaviour on this forum.

Greg Fishman

CC,
The problem I have with that article is how it only looks at a 180 degree turn and speeds/times to 500ft and 5000ft. As was pointed out many tracks only have one 180 degree turn but many 90 degree or less turns.

If I had to pick one type of turn that a high hp car would take a different line is in this type of turn. At Putnam there is a perfect example of this type of turn and your car might be better on a "double apex" line than a momentum type line. The reason I think your car might do better is not due to the power, but due to the power vs. grip, especially on street tires you will have grip issues. But on R compounds and with AWD you may find out that the momentum line is better. A friend with a C4S runs exactly the same line I will teach you. I will show you the other way but frankly don't want you to run it that way because it puts you in more danger of running off track and/or spinning.

Besides this turn I really can't think of anywhere else on that track that a car might use a really different line. Also if you drive the momentum line only on your car you will still be quick, running a different line is not neccesary to go fast, running a consistent line near the limit will be. Once you can do that lap after lap then maybe we can try the different line.

ColorChange

Greg, check out the Chris C post for more discussion. A hairpin makes it easiest to understand but the same logic applies to normal turns. I also agree about consistency first. Look forward to working with you at Putnam.

Z-man

Tim: I am curious to hear what instructor best suits you. Please respond to this question.

Thanks,
-Z.

ColorChange

Z-man: One that understands and supports the concepts of trail braking, G-sum, etc. Preferably one that is fairly technical so that it will be easier for us to communicate. One that is extremely direct and operates on a fast bandwidth (talks and thinks quickly). Ideally high powered 911 experience, a proven racer, and DAS analysis expertise. Is this what you are looking for?