Rick964

I've been playing with a low cost GPS system for my Palm, it uses a cheap bluetooth gps device and a piece of s/w (http://www.palmgear.com/index.cfm?fu...prodID=120095). I tried with limited success at an autox and it had problems starting the lap just before I crossed the start line but I think it would work well on a track.

kilnred

Rick,

I've been using the same, had it at VIR in December and CMP last weekend. Can't beat the amount of data for the price.

http://www.schlangmann.mynetcologne.de/HarrysLapTimer/

lwilkins

Some folks mistakenly interpret "No official lap timing at DE's" for "No lap timing at DE's".

If you record your own laps, I don't think it makes much difference whether you use a stopwatch on your steering wheel or a G2X. The thing is, there's no lap sheet published with everyones' lap times at a DE, which is markedly different from a Club Race.

And if you record your own laps and even if everyone records their own laps, there is the variablity of different systems (AX22 or DL1 or G2X, etc.).

I own one of these and have tried and am very familiar with the other kind. Even comparing my displayed results while on track with my analysis results, I've inadvertently varied my own lap times in playback/analyze mode just by where I place the Start Finish line. So there is really no good way to compare yourself with others, at least within about 2/10ths of a second, without "official lap timing" where everyone on the track is absolutely on the same system, with the same S/F.

jaydubya

I use the MaxQData system for both data acq and lap timing, works great.

http://www.maxqdata.com/MQGPS.htm

$299.

Gary R.

It's up to the PCA Region how to interpret it. Some absolutely forbid the use of any in-car timing system and enforce it, some forbid and use the don't look/don't tell format (but will NOT allow a beacon to be put up such as UltraLap/HotLap, etc.). Others interpret it the way I believe it should be.. "This is not a timed event"; meaning it isn't done by the Region, recorded, displayed, etc..

aeshultz

JayDubya;
Can you tell us more about the MaxQData? It's getting right doen there to the UltraLap price. No real time display, but.....

jaydubya

You need their GPS unit and software for $299 plus a Windows-based PDA, preferably one with bluetooth if you don't want to have a cable between the GPS unit and the PDA.

It does do real-time lap times, just like nearly all GPS based units, but you have to lap the track once first to set up a virtual beacon. Once you have the coordinates for a virtual beacon for a track, you never have to do this again. My initial reason for buying the unit was real-time lap timing and it works very well for this purpose.

I use it with my PDA phone, but you can get a much cheaper PDA with bluetooth used for about $200. I have a little holder that I purchased that mounts the PDA to the dash so it is clearly visible while racing (www.proclipusa.com). However there are certainly other options for mounting.

I don't do any analysis of the GPS data on my PDA, but rather I do it at home on the big screen of my PC. They have their "Chart" analysis software available for both the PDA and the PC.

Let me know what else you want to hear about the system.

MaxQData recommends the Dell Axim PDAs - check Ebay for "Dell PDA bluetooth".

RonCT

A friend uses TraqMate and it really is an impressive system. It's expensive, but if you want good data, it might be your best option (or something like it). He started with just the GPS system and could analyze the sessions with the software. Very easy to use, everything is in the car (if you hard wire it, very hard to even detect you have it). The problem he had was you got great data, but could not attach visual markers with what happened at every point of every lap. "Why was my entry speed so much better that lap than the other?" Once he added the video module, it all cleared up. He could see when he was held up by another car, if he lost traction at a particular point, etc.

jaydubya

I am not familiar with the Traqmate system, but there is a software package called TrackVision that integrates GPS data with video. It supports several different systems including MaxQData and costs $125.

It still seems like a bit of work to put both sources of data together. If the Traqmate system did that automatically it would be really nice.

Phokaioglaukos

All of these systems benefit a great deal from synched video, it seems to me. How else do you allow for traffic effects or that groundhog darting out?

RonCT

Google traqmate, traqmate video, etc. and you'll find the official site, screen shots, even some video showing actual user data / video.

http://traqmate.com/ecommerce/os/cat...products_id=55

Here's one example of video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HCU9kwdWs0
This guy doesn't have the RPM sensor hooked up...

There's so much more to the data side than you see in the video because there are charts, graphs, replay (real time lap progression on the data charts / maps), etc.

aeshultz

JayDubYa;
Thanks- I was just on their site and saw that. I use a Blackberry, so I'd have to add the Pocket PC, which makes it a $500 system. Still...
Do you have any trouble with the 5K sampling limitation? Resolution OK at track level?

Gary R.

Also, how does it transfer to the PC? I'm guessing you need to add Bluetooth to that too?

jaydubya

aeshultz - you should be able to pick up a PDA for about $200 on Ebay.
5 Hz is plenty for road racing and autox. Time and spatial resolution is very good. I can post some screen shots of the data if you want or email you a file that you can play with by downloading their "Chart" application software.

Gary R. - To transfer to the PC, you simply connect your PDA to the PC with the cable that comes with it. This is almost always a USB connection. Once hooked up, you see all the files on your PDA in Windows Explorer. Just drag and drop. Alternatively if you are using an SD card on the PDA you could plug that into a card reader on the PC, but I don't see any advantage to that approach. You don't need an SD card since the files are not big at all. The biggest ones I've collected are 1 MB.

Gary R.

Thanks Jay, i'm not a "PDA guy", wasn't sure of how they interface. Would you mind emailing me the data? I'll grab the software.