fly2low

This has been my first year with instructed driving. Did Skip Barber and multiple DEs. I am having a ball, and have my eye on racing when I have more comfort/confidence. I have been following the threads stating that data acquisition is an invaluable tool, and with Xmas coming up I have the wife primed for this idea.
Now for the really dumb questions;
1 What data to collect?
2 which vendor has the combination of completeness and ease of use?

As a reference, I have been looking at the Traqmate with Chasecam. Thoughts.

TIA

Tom W

No offense, but I don't think it's worth it until you are a more experienced driver. As a beginner, you are a long way from being able to take the car to it's limits. My $0.02 is to spend money on seat time and get more experience.

I have a Traqmate & Chasecam. It's a nice combo.

SundayDriver

If you are the analytical type, then data can help you very early in your driver development path. You are also considering video, which can often be far more help than data and easier to get answers from. I have used both.

You need to collect speed and 2 axis g forces or gps data at a minimum to know where you are on the track. Throttle position, brake pressure and steering and next. Next level, which is a pretty big step, is suspension data. For any of the levels, basic temps and pressures are valuable for troubleshooting.

As far as systems, I am not up on what is currently available. I strongly suggest you contact Ellen at Veracity in the bay area. They sell pretty much every system and have extensive experience with them.

Gary R.

If you want a good, easy to learn "starter" system that works from GPS and a PDA take a look at MaxQData at http://www.maxqdata.com/. I have a complete Bluetooth system w/ Dell X51v loaded with the latest version for sale right now ($450 shipped in the US) as i'm going to take the next (big) step up..

9-kevin-11

Another vote for MaxQData - for beginner/intermediate... It gives you more than enough info to help improve!

cooleyjb

I'd also look at the AIM XG Log or MXL Pista. It has the internal sensors for lateral and acceleration, but it also plugs into the ECU and can measure whatever data your car can send back like wheel speed sensors, throttle position etc. Plus it's a dash and can combine all the info you need into one spot, and it has programmable shift lights.

As Mark said, Veracity is a great resource for data acq./dashes. They sell it all, including chasecam now.

986

To start you would need speed, g force, and track position. (And lap time of course... but don't use that alone and let the other data do to waste...) Very soon you would want to add throttle position and braking, esp. when you begin to experiment with trailbraking. RPM also helps to figure out gearing.

All the popular GPS loggers (e.g. Traqmate, G2X, Race Technology) have these functions and much more.

Ask to see if a really good driver in a similar car (don't have to be exact, I compare with someone in an RSA) will share his data with you, and then get the same logger. Having a fast baseline to compare against is priceless.

silver44

I have been racing for about 5 years and just got my system this year. What you will find is that everyone has their favorites. I bought a Racepak unit (G2X Extreme). Much less expensive than AIM, plus it has a digital display that helps with real time data. It is GPS bases and I am very happy with it.

fly2low

Thanks guys. Just what i was looking for.

RonCT

Another endorsement for TraqMate / TraqVision. Very easy to use, plenty of meaningful data, etc. I use my Canon SD700IS camera for the video capture using a suction cup camera mount -- so I didn't really spend anything to get video ($50 for the mount). The complete TM package with video software was about $1k if I remember correctly.

amso3

I'll throw in my thoughts. Some DE groups do not allow the use of a beacon. Check with the clubs you plan to run with. If they do allow a beacon, AIM Pista is a great choice. If you buy a cheaper system, you'll upgrade to AIM later, if you really wan to use and learn from data. If you can not use a beacon, search for a GPS system that will provide data without a beacon.

Jerry
84-911 3.6 race car

Marc Shaw

Another vote for the TraqMate.

Marc

Gary R.

Yep, comes down to budget and what you "need". For a DE guy I HIGHLY doubt he needs more than a basic GPS system but it's all up to what you want to spend!

Geoffrey

PCA National does not have any rules prohibiting the pacement of Beacons at the track, nor does it affect the insurance of the club. Some clubs like HVR and CVR encourage the use of data acquisition and do not have an issue with beacon placement during a DE.

Don't forget that a GPS system samples at 10hz or takes a reading of the sensors only 10x per second. There are better systems that do it at 20hz, but that is rare and usually only on the more expensive DAQ systems like MoTeC (as an option). At 120mph, there is considerable distance covered between the samples, so you won't necessarily get precise sampling measurement from GPS. Depending on what you are measuring it might be good enough, but for other things, it likely won't be good enough.

rickdm

I put in a Traqmate this Fall, because I heard that it was easy to use and a good friend had one in his car so we could exchange data. Even at its most basic level you can really learn a lot. At some point in your development your buttmeter is not enough to tell you which gear and which line is really faster through key corners. I take a laptop to events and can look at the data on Saturday night in the hotel room. If there is even a little bit of geek in you, you will love it. The next step for me is to link it to a camera so I can understand some of the discrepancies I am seeing in the data.