Liquidcooled

I am looking for something to keep track of lap times, wanted to go with a GPS timer because most track days do not allow beacons to be used at the track. Can anyone recommend a decent, and hopefully inexpensive timer.

Thanks

Van

A lot of people have the Traqmate. It's one of the cheaper ones, it's pretty intuitive to use, and you can easily swap data with your friends (who are also using Traqmate).

DA has been discussed at length here - you'll find lots of good info if you search.

ApexPerformance

Traqmate Basic is $699 retail. Set it and forget it. It will record your lap times and you download to a laptop.
http://www.apexperformance.net/CartGenie/prod-1892.htm

The $999 version includes the display mount so you can view your lap times live.
http://www.apexperformance.net/CartGenie/prod-1476.htm

RickBetterley

I don't have the Traqmate, but a lot of folks do and really like them.
I have an AIM dash, which inlcudes timing capabilities, but is way overkill for just that.
I would not be as happy with a timer that does not display current lap times, though, which means the more expensive Traqmate would be my choice if cost was acceptable.
Does the mythical SmartyCam provide real time timing? If so, that might be an excellent option when it is released in the U.S.

Circuit Motorsports

As it stands right now the SmartyCam doesn't have a StandAlone display setup so to get the lap time setup you'd need one of the AIM dataloggers with a dash to get a readout.

The Traqmate is a very good middle ground for datalogging/lap timer. Was using one just this weekend in 5 or so cars at a DE and everyone was able to learn from it.

Seth Thomas

Of the $1000 or less GPS based data devices out there, so far Traqmate is the easiest to use and the most used for a reason. It can be shown how to use it in the first 30 minutes after installing the software. It is all about keeping it simple.

P.J.S.

I keep looking at this one but have not pulled the trigger yet...
(no affiliation)

http://rlcracing.com/Documents/Track_Commander.pdf

Nugget

I like my Traqmate but the software is total crap. The data is in there, but it's sort of flaky and the UI makes it a real chore to get useful information out of it. I'd still recommend it, though.

Gary R.

MaxQData works pretty well and is quite economical, especially if you find a good used PDA cheap..

Liquidcooled

Thanks everyone, I'm going to start researching the timers mention above and hopefully have one soon.

Weston

Traqmate is awesome, widely used, easy to use, and holds its value well. It was very useful at NASA Nationals last weekend... I showed up with garbage tires for qualifying and was a few seconds off the pace. I compared data with another racer and it very quickly validated my feeling that I needed to be braking deeper, but I was doing some other sections well, and that the tires simply didn't perform in several areas. I picked up a couple of seconds by the second day, then switched to somewhat competitive tires and instantly picked up a few more seconds.

Although much of what it told me was stuff I pretty much already figured out, having that validation really saved me some time and kept me from second-guessing myself, and then it told me some other smaller things on top of that. It's really nice to be able to have solid data rather than operating with a best-guess approach. It saves me from having to blow $$$ on Test & Tune track time. It's also very helpful to know as soon as I run a good lap time, and if my current lap is shaping up to be better or worse than my others. I used that to determine when to take cool down laps in qualifying, and when to call it good and just conserve some tires and the car.

It's an expensive piece of hardware, but it pays off by helping me get the most of my track time and race on a reasonable budget.

Wreck Me Otter

http://www.rumblestripracing.com/index.html

A friend of mine designed and built these. Predictive lap timer is excellent.

fc-racer

How do people feel about the Racepak G2X? I've been researching it online, but there aren't many reviews of the unit. The dash/logger combination seems to be reasonably priced and the software seems ok too. Any thoughts?

schwank

I have the Traqmate and it works pretty well... but I am hoping to pick up a logging dash one of these days. Definitely some cool new stuff out recently!

APKhaos

Great choice. Quite a few guys bought the G2X and the IQ3 on a GB here a few months ago. Software is far more capable than the Traqmate stuff [G2X & IQ3 use the same DatalinkII software].