Fun at the track
6th Gear
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 2,064
Likes: 15
From: Silly-con Valley
If I remember correctly, one of the keys to turn 3 at TH is to stay to the inside through most of it. Don't enter on the outside where you normally would, stay to the right where the camber is better--or at least, less bad.
My best time there was a 2:35, though I've got at least 100 HP less than you do.
And it was quite a few years ago, before my MINI days.
Turn 8 is quite fun to me. I'm pretty sure my ~100 HP "other car" can go through there without lifting, but I never did get myself to stay on the loud pedal through the whole thing. A good friend tells me that a Boxster cannot get through there without a lift, as he found out. (Fortunately not by rolling the car.)
I love hearing the reports!
My best time there was a 2:35, though I've got at least 100 HP less than you do.
And it was quite a few years ago, before my MINI days.Turn 8 is quite fun to me. I'm pretty sure my ~100 HP "other car" can go through there without lifting, but I never did get myself to stay on the loud pedal through the whole thing. A good friend tells me that a Boxster cannot get through there without a lift, as he found out. (Fortunately not by rolling the car.)
I love hearing the reports!
The info on the yellowstuff pads is at: http://www.ebcbrakes.com/automotive/...ads_4000.shtml
It gives cold µ as 0.5, 0.31 at 1000F and 0.21 at 1440. That might be why the pedal needed to go down more, they're not that grippy particularly at high temps.
I'm not considering Carbotech, as they're ceramic and supposedly not compatible with normal pads. I'll probably be swapping between track and street pads.
That wouldn't be me at Lime Rock, I haven't been out on that side of the country this year.
It gives cold µ as 0.5, 0.31 at 1000F and 0.21 at 1440. That might be why the pedal needed to go down more, they're not that grippy particularly at high temps.
I'm not considering Carbotech, as they're ceramic and supposedly not compatible with normal pads. I'll probably be swapping between track and street pads.
That wouldn't be me at Lime Rock, I haven't been out on that side of the country this year.
I have heard about not mixing brake pads. Do you what problems you could have? Personally, I have swapped the Carbos with the yellowstuff and the stock pads with no problem. Just takes a while for them to become fully effective. At NJMP it took a session for the Carbos to settle in after replacing the yellowstuff pads and I was easy on them until they did settled in. Maybe I was just lucky.
Overall, I hope you find something that works for you. The last thing that you need is brakes giving you a problem when you are otherwise having a great day.
BTY - I picked up a set of half used Toyo R888 tires for next season. In looking into them, it seems that they are a good intermediate RComp step from street tires to full RComps. They have enough tread that you could probably drive them to and from the track, if needed. I bought them from a guy that sells lightly used tires like these. You might want to see if someone around you does that too.
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 3,535
Likes: 3
From: Mountain View, CA
On Friday we were at Sonoma, the track formally known as Infineon (or Sears Point for the old timers). It wasn't the best time for us, I was recovering from a cold, and my Wife had caught the cold and was suffering pretty badly from it. (That's our excuse anyway.) Here's the handy track map:
We took the new JCW to try it out on another track. I again was in the C Advanced group, and my Wife as in the B intermediate group. My previous best at Infineon was in Shawn, I'd surprised myself by managing a 2:05.4, I worked out about a second of that was somewhat illusory. I'd mixed up a couple of different lines, one line gives higher speeds long the front straight, the other gives slower speeds but takes less time to get to the start/finish line, but you lose the time after start/finish because you're traveling slower. It'd be a neat trick if you were trying for a qualifying lap, but I wasn't thinking it really counted.
My next best lap was a 2:06.4, I used that as a baseline. I reckoned the JCW should be about 2-3 seconds faster than that, so I was hoping for around 2:04. It didn't quite work out that way. Like the previous two outings in the JCW, I started out at a quite reasonable pace, faster than my average in Shawn, and was quite consistent, but never got as fast as I'd hoped. I put up about 13 laps in the 2:06-2:07 range, but the fastest lap was a 2:06.5. The fastest lap was in the third session, when I still had the stability control in DTC mode, which still has traction control (albeit somewhat more forgiving). In the later sessions, I turned off the stability control entirely (so the traction control is off), I started having a lot of wheel spin, and I had to do the traction controlling, and it seemed to slow me down a bit. My Wife's previous best lap was a 2:18.8, this time she managed a 2:18.0.
The day started out early at 8am and HOD were trying something new, the first session was only 15 min and listed as "Warm Up". It was only 42 degrees out, so we needed a little warm up, it was a bit slippy out there. I treated it as a warm up, I wasn't pushing it at all and left the stability control on. I drove about as fast as on a spirited drive on the street, I managed laps around 2:20. It was slightly complicated by a puddle just after the apex of turn 10, left over from showers earlier in the week, the day was perfectly dry and sunny. I took a later line to avoid the puddle, the entry berm at 10 also looked wet so I stayed off that. I did manage to pass a Mitsubishi Evo, I was surprised.
I'm fully expecting to be the slowest car in the C group, and my Wife the slowest in B. I would grid on the slow end to go out on track last. We'd hot swap, so my Wife would of out at the tail end of her group. For the most part this worked well for me, I had lots of clear track and didn't need to point many other cars by. Apart from the EVO, I also passed a spec Miata and a Porsche (twice) during the day. There was also a Red Ferrari I passed a couple of times, but I wasn't sure what he was up to. I heard he may have been a Ferrari Challenge race car. When I passed him he seemed to be dawdling and not trying, then later in the session I'd be suddenly jumped by him, he was going so fast I didn't notice him catching up to me. The first time he passed without a point by, not a good thing, coming out of 11 he was suddenly beside me, on the video you can see me suddenly pull to the left to avoid crashing into him. I was more disturbed that I didn't see him coming. The second time I saw him just before he passed and pointed him by.
My Wife managed to catch a lot of traffic, getting very few clear laps. She did manage to pass one Porsche. In some of her sessions, she got held up for several laps by other cars (notably a Mustang and a Spec Miata). She's not very assertive and she'd let by other cars and never have a chance to pass the slower car. My Wife also had a couple of cars pass without a point by, a Mach I Mustang and a Porsche pushed by on entry to turn 6. On the audio, she doesn't sound happy about that.
The JCW is of course faster than Shawn, and this was causing me to have to adjust my line in several places. Where it most surprised me was going up the hill to 2. This shouldn't have been such a surprise, the model I use to predict what lap time I should be able to manage relative to the previous MINI also predicts the maximum speed which should be reached. For several of the corners it predicted this quite accurately (and some of the other not so much, which probably means that's where I was losing lap time). It predicted I should be hitting 105.8 mph (up from 97). The data shows 105.5. This extra speed was making it impossible to take the same line I was before, I was just going too fast to make it over to the left of the track to enter turn 2 in the right place. After ending up mid track a couple of times I started coming around 1 and aiming for the berm on the right side of 1, hitting the brakes a bit while traveling straightish, and then turning to line up for 2. I think I overdid the braking so lost time getting to 2.
I was also having trouble with turn 2 itself. I seemed to be turning in too early, so couldn't get on the power on the way out. I tried to make myself take a later line, but never seemed to quite manage it.
Turn 5 also didn't work, I tried to take the tight line I'd managed in Shawn, and it felt like I was going to fly off the left of the track. So I started turning in later, which is more like the school line. That made making it around 5 much easier, but it looks like my fastest laps were the ones where I felt like I was in danger of flying off the track. Whichever line I took, I never seemed to be going very fast entering turn 6. I was probably losing some time here, I I'll have to work out a better line.
I had taken note of my model when it came to turn 9. In Shawn this was the fastest point on the track at 104.5mph. I was fully expecting to be hitting 110, which would make it reasonable to change up to 5th. The problem is where to change up. In Shawn I was changing up to 4th just before the esses, and carrying 4th all the way to 11. In Tristan, I was changing up on the exit from 8a. Both of those are short shifts. I decided to change up in both those places. Up to 4th before the esses and up to 5th at the exit from 8a, down the hill before hitting 9, then change down on entry to 10. That's what I did, but the effect was I wasn't going as fast as I predicted, only 105 or so round 9. I'm not sure if I'd be better off not shifting into 5th. That's something I'll have to experiment with.
After the Thunderhill track day in September, I'd noticed that the brake pads were wearing unevenly, in a wedge shape. They wore a lot more at the top of the pad (the leading edge of the pad). It seems this is actually expected, for reasons I can't quite work out. The cure would be "differential bore" brake calipers. The ridiculously oversized brakes on the JCW actually have 4 pistons pushing the pads onto the rotors (2 on each side of the rotor), what the caliper needs is larger pistons on the bottom to push the pad more and even up the wear. I'm not sure if the pistons are like that just not enough, or if the pistons are all the same size. What the uneven wear did was make me over estimate the amount of wear on the pads at the last 2 track days. I'd been measuring the thickness at the top of the pad, where it was wearing most. It seemed like the pads were almost shot and couldn't last another track day. If I average out the wear over the pad, its not worn nearly so much, and could go another 2 or 3 days, if I juggled the pads to even out the wear.
I have video, my best lap: http://btwyx.com/Movies/SonomaNov12Besti.mov
My Wife's best lap: http://btwyx.com/Movies/SonomaNov12CBesti.mov
The pro photographer was there, I have pictures: http://btwyx.com/SonomaNov12
We took the new JCW to try it out on another track. I again was in the C Advanced group, and my Wife as in the B intermediate group. My previous best at Infineon was in Shawn, I'd surprised myself by managing a 2:05.4, I worked out about a second of that was somewhat illusory. I'd mixed up a couple of different lines, one line gives higher speeds long the front straight, the other gives slower speeds but takes less time to get to the start/finish line, but you lose the time after start/finish because you're traveling slower. It'd be a neat trick if you were trying for a qualifying lap, but I wasn't thinking it really counted.
My next best lap was a 2:06.4, I used that as a baseline. I reckoned the JCW should be about 2-3 seconds faster than that, so I was hoping for around 2:04. It didn't quite work out that way. Like the previous two outings in the JCW, I started out at a quite reasonable pace, faster than my average in Shawn, and was quite consistent, but never got as fast as I'd hoped. I put up about 13 laps in the 2:06-2:07 range, but the fastest lap was a 2:06.5. The fastest lap was in the third session, when I still had the stability control in DTC mode, which still has traction control (albeit somewhat more forgiving). In the later sessions, I turned off the stability control entirely (so the traction control is off), I started having a lot of wheel spin, and I had to do the traction controlling, and it seemed to slow me down a bit. My Wife's previous best lap was a 2:18.8, this time she managed a 2:18.0.
The day started out early at 8am and HOD were trying something new, the first session was only 15 min and listed as "Warm Up". It was only 42 degrees out, so we needed a little warm up, it was a bit slippy out there. I treated it as a warm up, I wasn't pushing it at all and left the stability control on. I drove about as fast as on a spirited drive on the street, I managed laps around 2:20. It was slightly complicated by a puddle just after the apex of turn 10, left over from showers earlier in the week, the day was perfectly dry and sunny. I took a later line to avoid the puddle, the entry berm at 10 also looked wet so I stayed off that. I did manage to pass a Mitsubishi Evo, I was surprised.
I'm fully expecting to be the slowest car in the C group, and my Wife the slowest in B. I would grid on the slow end to go out on track last. We'd hot swap, so my Wife would of out at the tail end of her group. For the most part this worked well for me, I had lots of clear track and didn't need to point many other cars by. Apart from the EVO, I also passed a spec Miata and a Porsche (twice) during the day. There was also a Red Ferrari I passed a couple of times, but I wasn't sure what he was up to. I heard he may have been a Ferrari Challenge race car. When I passed him he seemed to be dawdling and not trying, then later in the session I'd be suddenly jumped by him, he was going so fast I didn't notice him catching up to me. The first time he passed without a point by, not a good thing, coming out of 11 he was suddenly beside me, on the video you can see me suddenly pull to the left to avoid crashing into him. I was more disturbed that I didn't see him coming. The second time I saw him just before he passed and pointed him by.
My Wife managed to catch a lot of traffic, getting very few clear laps. She did manage to pass one Porsche. In some of her sessions, she got held up for several laps by other cars (notably a Mustang and a Spec Miata). She's not very assertive and she'd let by other cars and never have a chance to pass the slower car. My Wife also had a couple of cars pass without a point by, a Mach I Mustang and a Porsche pushed by on entry to turn 6. On the audio, she doesn't sound happy about that.
The JCW is of course faster than Shawn, and this was causing me to have to adjust my line in several places. Where it most surprised me was going up the hill to 2. This shouldn't have been such a surprise, the model I use to predict what lap time I should be able to manage relative to the previous MINI also predicts the maximum speed which should be reached. For several of the corners it predicted this quite accurately (and some of the other not so much, which probably means that's where I was losing lap time). It predicted I should be hitting 105.8 mph (up from 97). The data shows 105.5. This extra speed was making it impossible to take the same line I was before, I was just going too fast to make it over to the left of the track to enter turn 2 in the right place. After ending up mid track a couple of times I started coming around 1 and aiming for the berm on the right side of 1, hitting the brakes a bit while traveling straightish, and then turning to line up for 2. I think I overdid the braking so lost time getting to 2.
I was also having trouble with turn 2 itself. I seemed to be turning in too early, so couldn't get on the power on the way out. I tried to make myself take a later line, but never seemed to quite manage it.
Turn 5 also didn't work, I tried to take the tight line I'd managed in Shawn, and it felt like I was going to fly off the left of the track. So I started turning in later, which is more like the school line. That made making it around 5 much easier, but it looks like my fastest laps were the ones where I felt like I was in danger of flying off the track. Whichever line I took, I never seemed to be going very fast entering turn 6. I was probably losing some time here, I I'll have to work out a better line.
I had taken note of my model when it came to turn 9. In Shawn this was the fastest point on the track at 104.5mph. I was fully expecting to be hitting 110, which would make it reasonable to change up to 5th. The problem is where to change up. In Shawn I was changing up to 4th just before the esses, and carrying 4th all the way to 11. In Tristan, I was changing up on the exit from 8a. Both of those are short shifts. I decided to change up in both those places. Up to 4th before the esses and up to 5th at the exit from 8a, down the hill before hitting 9, then change down on entry to 10. That's what I did, but the effect was I wasn't going as fast as I predicted, only 105 or so round 9. I'm not sure if I'd be better off not shifting into 5th. That's something I'll have to experiment with.
After the Thunderhill track day in September, I'd noticed that the brake pads were wearing unevenly, in a wedge shape. They wore a lot more at the top of the pad (the leading edge of the pad). It seems this is actually expected, for reasons I can't quite work out. The cure would be "differential bore" brake calipers. The ridiculously oversized brakes on the JCW actually have 4 pistons pushing the pads onto the rotors (2 on each side of the rotor), what the caliper needs is larger pistons on the bottom to push the pad more and even up the wear. I'm not sure if the pistons are like that just not enough, or if the pistons are all the same size. What the uneven wear did was make me over estimate the amount of wear on the pads at the last 2 track days. I'd been measuring the thickness at the top of the pad, where it was wearing most. It seemed like the pads were almost shot and couldn't last another track day. If I average out the wear over the pad, its not worn nearly so much, and could go another 2 or 3 days, if I juggled the pads to even out the wear.
I have video, my best lap: http://btwyx.com/Movies/SonomaNov12Besti.mov
My Wife's best lap: http://btwyx.com/Movies/SonomaNov12CBesti.mov
The pro photographer was there, I have pictures: http://btwyx.com/SonomaNov12
Btwyx - first...nice writeup. I very much enjoy your narratives. Great pictures. What are you using to make your speed/time estimates?
Does HOD offer instructors for advanced drivers like yourself? A lot of times a few laps with a second set of eyes in the car will help you to correct your line. Sometimes you can get one for just a session if things are not working out as well as you would like. I understand that in some groups the instructors take instructors out just so they can find out what bad habits they have picked up by driving by themselves.
As for the brake pads. It is natural for the leading edge to be pulled into the rotor. In part this helps to make the brakes perform better. However, as you noticed, it will produce an uneven wear and it is something that you have to watch for so you don't wind up with metal on metal. Can you switch them from one side to the other to even out the wear? IMHO the JCW brakes are not overkill, especially with the way you and your wife do hot swaps. The single piston S brakes would never handle that heat wise. The also wear the inside pad very fast and I once collapsed (bent) the pads around the pistons when the inside pads over heated. When I came off the track I was about a half a mm away from metal on metal on both wheels as a result. I am getting a BBK so that doesn't happen again. You can never have too much in the way of brakes.
I am surprised that HOD allows passing w/o a point by. Most groups encourage the drivers to let them know when that happens. That can be a real problem when you have a wide variety of cars on the track and faster car tries for the same apex as you but starts from the inside. It is not fun to ride home in the cab of a flatbed. I would be really p***ed if I had to "jump" out of the way to avoid a car that passed me w/o my point by.
Does HOD offer instructors for advanced drivers like yourself? A lot of times a few laps with a second set of eyes in the car will help you to correct your line. Sometimes you can get one for just a session if things are not working out as well as you would like. I understand that in some groups the instructors take instructors out just so they can find out what bad habits they have picked up by driving by themselves.
As for the brake pads. It is natural for the leading edge to be pulled into the rotor. In part this helps to make the brakes perform better. However, as you noticed, it will produce an uneven wear and it is something that you have to watch for so you don't wind up with metal on metal. Can you switch them from one side to the other to even out the wear? IMHO the JCW brakes are not overkill, especially with the way you and your wife do hot swaps. The single piston S brakes would never handle that heat wise. The also wear the inside pad very fast and I once collapsed (bent) the pads around the pistons when the inside pads over heated. When I came off the track I was about a half a mm away from metal on metal on both wheels as a result. I am getting a BBK so that doesn't happen again. You can never have too much in the way of brakes.
I am surprised that HOD allows passing w/o a point by. Most groups encourage the drivers to let them know when that happens. That can be a real problem when you have a wide variety of cars on the track and faster car tries for the same apex as you but starts from the inside. It is not fun to ride home in the cab of a flatbed. I would be really p***ed if I had to "jump" out of the way to avoid a car that passed me w/o my point by.
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 3,535
Likes: 3
From: Mountain View, CA
I have a spreadsheet model which does very approximate average speed calculations, then scales them for the increased power. Plug in speed/time at points around the track and the estimates pop out.
They have instructors available, you can borrow one if they're not teaching the beginners. I did at a previous Infineon track day to work on the run up to 2. I've only done that when I'm stuck, I enjoy working this out on my own.
I'm planning on doing that. The pads are symmetric up/down, so you can swap them across the rotor and then they're upside down, with the thicker part at the top.
For a street car, they're pretty ridiculous, for a track car, I'm glad we have them. The brake ducts are probably more important. The old Cooper-S brake stood up quite well for several years until we got faster, it was only the last couple of track days we had problems.
They don't in the B & C groups, its point by only. That was definitely a bad thing, I had a word with the group leader about it. I was still more disturbed that I didn't see him coming. HOD do allow passing without point by in the D advanced group (previously "race prepared"), but if you're in D, you should know what you're letting yourself in for.
Does HOD offer instructors for advanced drivers like yourself?
As for the brake pads. ... Can you switch them from one side to the other to even out the wear?
IMHO the JCW brakes are not overkill, especially with the way you and your wife do hot swaps.
I am surprised that HOD allows passing w/o a point by. Most groups encourage the drivers to let them know when that happens.
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 3,535
Likes: 3
From: Mountain View, CA
We're already signed up for a couple of track days for next year. We're going to HOD's season opener at Laguna in Feb (the 1st), and also MINI Thunder at Thunderhill (17th).
The MINI thunder should be a good introduction if anyone else fancies a go. We'll have one of the fastest cars there for a change, so any lack of performance is totally down to the driver.
The MINI thunder should be a good introduction if anyone else fancies a go. We'll have one of the fastest cars there for a change, so any lack of performance is totally down to the driver.
Your spread sheet sounds interesting and pretty creative. Do you account for aero drag? It goes up by the square of the speed. At a 100 mph that is going to make a big difference for each mph faster you go and how much Hp it takes.
Season opener? When did their season close around you? You just went and you are going again in 2 months. Good for you. We're lucky if we get a 7 mo. season here in the NE. Our option is to go ice racing...not quite the same in my book.
Enjoy.
Season opener? When did their season close around you? You just went and you are going again in 2 months. Good for you. We're lucky if we get a 7 mo. season here in the NE. Our option is to go ice racing...not quite the same in my book.
Enjoy.
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 3,535
Likes: 3
From: Mountain View, CA
The spreadsheet doesn't account for aero drag, that would be a little more complicated than I was aiming for. I was just looking for a quick and dirty estimate.
HOD's season actually ends this weekend. There's not much reason to stop during winter here, except its the rainy season. I prefer driving in the cooler months it gets a hot during summer. Our season runs about September-May. HOD have a couple more dates up now, including one for Jan 26th at Thunderhill, so Feb 1st is no longer the season opener.
HOD's season actually ends this weekend. There's not much reason to stop during winter here, except its the rainy season. I prefer driving in the cooler months it gets a hot during summer. Our season runs about September-May. HOD have a couple more dates up now, including one for Jan 26th at Thunderhill, so Feb 1st is no longer the season opener.
Btwyx - if you don't mind a few questions about what you are using for data logging. I see the Harry's lap timer - great app - What are you using on the OBDII port to get the RPM data and are you using an external antenna? Also, what program did you use to overlay the data on the video?
I started using Harry's this past season, added the Dual external antenna at 5Hz, which has been fantastic, and I added a GoPoint OBDII port reader, but I had problems with it as it would drop-out during a recording session. So I am interested in reading about the setups that others use. Thanks.
I started using Harry's this past season, added the Dual external antenna at 5Hz, which has been fantastic, and I added a GoPoint OBDII port reader, but I had problems with it as it would drop-out during a recording session. So I am interested in reading about the setups that others use. Thanks.
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 3,535
Likes: 3
From: Mountain View, CA
I started using Harry's this past season, added the Dual external antenna at 5Hz, which has been fantastic,
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 3,535
Likes: 3
From: Mountain View, CA
Amazon prime just tempted me to get the XGPS150A. I'll use it for autocross, I hadn't used Harry's for autocross previously, I didn't think it had the resolution to be useful. I'll also try it the next time we're at the track.
Thanks for the info. I will need to look into the OBD reader.
Yes, I have the XGPS150. On the iPhone 4 the accuracy goes from about 35 ft to about 6 ft. On the track I found the 1Hz sample rate would give me 2 or 3, maybe 4 samples around a corner which made for pretty rough plots. At 5 hz the results are much better defined. However, to get 5 Hz sample rate you have to do the firm ware update yourself. If you read Harry's blog about it you will note that there is some issues with getting Dual's software to work on some computers. I could not get it to work on my Vista computer but it worked like a charm on my little XP netbook. Go figure.
The XGPS150A come with a nice soft rubber pad holder that I use. I place on the dash just ahead of the defrost vents and use a little Gorilla tape to hold it in place. Works great. Only problem was, if you park the car facing into the sun, the unit will get overheated and stop working. It was fine after it cooled off.
I haven't yet used it in an autocross event. The accuracy on the iPhone is poor enough I couldn't set the start and endpoints and get them to read back to me on the test case. By the time the "Duh" came to me to use the external antenna it was too late to run around resetting everything.
Yes, I have the XGPS150. On the iPhone 4 the accuracy goes from about 35 ft to about 6 ft. On the track I found the 1Hz sample rate would give me 2 or 3, maybe 4 samples around a corner which made for pretty rough plots. At 5 hz the results are much better defined. However, to get 5 Hz sample rate you have to do the firm ware update yourself. If you read Harry's blog about it you will note that there is some issues with getting Dual's software to work on some computers. I could not get it to work on my Vista computer but it worked like a charm on my little XP netbook. Go figure.
The XGPS150A come with a nice soft rubber pad holder that I use. I place on the dash just ahead of the defrost vents and use a little Gorilla tape to hold it in place. Works great. Only problem was, if you park the car facing into the sun, the unit will get overheated and stop working. It was fine after it cooled off.
I haven't yet used it in an autocross event. The accuracy on the iPhone is poor enough I couldn't set the start and endpoints and get them to read back to me on the test case. By the time the "Duh" came to me to use the external antenna it was too late to run around resetting everything.
Last edited by Eddie07S; Dec 2, 2012 at 03:16 PM. Reason: info correction
Former Vendor
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,472
Likes: 2
From: Sterling, VA
It's a bit higher-budget than what you're currently working with, but given the amount of driving (and analysis) you're doing, you might want to look at a Race-Keeper video/data system. It simplifies a lot of the post-processing work in terms of GPS/car data/video overlay. We use it in our own track car, and love it.
--Dan
Mach V
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 3,535
Likes: 3
From: Mountain View, CA
I now have the XGPS150. I just practiced using it for autocross, it seems to work well. It does need a firmware update to run at 5Hz:
http://xgps150.dualav.com/firmwarenew.html (and a Windows machine to install the update.)
http://xgps150.dualav.com/firmwarenew.html (and a Windows machine to install the update.)
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 3,535
Likes: 3
From: Mountain View, CA
It's a bit higher-budget than what you're currently working with, but given the amount of driving (and analysis) you're doing, you might want to look at a Race-Keeper video/data system. It simplifies a lot of the post-processing work in terms of GPS/car data/video overlay. We use it in our own track car, and love it.
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 3,535
Likes: 3
From: Mountain View, CA
I came up with my own mount for the GPS, using a couple 1/4" clothesline hooks and a 6" mending plate from Home Depot. The hooks hook into the vents at the front of the dash and you can screw the plate to them. Like this:
The hooks can be left in place:
Dissasembled:
Just be careful not to drop anything down the vent. I need to paint them black so they don't reflect off the windscreen. Harry's reports 6ft accuracy using this setup, its pretty optimal for an inside mount. It worked relatively well for the autocross this weekend.
The hooks can be left in place:
Dissasembled:
Just be careful not to drop anything down the vent. I need to paint them black so they don't reflect off the windscreen. Harry's reports 6ft accuracy using this setup, its pretty optimal for an inside mount. It worked relatively well for the autocross this weekend.
Nice. That is where I mount mine, but with tape.
Did you do the firmware update yet?
If I were you, I would get one of those bendy 4 prong retriever tool things (I don't know what they are called but I have one) for when one does slip down into the vent. These also work for when you drop the brake fluid cover into to that area where the reservoir is (guess what a friend of mine did and couldn't get it out).
Did you do the firmware update yet?
If I were you, I would get one of those bendy 4 prong retriever tool things (I don't know what they are called but I have one) for when one does slip down into the vent. These also work for when you drop the brake fluid cover into to that area where the reservoir is (guess what a friend of mine did and couldn't get it out).
6th Gear
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 4,164
Likes: 399
Cheers,
Charlie
