Toyota GR86, 86, FR-S and Subaru BRZ Forum & Owners Community - FT86CLUB - View Single Post

Matt93SE · 01-11-2021, 05:48 PM

You've listed a few basic requirements for the hardware, but what are you looking to get out of said hardware?

If your main goal is getting videos with a pretty track map and data on it, then there are a number of them that will work.
Harry's Lap Timer, RaceChrono, and TrackAddict are phone apps that do video and overlay, etc.
http://www.motorsa.co.za/top-five-sm...ne-lap-timers/

Many of those apps have a data resolution limit though because the phone's GPS only updates at 1Hz. (there are add-on GPS modules that get your phone to 5 or 10hz, but they eat tons more battery). include the error built into consumer grade GPS, and your lap times and lines around the track aren't going to be terribly accurate for study and driver coaching. They are good to get started though...

So if you're interested in basic stuff and only concerned with getting the lap time accurate within a few tenths, then those types of guys are great and FREE.

If your goal is to use the data and videos to learn and improve your driving, then the sky is the limit for what you can spend and record. Of the big data guys, AIM is the most popular, but there's a dozen or so major companies out there.. AIM, Motec, Racepak, RaceLogic, Traqmate that I can think of off hand.

If you want to work on improvement and not necessarily concerned about high def video with pretty graphics, then the Garmin Catalyst is the latest widget on the market. driving coach in a box! Even guys that were already pretty good drivers were able to quickly find ways to drop time with those units. they literally tell you "brake later in turn X, or take a wider entry at turn Y. here's a screenshot of what you should see at the correct brake point. [insert photo of 100ft later on track]
https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/690726

AIM's product line seems to be the current go-to for real data because of wide installation base and a large product line. They are fairly pricey, but they do a lot and "everyone" has data you can compare. The Solo2DL is a great unit and will do everything on your list. If you want to go this way, make sure you get the Solo2DL, not the Solo2. (The DL part is the CAN bus interface)

Mating the AIM data to a non-SmartyCam takes external software. it's doable, but adds time to the process, so a quick data/video review after a track session isn't as easy. you can't just scroll through your AIM data and video to quickly find what caused that spin on lap 3.

AIM also has their proprietary SmartyCam hardware which interfaces with their data units. it starts recording when you go over 10mph or 2500rpm and dumps the data and video straight to an SD card. after you're done, pull the card out of the camera and plug it into a laptop. voila. video and data is all there and EASY. but it's expensive (Cameras are $1000 each new)

The AIM setup is easy-- find power in the dash and connect the CAN lines to one of the car's CAN busses. set up the logger (once) via laptop and configure all the CAN stream. there's basically a driver you download from AIM that gives you all the settings for the FRS/BRZ CAN bus, and it works. If you want moar data like ECU parameters, you can log them too if you know the CAN address and manually program it.

..........

My personal setup is an AIM MXP with two GoPro3 (front and rear).. I just bought a SmartyCam, but haven't gotten it installed yet.

After a session, I download the AIM data to my laptop via Wifi. The AIM data gets processed by their software and and exported to a .CSV file for video processing (this takes like 3-5 min- not hard).. Then I pull the SD card from the GoPro(s) and combine the data and video in RaceRender.

01-11-2021, 05:48 PM	#7
Matt93SE Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2020 Drives: 2013 FR-S, 2017 BRZ Location: Houston-ish Posts: 115 Thanks: 21 Thanked 108 Times in 59 Posts Mentioned: 2 Post(s) Tagged: 0 Thread(s)	You've listed a few basic requirements for the hardware, but what are you looking to get out of said hardware? If your main goal is getting videos with a pretty track map and data on it, then there are a number of them that will work. Harry's Lap Timer, RaceChrono, and TrackAddict are phone apps that do video and overlay, etc. http://www.motorsa.co.za/top-five-sm...ne-lap-timers/ Many of those apps have a data resolution limit though because the phone's GPS only updates at 1Hz. (there are add-on GPS modules that get your phone to 5 or 10hz, but they eat tons more battery). include the error built into consumer grade GPS, and your lap times and lines around the track aren't going to be terribly accurate for study and driver coaching. They are good to get started though... So if you're interested in basic stuff and only concerned with getting the lap time accurate within a few tenths, then those types of guys are great and FREE. If your goal is to use the data and videos to learn and improve your driving, then the sky is the limit for what you can spend and record. Of the big data guys, AIM is the most popular, but there's a dozen or so major companies out there.. AIM, Motec, Racepak, RaceLogic, Traqmate that I can think of off hand. If you want to work on improvement and not necessarily concerned about high def video with pretty graphics, then the Garmin Catalyst is the latest widget on the market. driving coach in a box! Even guys that were already pretty good drivers were able to quickly find ways to drop time with those units. they literally tell you "brake later in turn X, or take a wider entry at turn Y. here's a screenshot of what you should see at the correct brake point. [insert photo of 100ft later on track] https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/690726 AIM's product line seems to be the current go-to for real data because of wide installation base and a large product line. They are fairly pricey, but they do a lot and "everyone" has data you can compare. The Solo2DL is a great unit and will do everything on your list. If you want to go this way, make sure you get the Solo2DL, not the Solo2. (The DL part is the CAN bus interface) Mating the AIM data to a non-SmartyCam takes external software. it's doable, but adds time to the process, so a quick data/video review after a track session isn't as easy. you can't just scroll through your AIM data and video to quickly find what caused that spin on lap 3. AIM also has their proprietary SmartyCam hardware which interfaces with their data units. it starts recording when you go over 10mph or 2500rpm and dumps the data and video straight to an SD card. after you're done, pull the card out of the camera and plug it into a laptop. voila. video and data is all there and EASY. but it's expensive (Cameras are $1000 each new) The AIM setup is easy-- find power in the dash and connect the CAN lines to one of the car's CAN busses. set up the logger (once) via laptop and configure all the CAN stream. there's basically a driver you download from AIM that gives you all the settings for the FRS/BRZ CAN bus, and it works. If you want moar data like ECU parameters, you can log them too if you know the CAN address and manually program it. .......... My personal setup is an AIM MXP with two GoPro3 (front and rear).. I just bought a SmartyCam, but haven't gotten it installed yet. After a session, I download the AIM data to my laptop via Wifi. The AIM data gets processed by their software and and exported to a .CSV file for video processing (this takes like 3-5 min- not hard).. Then I pull the SD card from the GoPro(s) and combine the data and video in RaceRender.