Data acquisition system to try during track days

[tanner]

Mapbviper beat me to it. I've never used anything else but dashware. It does the job. Toughest part probably getting the data synced to the video.

I lol'ed at your video description, fully agree!!

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[TheJuggernaut]

Neat, I'll have a look at dashware. Racerender works but it's got a lot of bugs. The steering wheel was a big pain to do for a simple reason - the color picker for the transparency would lock out the left mouse button... I'd have to use keyboard shortcuts to kill the app and only then it would work.

Yeah it was quite the $hitshow. My first time out with JRP, wanted to get my wife some more seat time as I'm not an accredited instructor with our club and they won't let solo take passengers. Didn't want to pay for a full 2nd fee as I just wanted to do a few laps to show her around, she let me do a full session (which sucked because the lightning cancelled the next/last one). I don't care who does what lap time but the etiquette was almost entirely absent (I reported several people for repatedly blowing by with no signal, including on the checker lap, and they were all still there so they must spend a LOT with JRP) and worse yet (ie dangerous), there is little understanding of the actual line. Most of these guys need to be under strict observation by a good instructor in a beginner group of an HPDE not throwing around a car that should be doing 1:2xs doing lap times of a rental Civic. Not around this track.

[tanner]

Grab dashware here, GoPro picked them up not too long ago and they've basically offered it for anybody to use now for free.

http://www.dashware.net/dashware-download/

[wparsons]

I've had huge issues with dashware and video/audio sync. It's such a bizarre issue, and is reproducible on multiple different computers as well.

Basically, the audio and video of the base video are in sync, but once the data is added and exported I end up with the base video out of sync with the data and audio. You can see the throttle blips in the data line up with the sound, but the main video is way out.

[Frost]

Originally Posted by TheJuggernaut

Neat, I'll have a look at dashware. Racerender works but it's got a lot of bugs. The steering wheel was a big pain to do for a simple reason - the color picker for the transparency would lock out the left mouse button... I'd have to use keyboard shortcuts to kill the app and only then it would work.

Yeah it was quite the $hitshow. My first time out with JRP, wanted to get my wife some more seat time as I'm not an accredited instructor with our club and they won't let solo take passengers. Didn't want to pay for a full 2nd fee as I just wanted to do a few laps to show her around, she let me do a full session (which sucked because the lightning cancelled the next/last one). I don't care who does what lap time but the etiquette was almost entirely absent (I reported several people for repatedly blowing by with no signal, including on the checker lap, and they were all still there so they must spend a LOT with JRP) and worse yet (ie dangerous), there is little understanding of the actual line. Most of these guys need to be under strict observation by a good instructor in a beginner group of an HPDE not throwing around a car that should be doing 1:2xs doing lap times of a rental Civic. Not around this track.

Are you talking about Mosport GP track?

[tanner]

Yes it was the Grand Prix track.

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[Frost]

Originally Posted by tanner

Yes it was the Grand Prix track.

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Huh, I never knew it was THAT bad with the JRP Speed Therapy days.

I was debating between them or BMW Trillium to get my GP fix before the end of the season...

[tanner]

I think yesterday was an exception, I've been to lots of their days, get the odd driver or group of driver that thinks they don't need to follow track rules for whatever dumb reason.

And it's not like the passing rules aren't made clear in the morning meetings and they even ask if anybody doesn't understand them.

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[TheJuggernaut]

Originally Posted by Frost

Huh, I never knew it was THAT bad with the JRP Speed Therapy days.

I was debating between them or BMW Trillium to get my GP fix before the end of the season...

It's not even close. First off JRP is a lapping day which is inherently less structured than an HPDE but this was one of the worst ones I've seen yet. I've seen worse behavior and safety but at TMP so at least the velocities and obstacles aren't so bad.

The biggest surprise to me was the passing rules in the JRP advanced group. I was thinking of asking for both of us to go in Advanced since my wife is a good driver already but then I heard the only thing that group adds in terms of passing is 3-4 (beginner is front and back straights only). So I can't imagine the trains there must be in advanced provided there are actual fast guys with fast cars, they'll have to wait a long time behind cars like the 86.

The best value in my opinion is the Trillium solo group. If you can get in then the amount of track time per dollar is unrivaled. The Friday is basically all day long and on the weekend, you have your pick of 3 run groups (A, solo and instructor). Sadly there are only 4 weekends per year and only one or two during the summer.

Another benefit of getting approved to solo with Trillium is attending the dual BMW/PCA event which is 500 bucks for 3 days of lapping with almost no passing restrictions and everyone being an excellent driver (passing side by side in 8/9/10, zero issues). And you get to watch some cool amateur racing in between.

[Frost]

Originally Posted by TheJuggernaut

It's not even close. First off JRP is a lapping day which is inherently less structured than an HPDE but this was one of the worst ones I've seen yet. I've seen worse behavior and safety but at TMP so at least the velocities and obstacles aren't so bad.

The biggest surprise to me was the passing rules in the JRP advanced group. I was thinking of asking for both of us to go in Advanced since my wife is a good driver already but then I heard the only thing that group adds in terms of passing is 3-4 (beginner is front and back straights only). So I can't imagine the trains there must be in advanced provided there are actual fast guys with fast cars, they'll have to wait a long time behind cars like the 86.

The best value in my opinion is the Trillium solo group. If you can get in then the amount of track time per dollar is unrivaled. The Friday is basically all day long and on the weekend, you have your pick of 3 run groups (A, solo and instructor). Sadly there are only 4 weekends per year and only one or two during the summer.

Another benefit of getting approved to solo with Trillium is attending the dual BMW/PCA event which is 500 bucks for 3 days of lapping with almost no passing restrictions and everyone being an excellent driver (passing side by side in 8/9/10, zero issues). And you get to watch some cool amateur racing in between.

Unfortunately, I've had a rather poor experience with the Trillium group and I'm actually hesitating to go back given the entry price point and the risk of another bad experience. I'm willing to give them another shot so I might think about the October event.

You can read my review in the "Track School" thread. I went in with an open mind but left feeling conflicted, confused and feeling kinda down.

I went back with OTA school and totally rebuilt it because my instructor had confidence in me (disclaimer: he knew me from before and is aware of what I can and can't do) and he pushed me as well.

So yeah, I'll keep your feedback on JRP in mind - it was enlightening to hear.

[TheJuggernaut]

Originally Posted by Frost

Unfortunately, I've had a rather poor experience with the Trillium group and I'm actually hesitating to go back given the entry price point and the risk of another bad experience. I'm willing to give them another shot so I might think about the October event.

You can read my review in the "Track School" thread. I went in with an open mind but left feeling conflicted, confused and feeling kinda down.

I will pass on your feedback to the president and chief instructor, they take this very seriously.

The classroom feedback is a difficult one to handle since they have to stick to the curriculum. It's entirely possible that the student has already learned all of the material on the internet and it's completely redundant. Or even if you've been in the same run group for several schools, it's a verbatim repeat. What we suggest is becoming more active when this happens, ask questions that you want answers to, bring up subjects you want discussed. You are likely not the only one. We've tried all kinds of things over the years but I think there's no good answer, in the end it's up to you to make the most of it.

With regards to sync between the instructor and class, that is a problem they've been actively working on. The problem is that there are many instructors whose style does not match the club's and they've been working on weeding them out. Last year the standards for each run group were stated explicitly and so were instructor expectations. I've seen a lot of very questionable driving and heard feedback on the information from instructors so they're not being as aggressive with this as I would like to see but it's hard enough to get enough instructors for the school so they can only do so much.

My final bit of advice if you choose to go back as I hope you do, is similar to the classroom, don't be shy about taking charge of the situation with the in-car instructor. When they say that you should not hesitate to bring up an incompatibility, they really mean it. If you're not gelling with your instructor, go talk to John and ask for a switch. I'm sure there will be hurt feelings as it's only human but they WILL understand. Sometimes it's something as simple as the tone of your voice that rubs someone the wrong way. You've paid a lot of money for the experience so unless you are behaving dangerously, you should never feel like you're having to "endure" it and the club executive will be happy to accommodate and try to make changes if they can learn from your feedback.

[mabviper]

I'll be at CTMP DDT with SPDA this Saturday. If any of you want to try the DAQ, let me know before the event.

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[mabviper]

I'll be at the final SPDA DDT event on Sept 16