affordable lap timer

Skeeterbop

That looks awesome!

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speedworks

Wstar, pretty cool stuff. I'll admit, I am a little stupid on all of this stuff, but liked your videos. Hey, I race, and currently use a Gopro for my video, and nothing for data. Any recommendations - that can combine some of this stuff (and cheap)? I have both an Iphone and Android (wife) as options.

And here is something I have looked at, but not sure how it works, do I just download the app and use the phone as a camera?

Welcome to Harry?s GPS LapTimer

wstar

I really couldn't tell you much about the iPhone options, I've only really explored this stuff on Android. To replicate what I'm doing w/ my android, it boils down to this, building up in layers here:

1) You get the app "aLapRecorder HD" from the Market on your phone. There's a free version that's limited in how many recordings it will save, and then you can buy the full-feature upgrade later if you want. Just by playing with the settings in this app, you'll figure out how to record track sessions on it with no other external devices. Just mount the phone to the windshield and hit Record and you're good to go, basically. It will interpolate from the phone's built-in GPS (low accuracy, updates once per second) for track position logging and raw speed data, and combine that with video. You can also replay your sessions inside the phone app later, and edit the track layout to add start/finish lines, section split markers, review your fastest/slowest laps/sections, etc. The replays also have overlaid gauges, etc on the phone, but it's not highly configurable.

2) If you want to add OBD-II data (currently, this is mainly for RPMs and for more-accurate speed updates (during hard braking/accel, GPS speed isn't quite as up-to-date as OBD-II-based speed)), you can buy basically any ELM327-compatible OBD-II-to-Bluetooth dongle. I like my PLX Kiwi. You do bluetooth pairing with the phone and the dongle, and then enable the devices in aLapRecorder's settings menu, and now you have this extra data in your replays.

3) If you want more accurate GPS, you buy a 5/10-Hz external bluetooth GPS unit. Again you pair it with the phone over bluetooth, and then configure aLapRecorder's settings to tell it to use the device for External GPS, and the improved accuracy is automatic for your new recordings.

Then, if you want to export data+video and lay it out on a big screen with virtual gauges, there are Export options in aLapRecorder. You could export a data-gauge blue screen, but it's slow to encode on the phone and very limited in its options, and then you still have to use video editing software PC-side to blend that with the camera video.

The route I prefer is I paid for a license to some cheap software called RaceRender 2. aLapRecorder can export all of the data into a single CSV file that imports into RaceRender 2 on your PC, and then you can lay out all of the gauges, synchronize with the raw video, and encode video (which is what generated my youtube videos linked above).

I ran down the basic costs when I first put this together over here: wstar's Journal, but basically assuming you already have an Android phone and a Windows PC for free, the rest is under $200.

As far as the GoPro goes, it's just a better substitute for recording on the phone's camera. You can disable video recording in aLapRecorder, so that it just logs the GPS/OBD-II/G-force-based data, and then mix your GoPro video with the exported data in RaceRender. You don't have to worry about timing the record button on both either, RaceRender will let you adjust the timing in sync, if you have some event that makes it obvious (e.g. blip the throttle hard on the starting grid while both are running, and then time the engine rev sound from the video with the RPM needle blipping from the data).

You could also run both the GoPro and the camera's phone for two different data views (front/rear?), and RaceRender can lay out one video embedded in the other, etc.

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speedworks

^^Ok, I think I understand most of what you said, thanks. My race car is a full-bred race car, so setup is a little different. I assume the OBD-II has to plug into an OBD-II outlet in a normal car? If so, then that is out of the question for me. And as for the GPS bluetooth (like TomTom's Iphone holder?), does that just need power and that's it? Sounds interesting, I might have to try one of these.

ChrisSlicks

I think I'm going to go with this one, is a good standalone system with solid analysis software. $400

AiM Sports - Solo

They also have a version that can log OBD-II data but it is a little pricey at $700.

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wstar

Hmm that looks like a really nice compromise solution for a cheap product that's all commercially put together. I think personally my outstanding questions about the Solo or Solo-DL system would be:

Video generation w/o the $1,000 SmartyCam: Can you overlay the data with video from a GoPro or whatever using their software afterwards? Or can the data be exported to software like RaceRender to do the same?

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ChrisSlicks

From what I understand, yes. The documentation says you can export the data in CSV format which can be imported into a data rendering program like Race Renderer.

I think the predictive lap feature is really neat, you can immediately see if you are ahead in a given sector. This is useful in a time trial so you know immediately if you blew a lap and what not to do again the next time around.

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wstar

Yeah, if you don't have an OBD-II port on your racecar, you'd have to find some other solution for individual sensors or whatever.

I don't really know about TomTom and/or iPhone. The Qstarz unit I'm using has an internal battery that will go for several hours, and recharges via a Mini-USB plug, so you could just recharge it from a laptop or whatever before track time. (You also use the mini-usb to update the DGPS Almanac data and configure your rate settings, etc from a little Windows app. DGPS will work without an outdated almanac, but you get the very best results by being sure it's up to date before a track day (the almanac data lasts about a week or so)).

In my car, I just velcro down the GPS unit to the dash. For in-car power for the GPS unit and my phone, I put a dual-USB thingy in the center console 12V socket and I ran a micro-USB cable under the dash to my phone and a mini one for the GPS. Really not necessary though, you could pre-charge them and run on batteries.

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sig11

Harry's Lap Timer and the TomTom cradle make a great pair. My friend who runs NASA TT here in the Great Lakes/Midwest region says he gets within a few hundredths of his official transponder times. Here's the kind-of output he gets from his iphone camera and Harry's laptimer:


I've been using it as well but haven't had time to edit any video... Just picked up a wifi Kiwi PLX to go with it for next season as well. I figure the price difference from that setup to a Traqmate can go right back into fuel/pads/tires.