TrackVision in-car video
 

I've been playing around with the TrackVision software and downloading my Traqmate data into it. It produces some neat gauge overlays on the video. Have a look at my wife and I driving our EPIQ SPEQ at Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, CA.

There is several different gauge layouts to pick from. I like the way you have a heads up of the car's location on the track map. I apologize about the size of the video download (~32MB). I'm still learning the tricks on the video compression.

TrackVision Video

Thanks,

Bill P.

How accurate are the readings on the the screen compared your actual readings from the gauges?

Very cool. Thanks for posting the video. The gauge data was very interesting to watch. The most informative for me was the accel/brake graph, so I could tell what you were doing as you set up each corner.

How long have you been racing? You're very cool in the car. You made me laugh a couple of times. You know...100 miles an hour, waving to people, checking the mirrors, having a conversation with your wife, "Do you want to make something for dinner Honey, or should we just stop by Toucan Taco?" :D

I've found the GPS data of the Traqmate to be very close to the gauges in the car...actually I'm really impressed with how easy it has been to hook up.

Bill P.

thx for posting that man.
clear vid...
looks like you are having a nice relaxing sunday drive, talking to your wife,you just need hand out the window. very elaxed, i love it.

Hi Grizzly,

I've been looking at some of the other dash overlays and a few of the "hacked" dashes that users have put together are really cool. One guy has mimicked the 996 dash pod and added digital inputs for the g's, which I really like. I'm figuring out how to download these dashes right now.

My wife and I have been tracking various P-cars since 2002. We started in a 914-6, went to a 3.6 big wing, big slick 911 and have now settled on the Spec Boxster, which really is a ton of fun to drive on the track. The motor is not going to let you set land speed records, but the car is just a ball to drive on the track. Momentum cars can be just as much fun as high HP cars.

This was a very relaxed lap in the car due to a large amount of cars on the track and my wife was learning the line from me as she gets acclimated to our new toy. That lap was somewhere around a 2:16 lap, I've had the car do 2:10's at the same track, which at that pace is keeping your foot flat to the floor in several spots where we were taking it easy.

The Boxster is a very comfortable track car.

Bill P.

Now, that was cool! Someday.....................and dang, it better be someday soon!

Hey Bill

Nice! I love to watch that again and again with the in car gauge overlay. Keep more coming!

The cable modem doesn't mind the 32mb downloads!

Jeff
:D

Hi Jeff,

Yep...you gotta love Cable Modems!...(I've got one too... :D )

45 seconds and 32MB is right on the screen. My home PC is faster than my T1 line at work. :eek:

Bill P.

bill -

did you compare traqmate to the racepak G2X? i'm getting ready to purchase one, but i've never used traqmate. do you know details? thanks.

Very cool. How does that work? Do they use a video cam and GPS to track your car speed on the track and record it to video, or does the device tap into your car directly?

My choice of purchase on the Traqmate versus the AIM Pista and the G2X and others was heavily influenced by cost. I knew I wanted a GPS unit, which ruled out the AIM Pista, although I love the dash unit that you can purchase with it. And the G2X looked good as well.

I've read that the very technical users of data ack feel the the G2X is superior as it provides more channels to download various data points. The Traqmate got the nod from several users for simplicity of use, which has been true in my case. I was up and running very quickly and easily. Also, the TrackVision software was bundled with the Traqmate at the time I purchased it and seemed like a good deal.

I believe most of these data units are easy to use from what I understand. I can easily download the data after every session on my laptop and review it and make adjustments before my next session. I'm really happy I spent the money on it. It's really helped me understand more of my driving style.

Thanks,

Bill P.

TrackVision and Traqmate are separate companies. TrackVision software will work with any data logger from what I understand (or at least all of the major ones). For video, I currently use a Sony Digital DCR-IP55 which I control with a LANC by my shifter to turn on and off. I also have a wide angle lens attached to it. I then download the digital video into an MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 format. TrackVision seems to have better resolution with MPEG-2, but it may be just me.

For the Traqmate data acquisition unit, it relies on the GPS to trace a track map and locate the car on the track. It is accurate to within 3 feet. The built in accelerometers calculate the g's. You don't need a timing beacon to find a start/finish line.

To receive a tach signal, you tap into the line going to the tach and hardwire it into the Traqmate unit. It's surprisingly easy to using a sandwich splice. I tapped the wire going in the OBD-II port (port number 9) that is under the dash by the driver's left leg. There are provisions for tapping into other signals such as water temp, oil temp, brake and throttle. I haven't done any of those yet. I'd like to hardwire in throttle and brake data, as right now the braking data is calculated off of the accelerometers. The data actually isn't too bad, but I'd like the data to show left foot braking while still showing the gas pedal being pushed down.

Thanks,

Bill P.

Are you using a short shifter? Those throws/movements between shifts look really long. Just curious. :cheers:

Currently I am not using a short throw shifter on the car. As I sort the car, I'm looking into what is a weak link on each part of the car. I haven't heard much on the durability of the shifter mechanism and on the transaxle itself for a Boxster track car.

I've had them on my 914-6, and it actually made the shifting harder as the syncro's on the 901 gearbox couldn't keep up with speed of the shifts. On my 911 I had a stock shifter and didn't try a short shifter on the G50 box. For the Boxster, I've driven a short shifter street car and it was nice, but I'm not sure if it will cause the syncro's to wear faster given the speed of the shifts.

Have you heard anything concerning wear?

Thanks,

Bill P.

No, no problems from everyone I know that uses them for auto-x racing. The offer of our sponsor on this web site for the Schnell shifter seems to work well. Make sure you get the shift linkage too. The O.E.M. linkage have been known to break. They are just plastic. I preffer the B&M Shifter with the EVO shift linkage. It's basically the same except for a more notchy feeling between shifts. The Schnell is a little bit more smoother. It becomes a personal preferance after you try both of them. Hope this helps. :cheers:

how much is a decent traqmate setup? when looking at G2X, the dash with the GPS / inertial brain, RPM input and power cords is $1,000. it's CAN bus, so it's very expandible. the software is decent. the only thing i don't like is that its GPS poll rate is only like 4hz; the brain interpolates the data. G2X has an additional OBDII interface that can be purchased; this will log all system data, which is nice.