GoPro in car video camera for track day, pt 2.
 

Okay, I purchased the GoPro Hero camera. It comes in a overly fancy display case, but it seems to work as well as it is packaged.

The camera itself is roughly 1"x2", and needs to be placed in the waterproof/shockproof casing in order to mount it. It doesn't seem to affect the audio recording.

It comes with a variety of mounting options; for me, mounting on the inside windshield seems best. It mounts firmly, and the image stabilizations works pretty well.

It has a setting for high and low audio recording. You kinda have to play with it to see which one works best.

It will support up to a 2gb SD card, and after a couple of email exchanges with the manufacturer, they recommend you use either NiMH or lithium batteries, as the alkalines don't hold steady voltage, and will cause the camera to stop recording. Also, they said that on a pair of AAA Energizer Lithium batteries, you should get up to 5hrs of straight recording on the camera, which should last me a whole weekend of DE. We shall see. On a 2GB SD card, you can only get up to 55min of recording though, so either bring more cards, or keeps clearing them after each run.

One drawback: Windows Vista can't play the video back with audio on media player. Some codec error perhaps? I thought I had purchased a defective camera, but GoPro said that the playback will work on Quicktime (which I verified taht you can hear the audio on Quicktime). They said they were working on resolving the issue on Media player.

The camera and mounts are all in one package, which I purchased off ebay for $179.00, no tax, no S&H from a motorcycle parts dealer, fast shipping. I bought my SD card at Fry's for $10. I can let you know who the dealer was if you're interested. Still a cheaper option than the Boxster roll bar camera mount for roughly $199, plus I still need to throw in my own camera.

My DE is this weekend, so I'll update when it's over.

Thanks for your post - I am very interested in this solution. Would love to see some of what you record at your DE event to help me judge if I want to go this route.

What does the image quality look like?

Here's the first test of the camera:
 

70-110 punch, windows down, hardtop on, windy day.

Video seems pretty stable at speed.

The audio setting was on high, so I would suggest you switch to low audio recording, otherwise you'll get too much audio breakup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEoPrGX_dIU

It's personal preference, of course, but I like the camera to be mounted further back, like on the roll bar. This allows for more visual cues than windshield mounting.

In order to learn the most from a DE, you want to see what your hands are doing (inputs) as well as their result (ie. the view out the windshield). This allows for a wider field of vision on playback, not to mention that you don't have something distracting your vision as you drive.

I'm very leery about securing to your windshield with only suction cups for a HSDE (might not even be allowed). A more secure mount should be found for HSDE use.

Just my $.02.

Looks very interesting. +1 on being able to see hand position and head position as a learning tool.

Great - thanks for posting. The quality looks pretty good. I think I am going to have to get one of these...

JRad, I agree....
 

Since I have a hard top, I'm considering mounting it to the back windshield and facing the unit forward, so I can watch my hand positions too.

The suction cup is EXTREMELY firm, there's no play in it at all, once you stick it on and lock it to the windshield. It's one of those 3" cups, and the lock takes out all of the air in it. We'll see how well it holds up.

I'll post more on it after this weekend.