I just came across TrackVision, a windows app that integrates data from a data acq system with in-car video. I don’t know anything about it, but it seems interesting. TraqMate has a system for their acq system, but this one claims to support a dozen + systems.
Monthly Archive for August, 2008
This is in-car video from and E36 M3 in the regular school group from the same weekend as my racing school.
I’m going to the track formerly known at Sears Point in November. Here are a few resource links:
NorCal SAAC’s turn-by-turn guide to Sears Point (1995)
From a guy who drove an Alpha GTV in the regular driving school.
This past weekend I attended the BMW club racing school at Thunderhill. We had a variety of exercises on track, each followed by about an hour of classroom time. These built up to a “simulated racing exercise” at the end of Sunday, during the eighth track session of the weekend.
We had had practice starts, practice running side-by-side, practice passing, practice restarts, etc. Session 8 was to put it all together.
About the technique on display in the video below, did I mention I’m rusty? This is my tenth day on track after a multi-year hiatus. It’s my seventh day ever driving this car on track. And it’s my first time to Thunderhill since about 2000. So the sawing on the steering wheel through most corners (damn that wide angle lens), ignore that. Also, my entries to turn 8 and turn 14 are hideously slow, as becomes apparent at some crucial moments in the track session. And my line through 15? It’s unfortunate that I have such a crappy line through the single most important corner on the track.
Without further ado (and excuses), the video below starts with the formation for the restart and runs through the last two laps and the checked flag.
Click the image to play the video. Right click to save the video. Saving the video gives you more control over the Quicktime player settings, e.g., the size of the video window.
(For video geeks: It’s 256 x 144 at 60 frames per second (from 720p60 source) in MPEG-4 part 2 at 500 kbps with 64 kbps AAC audio, wrapped up in Quicktime, with file size of about 25 MB.)
Update:
Still don’t have the full session posted, but here’s a higher resolution versijon of the restart. Click the image to play the Quicktime video, or for best results, right click to download the clip.
Video coding details: 1280×720p original acquisition, re-coded at 512×288@59.94p in FCP using Apple’s h.264 encoder at 500 kbps with 64 kbps AAC audio inside a Quicktime wrapper for a file size of approx 25 MB. Encode time for this short clip was around 3 hours on a Mac Pro.
Update 2:
Full session from formation to checkered.
Approx. 100 MB, same coding profile as above. Right click to download for best results.
I will admit to driving briskly on the street from time to time, but I leave a massive margin for error. Among the many reasons I take it to the track to get my ya-yas out: modern race tracks tend not to have telephone poles in the run-off areas.
I saw a report about the incident below on the TV news last night. The pole they hit was indeed shattered at the base — snapped off and splintered. It’s a damn shame these kids didn’t get into a high performance driving program with one of the many car clubs in the area. And I do have to ask, who the hell gave them the keys to a Corvette?
Car Crash Kills Two Castro Valley Teens
ALAMEDA CO., Calif. (KCBS) — Shortly after midnight Monday in Alameda County, there were reports of a 1997 Chevrolet Corvette street racing a BMW. Less than an hour later both teenagers in the Corvette were killed in a high-speed crash. Officers can’t say for certain if the driver of the Corvette was racing when he crashed, but say he was driving very fast.
”Looking at the evidence at the scene, you have approximately 400 feet of skid marks on the roadway, leading up to the Corvette leaving the right side of the road. It then jumped a curb, went into a cyclone fence, struck a utility pole, and shattered that, maintaining contact with the cyclone fence for another 75 to 80 feet,” said Officer Steve Creel.
The crash was reported at about 12:45 a.m. just south of Interstate Highway 580 near the intersection of East Castro Valley Boulevard and Dublin Canyon Road.
The crash damaged about 200 feet of fence and around 15 Pacific Gas and Electric poles.
There is a possibility that the driver of the BMW could be charged in the teens’ deaths.
”The C.H.P. has taken a very aggressive stance against street racing. Obviously, as this collision testifies, street racing is very dangerous to those involved and to anybody using that road. And yes, whenever we can prosecute someone for street racing, we take that opportunity,” said Creel.
The victims, 18-year-old [redacted], who was driving, and 17-year-old [redacted] were both from Castro Valley.
I was at Thunderhill this past weekend, and plan to do some posting. For now, links to a couple threads …
Some pictures from the “stylin’” forum at bimmerforums.
Discussion of before/after new pavement/curbs from the “track” forum at bimmerforums.
I’ve been looking into some sort of wagon to carry tires, fuel jugs, etc. around the paddock. There’s an Amish supplier which goes by the name of Speedway Express that looks interesting. I may go for the 858, which is the four wheeled version of this bad boy:
It has automotive style steering rather than 5-th wheel steering, which reduces the tendency to tip in tight corners. And the bed is 26 x 58, which is plenty to allow two tires to rest flat on the bed.
And if I could train the dogs …
This car has basically the same chassis as my car, but it has a wee bit more motor than mine. It’s got a gorgeous Euro M3 engine. Click the image to zoom in, and you’ll see the right front tire slightly lifted.
Some videos coming once I have some time in front of the Mac Pro, which could be a couple weeks.