BMW M3 Forum (E90 E92) - View Single Post - track data acquisition systems / your experience

dogbone · 11-28-2015, 01:50 AM

I use two systems of timing in my car. I started with Harry's Lap Timer on my iPhone and then later got an AIM Solo DL. They each do things that I like so I've continued to run them both.

Software: Harry's Lap Timer (HLT) - Grand Prix Edition
Hardware: iPhone 5S
Camera: GoPro2
GPS: Emprum UltiMate GPS (via a Lightning adapter) 5Hz refresh
Data Collection direct from car: None
Export/import compatibility: Yes - various options of export. You cam send a lap directly to another iPhone with HLT, email, dropbox, etc.
Method of data overlay onto video: Done inside HLT with imported GoPro video

Notes: I've enjoyed using HLT for the last 4 years. Learning curve is very low/almost none. With the external Emprum GPS device attached, it's very accurate--usually within 1/10 second of the transponder. It provides immediate feedback as soon as you hop out of your car. No downloading to a computer necessary.

When you set up a track, you can create as many sectors as you like and it shows you a theoretical best from those sectors. I usually set up 3-4 sectors per track. Also, if you always keep laps with the fastest sectors, you can see what your fastest EVER theoretical lap is, from all your visits to that track.

If you mount it on your windshield and have HLT record video on the iPhone, it can immediately overlay data on a video of the lap as soon as you're done driving. No fuss.

My favorite analysis feature is the page shown below. You can compare any lap to any other lap at the same track and see where you gained and lost time. You can zoom in on that page and focus tightly on any section of the track. The left image shows data from the whole track. You can see the Buttonwillow profile in the background. The numbers up the left side show speed which is indicated by the red and white lines which are the two laps. The red lap is the Reference lap and the White lap is what I'm comparing it to. The numbers at the bottom show distance. The numbers up the right side show the time difference between the two laps which is indicated by the light gray area that fills the background. The image on the right shows zooming in on a portion of the track which is indicated by the orange highlight on the Buttonwillow profile. I zoomed in on the section from the bottom of Phil Hill to the front straight. What these two charts are showing is that the white lap was within about .25 seconds of the red lap through Phil Hill, but then starting after Phil Hill, the white lap lost significant time---about 1.1 seconds. And you can look at the speed profiles to see why.

HLT video overlays are nice because they're clean, and they spoon feed you your fastest speeds on straights and slowest speeds in corners as pop up graphics. Nice!

Importing GoPro videos isn't too hard into an iPhone. First, on my Mac, I find the video of the specific lap I want and save it as it's own video. Then, using an iPhone app called "DC Copy" (free), I copy the video to the iPhone. Then I add the video to the HLT lap. Then you find the finish line as the sync point for the video and then render it. And that's it.

Issues: Whenever I sync a GoPro video, in my experience, I have found that HLT has always had a bug in it when trying to synchronize the Finish Line in the GoPro video to the data. For some reason, when I navigate to the Finish line and select that as the sync point, the data in the finished rendered video is one second off (the data is early). I ALWAYS need to find the Finish line and then go exactly 1 second later, and then choose that as the synchronization point "finish line". If I choose the 1-second-after-the-Finish-line point, then the data syncs perfectly with the Finish line.

Conclusion: The owner of HLT is very responsive on email. Nice guy. If you have an issue, he responds. If you go to a new track and create a good new track profile that isn't already in HLT, you can submit the profile and he adds it to the list of tracks available for download and you get credit. I've done that for several tracks. Pretty cool.

Cost: HLT $28, Emprum GPS $100 (I don't include GoPro or smartphone)
--------

Device: AIM Solo DL
Camera: GoPro4
GPS: Built-in 10Hz refresh
Data Collection direct from car: Tap into CAN bus
Export/import compatibility: Yes - various options of export. I use .CSV for export to video overlay program.
Method of data overlay onto video: RaceRender app on Mac.

Notes: The AIM Solo DL captures a TON of data when it's connected to the CAN bus. I like it because it's easy to glance at quickly while driving. I find that HLT needs a moment to blink and finalize your lap time before you really know what it is. The AIM very confidently flashes it up quickly so that you can just make a brief glance over at it. I find that the AIM is quite accurate too.

Using the AIM in the car is pretty simple----turn it on. At the beginning of the day, if it has more than one profile for the track you're at, you just need to select which one you want. That's it. It's on autopilot after that. But, you can only analyze data after you've downloaded it to a pc----no on the spot glance at data when you hop out of the car other than lap times.

The data analysis features are impressive, but the learning curve with the "Race Studio 2" (RS2) software is steep. RS2 is a funky Windows-only program. (I use Fusion with Windows XP on my Mac to run it ). Here's a pic of a typical RS2 screen:

There is a TON of information being shown on the pic above. Three laps from two different days are being compared. We're looking at Brake Press, Lateral G's, GPS Speed, and time gaps between the laps. So you can compare where you're braking on each lap and compare how much you brake and how you brake, see speed differentials, compare G-forces achieved in corners. And there's tons more you could look at. All the way on the left you can see other available parameters like Steering Angle, brake pressure on each corner, oil and water temps, Temp Outside, Gear, Fuel, etc. It keeps going and going.

But it doesn't end there with the software. Basically, the software can do ALL KINDS OF STUFF. It's just not apparent when you first look at it. And the software tech support people are quite helpful. They provided me custom equations that can calculate ft/sec acceleration. You can add these calculations to the program and they become another parameter that you can analyze. Ultimately, you need to decide what you want from the program and then the tech people can show you how to mold the software to your needs. There's even a replay animation page where you can run two laps in realtime and watch how the two little oval blobs gain and lose time against each other as they race along the track profile. Here's a pic of the replay screen. You can see the blobs entering Sweeper at Buttonwillow. The two blobs are 1.09 seconds apart at this point. The pink blob pulled away after Phil Hill.

Anyway, the software is powerful, but it does not present a beautiful interface that invites you in. It is quirky and a lot of features are hidden or not plainly obvious.

Making videos with AIM data overlays are a bit of a process. I use RaceRender and created my own set of gauges. It took quite awhile for me to come up with a set of gauges that I liked. And i feel like I keep making adjustments to it. Anyway, it's more involved making a video with data overlay in RaceRender than it is with HLT. I've streamlined it quite a bit, but it still takes a fair amount of effort. With HLT, I just lined up the finish line and I was good to go. But with AIM, I have RPMs to match to the microphone recording, and sometimes even the real RPM needle on the dash if I'm using in-car video. Having to sync to that is quite a bit more effort. Then you have to make the background gauge images appear at the same time as the data, etc. But, in the end, you have more options and more control using the AIM data and RaceRender.

Issues: I find that when the AIM device has a lot of laps in it's memory----meaning many track days from different tracks, it gets a bit flaky. I found that if I delete the laps from the device once I've downloaded them onto the pc, it's rock solid.

I've found that the lap profiles provided with the AIM software have bad Start/Finish line GPS coordinates--at least for the tracks I visit in California. They seem quite far off to me. I have created my own profiles at the tracks I go to, and I used Google Earth to generate the GPS coordinates for the Start/Finish lines. The "GPSManager" app is where you deal with track profiles. One of the things I did when I made my own tracks was to make sectors directly in the lap profiles. This is important because then you have sectors that make sense built into the track profiles and they appear in the RS2 software. This allows you to see theoretical bests easily.

Conclusion: Using the AIM in the car is quite simple. The overall experience using the AIM requires quite a lot more work and effort than HLT. But, there is a lot more to be had with the AIM. So, most of the time I put in the effort with the AIM. And I've learned the Race Studio 2 software enough to the point where I can really dig in and look at my driving performance----or lack of performance….

Cost: AIM Solo DL MSRP $699, RaceRender Ultimate version (Mac or PC) $50. (I don't include GoPro). For tapping into the CAN bus, you may need to go to a shop for that. EAS did that for me.

11-28-2015, 01:50 AM	#2
dogbone Colonel 5391 Rep 2,815 Posts Drives: '09 E90 M3 - IB Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: 93 million miles from the Sun iTrader: (1) Garage List 2009 BMW E92 M3 [0.00] 2009 BMW E90 M3 [0.00]	I use two systems of timing in my car. I started with Harry's Lap Timer on my iPhone and then later got an AIM Solo DL. They each do things that I like so I've continued to run them both. Software: Harry's Lap Timer (HLT) - Grand Prix Edition Hardware: iPhone 5S Camera: GoPro2 GPS: Emprum UltiMate GPS (via a Lightning adapter) 5Hz refresh Data Collection direct from car: None Export/import compatibility: Yes - various options of export. You cam send a lap directly to another iPhone with HLT, email, dropbox, etc. Method of data overlay onto video: Done inside HLT with imported GoPro video Notes: I've enjoyed using HLT for the last 4 years. Learning curve is very low/almost none. With the external Emprum GPS device attached, it's very accurate--usually within 1/10 second of the transponder. It provides immediate feedback as soon as you hop out of your car. No downloading to a computer necessary. When you set up a track, you can create as many sectors as you like and it shows you a theoretical best from those sectors. I usually set up 3-4 sectors per track. Also, if you always keep laps with the fastest sectors, you can see what your fastest EVER theoretical lap is, from all your visits to that track. If you mount it on your windshield and have HLT record video on the iPhone, it can immediately overlay data on a video of the lap as soon as you're done driving. No fuss. My favorite analysis feature is the page shown below. You can compare any lap to any other lap at the same track and see where you gained and lost time. You can zoom in on that page and focus tightly on any section of the track. The left image shows data from the whole track. You can see the Buttonwillow profile in the background. The numbers up the left side show speed which is indicated by the red and white lines which are the two laps. The red lap is the Reference lap and the White lap is what I'm comparing it to. The numbers at the bottom show distance. The numbers up the right side show the time difference between the two laps which is indicated by the light gray area that fills the background. The image on the right shows zooming in on a portion of the track which is indicated by the orange highlight on the Buttonwillow profile. I zoomed in on the section from the bottom of Phil Hill to the front straight. What these two charts are showing is that the white lap was within about .25 seconds of the red lap through Phil Hill, but then starting after Phil Hill, the white lap lost significant time---about 1.1 seconds. And you can look at the speed profiles to see why. HLT video overlays are nice because they're clean, and they spoon feed you your fastest speeds on straights and slowest speeds in corners as pop up graphics. Nice! Importing GoPro videos isn't too hard into an iPhone. First, on my Mac, I find the video of the specific lap I want and save it as it's own video. Then, using an iPhone app called "DC Copy" (free), I copy the video to the iPhone. Then I add the video to the HLT lap. Then you find the finish line as the sync point for the video and then render it. And that's it. Issues: Whenever I sync a GoPro video, in my experience, I have found that HLT has always had a bug in it when trying to synchronize the Finish Line in the GoPro video to the data. For some reason, when I navigate to the Finish line and select that as the sync point, the data in the finished rendered video is one second off (the data is early). I ALWAYS need to find the Finish line and then go exactly 1 second later, and then choose that as the synchronization point "finish line". If I choose the 1-second-after-the-Finish-line point, then the data syncs perfectly with the Finish line. Conclusion: The owner of HLT is very responsive on email. Nice guy. If you have an issue, he responds. If you go to a new track and create a good new track profile that isn't already in HLT, you can submit the profile and he adds it to the list of tracks available for download and you get credit. I've done that for several tracks. Pretty cool. Cost: HLT $28, Emprum GPS $100 (I don't include GoPro or smartphone) -------- Device: AIM Solo DL Camera: GoPro4 GPS: Built-in 10Hz refresh Data Collection direct from car: Tap into CAN bus Export/import compatibility: Yes - various options of export. I use .CSV for export to video overlay program. Method of data overlay onto video: RaceRender app on Mac. Notes: The AIM Solo DL captures a TON of data when it's connected to the CAN bus. I like it because it's easy to glance at quickly while driving. I find that HLT needs a moment to blink and finalize your lap time before you really know what it is. The AIM very confidently flashes it up quickly so that you can just make a brief glance over at it. I find that the AIM is quite accurate too. Using the AIM in the car is pretty simple----turn it on. At the beginning of the day, if it has more than one profile for the track you're at, you just need to select which one you want. That's it. It's on autopilot after that. But, you can only analyze data after you've downloaded it to a pc----no on the spot glance at data when you hop out of the car other than lap times. The data analysis features are impressive, but the learning curve with the "Race Studio 2" (RS2) software is steep. RS2 is a funky Windows-only program. (I use Fusion with Windows XP on my Mac to run it ). Here's a pic of a typical RS2 screen: There is a TON of information being shown on the pic above. Three laps from two different days are being compared. We're looking at Brake Press, Lateral G's, GPS Speed, and time gaps between the laps. So you can compare where you're braking on each lap and compare how much you brake and how you brake, see speed differentials, compare G-forces achieved in corners. And there's tons more you could look at. All the way on the left you can see other available parameters like Steering Angle, brake pressure on each corner, oil and water temps, Temp Outside, Gear, Fuel, etc. It keeps going and going. But it doesn't end there with the software. Basically, the software can do ALL KINDS OF STUFF. It's just not apparent when you first look at it. And the software tech support people are quite helpful. They provided me custom equations that can calculate ft/sec acceleration. You can add these calculations to the program and they become another parameter that you can analyze. Ultimately, you need to decide what you want from the program and then the tech people can show you how to mold the software to your needs. There's even a replay animation page where you can run two laps in realtime and watch how the two little oval blobs gain and lose time against each other as they race along the track profile. Here's a pic of the replay screen. You can see the blobs entering Sweeper at Buttonwillow. The two blobs are 1.09 seconds apart at this point. The pink blob pulled away after Phil Hill. Anyway, the software is powerful, but it does not present a beautiful interface that invites you in. It is quirky and a lot of features are hidden or not plainly obvious. Making videos with AIM data overlays are a bit of a process. I use RaceRender and created my own set of gauges. It took quite awhile for me to come up with a set of gauges that I liked. And i feel like I keep making adjustments to it. Anyway, it's more involved making a video with data overlay in RaceRender than it is with HLT. I've streamlined it quite a bit, but it still takes a fair amount of effort. With HLT, I just lined up the finish line and I was good to go. But with AIM, I have RPMs to match to the microphone recording, and sometimes even the real RPM needle on the dash if I'm using in-car video. Having to sync to that is quite a bit more effort. Then you have to make the background gauge images appear at the same time as the data, etc. But, in the end, you have more options and more control using the AIM data and RaceRender. Issues: I find that when the AIM device has a lot of laps in it's memory----meaning many track days from different tracks, it gets a bit flaky. I found that if I delete the laps from the device once I've downloaded them onto the pc, it's rock solid. I've found that the lap profiles provided with the AIM software have bad Start/Finish line GPS coordinates--at least for the tracks I visit in California. They seem quite far off to me. I have created my own profiles at the tracks I go to, and I used Google Earth to generate the GPS coordinates for the Start/Finish lines. The "GPSManager" app is where you deal with track profiles. One of the things I did when I made my own tracks was to make sectors directly in the lap profiles. This is important because then you have sectors that make sense built into the track profiles and they appear in the RS2 software. This allows you to see theoretical bests easily. Conclusion: Using the AIM in the car is quite simple. The overall experience using the AIM requires quite a lot more work and effort than HLT. But, there is a lot more to be had with the AIM. So, most of the time I put in the effort with the AIM. And I've learned the Race Studio 2 software enough to the point where I can really dig in and look at my driving performance----or lack of performance…. Cost: AIM Solo DL MSRP $699, RaceRender Ultimate version (Mac or PC) $50. (I don't include GoPro). For tapping into the CAN bus, you may need to go to a shop for that. EAS did that for me.
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