My E90 M3 Dedicated Track build (with pix!)

[tdott]

Originally Posted by dogbone

rhyary was able to acquire the necessary info and get it to AIM, and AIM implemented it a couple years ago.

As it turns out, at least in my car, DCT temps are not an issue. (I do, however, have the Slon pan and the Do88 DCT cooler.)

Awesome thanks! I ordered the AiM Solo 2 DL, seems to be the best/only decent logging solution for our cars.

I have the same Slon + Do88 setup, I've only gotten the yellow dct warning once at Sebring in 100+ heat.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by tdott

Awesome thanks! I ordered the AiM Solo 2 DL, seems to be the best/only decent logging solution for our cars.

I have the same Slon + Do88 setup, I've only gotten the yellow dct warning once at Sebring in 100+ heat.

Make sure you connect the AIM to the CAN bus, not just the OBD port. There’s way more info coming from the CAN bus.

The AIM Solo 2 DL is great. Very accurate timing. And the fantastic data you get from it is unavailable to you from any other device (at least anything connected to the stock ECU).

The software takes some patience to learn, but learning it is very worth it in my opinion. Seeing the hard data that shows your behavior on something like the gas and brake pedals can be sobering.

As you learn how to read and understand the data, my advice is to just try to work on 1-3 things at a time. Don’t try to put 15 things in your head that you need to fix/improve on. It’s too much. Just go out and try to work on a couple things——-really try to clean up a jagged brake pedal pressing characteristic, or try to brake later in a certain corner, or try to carry more speed through a corner, etc. Often times, you’ll find in the data that maybe once during the day, you did a corner right. It’s clear in the data when something went right because you can see the time delta or the speed line compared to other laps. So, you can see that you can do it right, but you don’t do it consistently. That’s where the work starts—-trying to do it better consistently.

And marrying data to video can be very useful. If you don’t have a SmartyCam that instantly overlays data on video for you, it can be time consuming to make videos with data overlay on your own, but it is good to see data with video.

[kolosy]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Make sure you connect the AIM to the CAN bus, not just the OBD port. There’s way more info coming from the CAN bus.

The AIM Solo 2 DL is great. Very accurate timing. And the fantastic data you get from it is unavailable to you from any other device (at least anything connected to the stock ECU).

The software takes some patience to learn, but learning it is very worth it in my opinion. Seeing the hard data that shows your behavior on something like the gas and brake pedals can be sobering.

As you learn how to read and understand the data, my advice is to just try to work on 1-3 things at a time. Don’t try to put 15 things in your head that you need to fix/improve on. It’s too much. Just go out and try to work on a couple things——-really try to clean up a jagged brake pedal pressing characteristic, or try to brake later in a certain corner, or try to carry more speed through a corner, etc. Often times, you’ll find in the data that maybe once during the day, you did a corner right. It’s clear in the data when something went right because you can see the time delta or the speed line compared to other laps. So, you can see that you can do it right, but you don’t do it consistently. That’s where the work starts—-trying to do it better consistently.

And marrying data to video can be very useful. If you don’t have a SmartyCam that instantly overlays data on video for you, it can be time consuming to make videos with data overlay on your own, but it is good to see data with video.

out of curiosity, do you review the data in the field, or at home after? i need to get my ista laptop loaded up with their software i think, otherwise the learning value (for me) is limited since it's days or weeks before i'm back at the same track.

[tdott]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Make sure you connect the AIM to the CAN bus, not just the OBD port. There’s way more info coming from the CAN bus.

And marrying data to video can be very useful.

Thanks for the tips! The analysis of your front wheel lockup in post #931 was impressive and was exactly the type of data I was looking for to add to my setup.

I currently run a Garmin but was missing being able to deep dive into data post event, the Solo2DL should help me there and also be able to monitor temps. I only considered hardwiring it to the pt-can bus, obd2 wouldn't give me what I wanted.

I have a GoPro I use to record in car video, I think there is a way to sync that up with Solo2DL data and video overlay post event, I might try that workflow out to see how I like it, if it's too much work then I might consider adding a SmartyCam later, but I plan to keep the Garmin.

Currently competing in time trails with the M3, but building a Spec E9x to go w2w racing next year. So I should be able to switch this setup between cars depending on the event I am doing and if I continue to instruct.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by kolosy

out of curiosity, do you review the data in the field, or at home after? i need to get my ista laptop loaded up with their software i think, otherwise the learning value (for me) is limited since it's days or weeks before i'm back at the same track.

I DEFINITELY look at the data at the track. Yeah, it takes a laptop and it takes some commitment to be downloading stuff between sessions instead of hanging out and chatting with people, but it’s very useful.

[tdott]

dogbone thanks for your help, I was able to get my Solo2DL installed and setup for this past weekend at Sebring.

Took 1st place in my class and improved my PB by 1.2s on older tires.

I need to pour into the data, but I am happy with what I am seeing so far, just need to figure it all out and have my presets set up. Not worrying about overlaying data on video yet, but ill try to do that at some point in the future.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by tdott

dogbone thanks for your help, I was able to get my Solo2DL installed and setup for this past weekend at Sebring.

Took 1st place in my class and improved my PB by 1.2s on older tires.

I need to pour into the data, but I am happy with what I am seeing so far, just need to figure it all out and have my presets set up. Not worrying about overlaying data on video yet, but ill try to do that at some point in the future.

Excellent! Glad you got all that setup.

Just a few notes from what I see in this corner:
-You approached this turn quite differently on the two laps. If it's a turn you're not familiar with and you're experimenting, that's fine. But if it's a turn that you've been through many times, then you're gonna wanna work on building more consistent behavior through there. Consistency is what builds speed and reduces lap times. Plus, being consistent makes it easier to fine tune what you're doing in a corner because you can better focus on a change. If a corner is done wildly different every time, then it's hard to know what you're changing.
-On both laps, the brake chart is fairly jagged--meaning you pressed, released a little, repressed, released again, repressed, released......this on/off/on/off style of braking is very upsetting to the balance of the car.
-An ideal gas press is a smooth onset of power. It's not easy to do, but again, when you press and release and repress, you upset the balance of the car---sending weight to the front and back as you hesitate on the pedal. These are the classic standard ways that cause a car to spin. The smoother you are with the inputs, and control the balance of the car, the less likelihood there is of losing traction and spinning.
-From the straight, you came into the turn slower on the green lap, but you still exited with a higher speed on the red lap which kinda doesn't make sense. If you enter a turn slower, then you should be able to exit faster. Now, maybe the tighter line on the green lap kept your speed down. Not sure why you held such a tight exit line on the green lap.
-When you try to judge the overall result of a turn, the main question is: did you gain time or lose time compared to other laps. And you need to look at lots of other laps. And the best way to make that judgement is to look at the time delta line before you released the gas pedal on both laps, and then look again after you are on your way down the next straight. Don't look at the huge time-delta dips mid-corner and say, "oh yeah, I gained tons of time there" if you give all the time gain back on the exit of the turn. You need to look at a corner holistically. If you come blasting like a rocket into a turn, yeah, it will look like lots of time was gained on the entry, but usually, the time will be given up (and more) on exit because you have to collect the car and wait to get back on gas again. So you want to focus on what was the result of the whole turn. In this case, the red lap picked up about 0.2 sec over the green lap. But there's some things that could be improved there.

If you have questions, feel free to ask.

[Ximian]

When you do overlays of the GPS position onto Google Maps or something like that, does it look accurate with the Solo DL2? Mine usually shows me off the track a bit.

[tdott]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Excellent! Glad you got all that setup.

Just a few notes from what I see in this corner:
-You approached this turn quite differently on the two laps. If it's a turn you're not familiar with and you're experimenting, that's fine. But if it's a turn that you've been through many times, then you're gonna wanna work on building more consistent behavior through there. Consistency is what builds speed and reduces lap times. Plus, being consistent makes it easier to fine tune what you're doing in a corner because you can better focus on a change. If a corner is done wildly different every time, then it's hard to know what you're changing.

-On both laps, the brake chart is fairly jagged--meaning you pressed, released a little, repressed, released again, repressed, released......this on/off/on/off style of braking is very upsetting to the balance of the car.
-An ideal gas press is a smooth onset of power. It's not easy to do, but again, when you press and release and repress, you upset the balance of the car---sending weight to the front and back as you hesitate on the pedal. These are the classic standard ways that cause a car to spin. The smoother you are with the inputs, and control the balance of the car, the less likelihood there is of losing traction and spinning.

Those are great points! Sorry I didn't provide any background on the two laps. I really just intended to post some data, to show the fields. But yes I happened to be looking at a problem corner I've been dealing with. Turn 7 at Sebring, I'm not sure if you've made it this far South East before, but Sebring is known for being bumpy and punishing on suspensions. This particular corner has a lot of bumps in the braking zone, me/car has been having trouble where the front wheels lock up momentarily as it skips over each bump when on the brakes really hard.

After a few blown attempts at this corner in the past by over shooting into the run off, having ABS go crazy and ice me out, etc. I tend to take this corner, specifically the braking portion of it, conservatively to avoid issues. This is the first time I can look at the objective data instead of the brake later/harder feedback the Catalyst gives you.

I always felt that if I braked later I messed it up, if I braked earlier, even by a little bit because the pavement is smoother it was always too early. Because it was a time trial weekend, I only have data for like 6-8 push laps. But you bring up a good point, I should look at all of them and I haven't yet. I think I do need make a concerted effort to log data taking this corner while I try to get it right.

Originally Posted by dogbone

-From the straight, you came into the turn slower on the green lap, but you still exited with a higher speed on the red lap which kinda doesn't make sense. If you enter a turn slower, then you should be able to exit faster. Now, maybe the tighter line on the green lap kept your speed down. Not sure why you held such a light exit line on the green lap.

I think the later but steeper deceleration curve due to the difference in braking approach of the red line, results in entry to the corner at a higher speed, but I think I reached min corner speed too early or slowed too much. I did get on it earlier. So I think I lost all my gains from braking later and harder by slowing too much, too early. But I did get on the throttle earlier, which stretched out my gains to the next corner.

So I need to brake even later, but I think that is where the problem lies, if I brake later it will be directly over the bumps and I can't decelerate fast enough to make the corner.... I think,....that will need some more experimenting and logging.

Originally Posted by dogbone

-When you try to judge the overall result of a turn, the main question is: did you gain time or lose time compared to other laps. And you need to look at lots of other laps. And the best way to make that judgement is to look at the time delta line before you released the gas pedal on both laps, and then look again after you are on your way down the next straight. Don't look at the huge time-delta dips mid-corner and say, "oh yeah, I gained tons of time there" if you give all the time gain back on the exit of the turn. You need to look at a corner holistically. If you come blasting like a rocket into a turn, yeah, it will look like lots of time was gained on the entry, but usually, the time will be given up (an more) on exit because you have to collect the car and wait to get back on gas again. So you want to focus on what was the result of the whole turn. In this case, the red lap picked up about 0.2 sec over the green lap. But there's some things that could be improved there.

If you have questions, feel free to ask.

As a whole yes, I carried gains all down the next straight. But lets say, I gained under braking before turn in, but lost it all from turn in to apex, then gained more on exit. Gains in two of those 3. If I can get it right and make gains throughout the corner, then that would be ideal if possible.

Phew, thank you. That was a lot of analysing.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by Ximian

When you do overlays of the GPS position onto Google Maps or something like that, does it look accurate with the Solo DL2? Mine usually shows me off the track a bit.

I haven't used that overlay feature much, so I can't say much about it.