track day cam with data overlay

[james.a.c.911]

Hi all,

I've been doing a few track days and really enjoying them.
I'm at the stage now where i would like to improve and have notes of things to focus on when i come back to a track. I've done a decent amount of tuition (including two full days) and now find that i enjoy most doing 20/30mn with an instructor in any given day and spending the rest of the time alone in the car.



I have little spare time with work so I like to have footage of the day to be able to look back at when there is no track day in sight. To that end i bought a go pro hero, then harry's lap timer and a bluetooth GPS unit. Now in theory this would allow me to have nice 'souvernir' videos of the day but also loads of good data to pour over looking for the easy improvement areas.

However, it's such a faff connecting everything (especially when you are trying to maximize driving on the day) - in fact the go pro never connects to Harry's laptime for more than 30 seconds or so - that i have never used the lap timer and go pro in combination.

Are there any solutions which come in a bundle that allow to film at a decent quality, capture the data, overlay in the video and allow you to whatch the footage easily between sessions on a phone or Ipad? I saw the Garmin Catalyst and Aim Smartcam HD which seem good candidates (vbox HD at 2grand i cannot justify) but i'm not sure if a) the Garmin can read data from the car's OBD port (throttle and braking mainly), and b) if there is any way to review the SmartyCam footage between sessions without a laptop.

What do people here use? Is there anything plug and play on the market that does not cost a fortune? would be great to be able to watch footage between sessions and also create nice videos with data overlay when back at home.

[ecain63]

GoPro with GPS. Then use an obd dongle and phone app to record the ECU data. You can use something like RaceRender to combine the footage and data.

It's really easy once you know how it works.

[r235ban]

Completely agree with you on Harry’s app, you need to be under the age of 14 to get the damn thing connected and I am a software developer.

What go-pro do you have? The latest have GPS on board allowing you to use software such as race chrono to automatically sync location/times, however not sure if it has an iPad app.

[james.a.c.911]

r235ban said:

Completely agree with you on Harry’s app, you need to be under the age of 14 to get the damn thing connected and I am a software developer.

What go-pro do you have? The latest have GPS on board allowing you to use software such as race chrono to automatically sync location/times, however not sure if it has an iPad app.

Hi - it's a hero 3 (maybe 4). So no GPS.
Is the GPS in the later ones precise enough for accurate track times?
I'll look into whether race chrono or equivalent exist on tablet. - that could be an elegant solution though no OBD reading.

[james.a.c.911]

ecain63 said:

GoPro with GPS. Then use an obd dongle and phone app to record the ECU data. You can use something like RaceRender to combine the footage and data.

It's really easy once you know how it works.

Hi Ecain - that's kind of where i am now. Multiple devices and a piece of software required to put them all together. Am really looking for a bit more of an integrated plug and play solution. Having the GPS integrated within the camera directly certainly does help by removing one piece of kit from the equation.

[AWZ4]

I think a modern GoPro would be your best bet while being cost effective, a 7 or above. The 7 black is the sweet spot for me, will be able to pick one up fairly cheap now second hand. I believe it's GPS sensor refreshes at 18hz which is far better than most phones I believe (though stand to be corrected on this). Basically it's as accurate as you'll need for a track day.

I personally have it hooked up to the cigarette lighter by cable so it's constantly on charge so no worries about having to change batteries etc (battery life is pretty rubbish). Stays in position all day, just press record when you go out, job done. Can watch the video from the phone app though I don't believe you can get overlays until you download it later though could be wrong. The GoPro Quik app is a bit rubbish but you might be able to overlay GPS data on your phone, it's very slow to navigate though.

You can use DashWare when you get home to merge the videos together (GoPro's split video's over about 8 minutes long into chunks), extract the GPS data then pick what overlays you like (track layout, lap times, best lap, current lap + / - to your best lap throughout the lap, speed etc.). You can then also render the video out to your hard drive with all the overlays. Obviously you can't get throttle / brake inputs unless you do that separately as mentioned. Video quality is up to 4K though 1080 is plenty and saves space, 60 FPS. Quality is excellent, stabilisation is built in and works well, unlike my Iphone which I tried and shakes about everywhere and looks awful. (though this will depend on your mount obviously!). DashWare is also free which is a plus.

Personally, I found messing about with camera's, position, data on the day took away from the experience and enjoyment so now it's fit and forget and enjoy the day and can look at the footage when the day is done

Your other option is obviously Harry's Lap Timer but not used it personally so hopefully someone else will chime in with experience. The GoPro option cost me just over £100 all in for comparison (Black 7 with a few cables and accessories).

Edited by AWZ4 on Tuesday 27th July 11:54

[Smitters]

I use a Garmin camera which is deeply flawed as a handheld cam, but works well in a car and has GPS built in. It would probably be very cheap now.

One thing I would say is be aware how my computing power you'll need to faff about with videos. The camera is definitely the cheap bit - a shonky old laptop will take ages and you could easily swallow hours of time just trying to hack your footage together.

[james.a.c.911]

Thanks for all the replies!

I've done some research and it looks like the Garmin Virb Ultra 30 has 10Hz GPS as well as possibility to connect to OBDII via bluetooth - this could be the ticket. It's a lot cheaper than all the other integrated solutions that allow both GPS and OBD reading with video (Aim, Vbox, etc.). Anyone here used it? would it be possible to import the data to a third party program for data analysis (comparing sectors/ corners between laps, etc.)

[1781cc]

So I’ve just experimented with this for the first time, I have two old GoPro Hero Black 3+, Track Addict app, and a cheap £1 ODB II WiFi interface. I start the app recording on the phone, the gopros with the gopro remote, then align it all using race render.

First time doing it and it’s easy to sync. I imported the data from track addict as a csv and tweaked the start places to match. Still some refining to do on the layout to get it how I want but not a bad first attempt:

https://youtu.be/7e3vzWlNTXY

[ecain63]

1781cc said:

So I’ve just experimented with this for the first time, I have two old GoPro Hero Black 3+, Track Addict app, and a cheap £1 ODB II WiFi interface. I start the app recording on the phone, the gopros with the gopro remote, then align it all using race render.

First time doing it and it’s easy to sync. I imported the data from track addict as a csv and tweaked the start places to match. Still some refining to do on the layout to get it how I want but not a bad first attempt:

https://youtu.be/7e3vzWlNTXY

Yup, same principles used in my car. Hero 2 and Hero 3 cameras, CSV from my AiM dash and then put through RaceRender to sync. Easy job.

https://youtu.be/t8XC9cYSves

[Wh00sher]

I too use RaceRender to sync everything up. Took a while to get my head round the software, definitely written by a programmer rather than someone who works on the front end !

Needs a powerful PC, especially once you start using a couple of 4K sources and data.

I spent a lot of time customising the gauges to minimise clutter and combine them as much as possible

https://youtu.be/RNuRY7DzxHs

Be careful of data overload. It's easy to add loads of temperature gauges etc if you have them logged, but it`s not something people are that bothered about. I've done a few when I've been asked about engine, air, gearbox temps etc but that's infrequent.

[RichieG1]

james.a.c.911 said:

Thanks for all the replies!

I've done some research and it looks like the Garmin Virb Ultra 30 has 10Hz GPS as well as possibility to connect to OBDII via bluetooth - this could be the ticket. It's a lot cheaper than all the other integrated solutions that allow both GPS and OBD reading with video (Aim, Vbox, etc.). Anyone here used it? would it be possible to import the data to a third party program for data analysis (comparing sectors/ corners between laps, etc.)

I'd like to change from my GoPro Hero 6 Black as the audio often drops out. Does anyone know if you can connect the external mic adapter to the Garmin with the case on?

[NardoRS]

I’ve used Garmin Virb ultra which was easy to use and gave good quality video. The Garmin editing suite is good and it’s easy to add your data (speed, laptime etc.) at that point.
This year I moved on to an AIM Smartycam linked to a Solo 2DL logger which is hardwired to the CAN bus. The video and data is automatically overlaid and recorded on to an SD card, just pop it out the camera and view it on your laptop. It’s an expensive setup but a valuable tool in evaluating your laps.
https://youtu.be/YkBG6CisBK0

[james.a.c.911]

NardoRS said:

I’ve used Garmin Virb ultra which was easy to use and gave good quality video. The Garmin editing suite is good and it’s easy to add your data (speed, laptime etc.) at that point.
This year I moved on to an AIM Smartycam linked to a Solo 2DL logger which is hardwired to the CAN bus. The video and data is automatically overlaid and recorded on to an SD card, just pop it out the camera and view it on your laptop. It’s an expensive setup but a valuable tool in evaluating your laps.
https://youtu.be/YkBG6CisBK0

Hi Nardo. that's great to hear, you have both setups i've been looking at.
3 questions for you:
- with the Garmin, can you view laps on a tablet with the data on the day? Is all the data on the SD card or do you need to plug the camera into a laptop?(my only laptop is a work one so looking for something tablet friendly)
- with the AIM set up i assume if you have an SD card reader on your table it's the same, you can just view the video (ie it's a clean video file with all the overlays in a default format)?
- Do you know if the data from the AIM and Garmin can be easily read by data analysis apps? (lap comparisons, etc)

thanks!

[NardoRS]

Hello James,
With the Garmin you do need to plug the camera into a laptop with the Garmin editor on; the data and video is saved separately and you decide what to overlay in the editor. It’s good software but not something you’d want to do trackside between sessions.
The AIM smartycam cam overlays everything you select beforehand (speed, laptime, g meter etc) automatically. After a session pop out the SD card into your reader and you can view your laps.
When you hook it up to the AIM Cam RaceStudio suite there are evaluation tools. I have a Solo2 datalogger that gathers ecu, gps, g force data and sends it to the Smartycam which is automatically overlaid (that’s how I’ve got throttle position, rpm, brake etc.).
There’s a lot of good info on the Aim uk website and they have good tutorials on their YouTube channel. Also there’s always someone in the office to chat over the phone!

[Steve H]

If you want you actually use the data for your improvement then video vbox is the answer. Yes it’s costly but it’s extremely easy to use and very effective at helping you see where time is being made or lost. There’s a reason that it’s pretty much the default option for club and national racers.

VBox Lite is perfect for the job but if you are used to HD and feel it’s necessary then you would need to spend a bit more.

The in car OLED display is also an amazing tool for seeing how different lines etc influence your pace in real time but obviously this would be more suitable for a testday than a trackday .

On cost/value it’s also worth remembering that this kit holds decent second hand value so a £1300 kit would still fetch £800-1k in three years time if you didn’t need it any more.

[Digga]

Do it the cheap, easy, idiot proof way and make sure the in-car camera is aligned to show the rev counter, speed and and, of course, the TC off dash light. Job jobbed.

[james.a.c.911]

Super helpful answers from everyone.

@NardoRS - got you. This makes me want to go ffor ths smarty cam with both the GPS and OBD plug.

@SteveH - i looked at the Vbox and you are right much easier than anything else trackside (they also have an Ipad app). Just struggling to justify the cost, especially as i do like having good quality video to watch.

I'm thinking i could always go the cheap Garmin route and have harry's lap timer on my phone to look at the data trackside on the day.. but i want the AIM set up at this stage, tough i don't do enough trackdays to justify it.

@Digga - I hear you. but i like tech gadgets and stuff! Can't do the TC off dash light thing though as no TC, only ABS on the car

Edited by james.a.c.911 on Tuesday 24th August 14:15