Monday 13th January 2003
Drivedata
Data logging and video combined
Discussion
It's an interesting point. Timing isn't allowed at a track day, otherwise insurers can claim that it's a time trial, or some other sort of competative event, so your insurance would be invalid.
However, at just about every trackday yo go to, you'll find people with in car video setups. Now, it's very easy to work out your lap time from a video, so should they be allowed or not?
James
However, at just about every trackday yo go to, you'll find people with in car video setups. Now, it's very easy to work out your lap time from a video, so should they be allowed or not?
James
It's an interesting point. Timing isn't allowed at a track day, otherwise insurers can claim that it's a time trial, or some other sort of competative event, so your insurance would be invalid.
However, at just about every trackday yo go to, you'll find people with in car video setups. Now, it's very easy to work out your lap time from a video, so should they be allowed or not?
James
I know you've been involved in organising track days whereas I'm just a punter, but I'm still surprised that anybody is at all concerned about timing at track days. If you drive wrecklessly or beyond your own abilities you should be thrown out, that applies whether you're trying to keep up with your mate or whether you're trying to get your lap times below XXX seconds. The fact that some people know how fast they are going seems largely irrelevant; all that matters is whether they are dangerous.
I can see how organisers would need to make sure that there were no official timings (because that could be seen as organising a competition) but it seems excessive to try to stop people knowing how fast they are going, and probably impossible anyway. Are they going to ban track-side videos? Wristwatches? Speedos? People counting how many laps they do in a session? Noticing the order of cars as they come past the pits?
AndrewD said: I've got a DL-90 data logger and have been told that provided I don't do any downloading or analysis on the day, I can use it to capture data which I can play with at home.
Have you got the new v3 analysis software? Picked up a copy at the show, it's got some nice new features.
It isn't the organiser that has the problem with you timing. It's the insurance companies. As we all know, insurance companies will use any excuse to get out of paying out on a claim, so if they discover that somebody has been timing at a track day (whether official or not), they might use that as an excuse to refuse a claim.
I had to write to several insurance companies to confirm what our regulations for the track days were, and they all insisted that the organisers banned ANY form of timing on the day. Now, if there is a bit of unofficial timing, and it's kept quiet, and the insurance companies never find out, then it's not a problem. But how do you know that the guy who saw your accident isn't an employee of an insurance company who happens to enjoy a track day, and he's overheard a couple of people saying that "Peter did a 1:28 last time around"?
It's up to individual organisers, but my view was that I'd put in writing to the insurance companies that timing would not be allowed on one of our days, so if I saw somebody timing, I would have to stop them. If I didn't, and there was an accident, which the insurance company refused to pay out for because my letter to them had been incorrect. Who do you think the disgruntled owner would have come after?
I had to write to several insurance companies to confirm what our regulations for the track days were, and they all insisted that the organisers banned ANY form of timing on the day. Now, if there is a bit of unofficial timing, and it's kept quiet, and the insurance companies never find out, then it's not a problem. But how do you know that the guy who saw your accident isn't an employee of an insurance company who happens to enjoy a track day, and he's overheard a couple of people saying that "Peter did a 1:28 last time around"?
It's up to individual organisers, but my view was that I'd put in writing to the insurance companies that timing would not be allowed on one of our days, so if I saw somebody timing, I would have to stop them. If I didn't, and there was an accident, which the insurance company refused to pay out for because my letter to them had been incorrect. Who do you think the disgruntled owner would have come after?
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