Race timing app

[Brendan-q8a4z]

Hi all,

I've been working on an app to bring race timing, updates and flags into the car for drivers as you're racing and wanted to share it here for feedback. I'm a Brit in the US so it has been designed for use in US based motorsports, but I am exploring whether it's worth making it work for a UK audience too. I am not sure whether Race Monitor is used in the UK?

I tested this a few weeks ago at Sebring for Radical Cup and Porsche Sprint Challenge and I'm interested to get more feedback from a broader audience.

Here's a video overview:

Who is it for?
- Amateur racers, particularly multi-class racing where there are a ton of cars on track and its difficult to understand your race position etc
- This is not for track days as typically they don't have timing loops running to avoid people chasing lap times

What does it do?
- Gives you live race information from the official timing system as you race
- Info includes lap times, overall and class race positions, sector times, race time remaining, current flag status (red, full course yellow, green, checkered)
- You get both a visual and audio output
- It connects to Porsche Sprint Challenge, USF, Radical Cup and Race Monitor feeds today, and I am looking to add more feeds soon

How do I use it?
- You will need to mount your phone in the car, depending on your setup, there are a variety of different ways to go about this
- If you want to use audio, you will need a bluetooth receiver and then a splitter cable. Racing Radios have a variety of options to make this work so you can hear both the audio from the app and still maintain your racing radio audio

Would love any general feedback on how useful this is for folks and also interested to find people in the UK who might want to test it out.

[shirt]

Nice(ish) idea but I think not permissible by the blue book.

Section 11.3, only lap markers allowed

https://www.motorsportuk.org/wp-content/uploads/20...

The ish was because as a driver any timing would be a distraction. We put tape over the aim solo display during a race for this reason.

[GlobalRacer]

Also this thread - https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[drmotorsport]

Phones and tablets are not permitted in cars in MSUK controlled events, also pit to car or radio comms are heavily regulated in everything except top level racing.

[freedman]

drmotorsport said:

Phones and tablets are not permitted in cars in MSUK controlled events, also pit to car or radio comms are heavily regulated in everything except top level racing.

Tablets are open to interpretation

Lots of people run Garmin Catalysts without issue, and you could say they are tablets, but perform the same function as VBox or Aim..

[GlobalRacer]

freedman said:

Tablets are open to interpretation

Lots of people run Garmin Catalysts without issue, and you could say they are tablets, but perform the same function as VBox or Aim..

I made that argument on the other thread but it's more the fact that phones and tablets can be used for live communication, live social media interaction etc that they are concerned about.

[Brendan-q8a4z]

Thanks all for the feedback.

Understood there are some hurdles with the regulations.

Outside of that, I'm intrigued to hear more from those who find this kind of thing distracting and those who find it useful. What series are you racing in and are you competitive at the front of the field or a novice who is just trying to get a handle on feel for the car?

It seems to be a split down the middle of people who don't want to know anything about their lap times at all during a race, to those who want all of the data they can get.

[shirt]

Me: midfield tin tops, occasional podium and happy at that, budget conscious as in a set of tyres need to last the full weekend so nailing that extra few tenths a lap isn’t a priority. If there’s a decent field we race, if it’s low on numbers we don’t as that’s just an expensive track day.

We have an AIM solo2 with video but I do find it distracting and I have been proven faster when it’s taped over. I think this is down to it not being something you can glance at and get meaningful info from.

I would find segment times useful for practice and quali if the display allowed a quick glance or even a summary when I’m on the main straight. For the race just a lap count and +/- of the cars immediately ahead and behind would be all I’d want to know.

[freedman]

Brendan-q8a4z said:

Thanks all for the feedback.

Understood there are some hurdles with the regulations.

Outside of that, I'm intrigued to hear more from those who find this kind of thing distracting and those who find it useful. What series are you racing in and are you competitive at the front of the field or a novice who is just trying to get a handle on feel for the car?

It seems to be a split down the middle of people who don't want to know anything about their lap times at all during a race, to those who want all of the data they can get.

We use a Garmin Catalyst, as do many others in our series Calm All Porsche)

It’s our first season, and we’re only 2 races in, and running in midfield, knowing whether you faster or slower each lap is invaluable, IMO

I and my team mate would welcome any data that was available, the flag data, as we see in WEC and IMSA would be brilliant, but I’m assuming it would all be cost prohibitive in club motorsport

[GlobalRacer]

Brendan-q8a4z said:

Thanks all for the feedback.

Understood there are some hurdles with the regulations.

Outside of that, I'm intrigued to hear more from those who find this kind of thing distracting and those who find it useful. What series are you racing in and are you competitive at the front of the field or a novice who is just trying to get a handle on feel for the car?

It seems to be a split down the middle of people who don't want to know anything about their lap times at all during a race, to those who want all of the data they can get.

I want to know my lap times in quali but it's irrelevant in the race to me. My dashboard shows all that information so I don't need another device in the car. I would think most people who want that info would have it on their dash or using an AIM Solo etc. I'm struggling to think of anyone that I know in racing who doesn't have a lap time display in car.