Data acquisition recommendations

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V_Miyagi
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2016 4:50 pm
Club: SCNAX
Car#: 204
Location: Torrance, CA

Data acquisition recommendations

Post by V_Miyagi »

Looking for some guidance on data acq.
Goal: drive better. I look at autocross as skill development as much as competition, and I'd love to get to a better version of both smooth and quick.
Car: bone stock MX-5 ND2 GT; Yes, it's my wife's daily driver. No, it's not a GT-S.

I recall seeing a lot of folks with SoloStorm, so I'm definitely leaning that way.
The further question is video/ data.
Some recommend the Garmin VIRB 30 because of its GPS and other data overlays, others suggest pairing the SoloStorm with Race capture mk2 (CAN bus) and phone camera for the video.

These both work out to about the same cost, so any hands on feedback is happily accepted.

I loved Anthony's video on camera positioning. Is there a benefit to two cameras (Driver + cones)? If so what are cost effective units to do this?

~Brian
~Brian
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Reed Gibson
Current CSCC Overall Champion
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Club: SCNAX

Re: Data acquisition recommendations

Post by Reed Gibson »

The majority of us collecting data use Solostorm but we all have various camera setups. Personally I think a center mount camera in the cockpit is adequate for reviewing your runs and comparing them to the data.

As for the GPS hardware, I'm running Racecapture on our FRS and it was a PITA to get working. But now that it works the system communicates well between Solostorm and our GoPro. I'm not sure if the Garmin can talk to SoloStorm and provide it with it's GPS data, you'd have to ask some other guru's.

If your end goal though is to really dig into what you're doing with your inputs you'll want to prioritize a system that can read throttle, brake pressure and steering angle. Those are going to tell the biggest stories when it comes to analyzing how you're driving.
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V_Miyagi
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Car#: 204
Location: Torrance, CA

Re: Data acquisition recommendations

Post by V_Miyagi »

Reed Gibson wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2021 3:01 pm The majority of us collecting data use Solostorm but we all have various camera setups.
...

If your end goal though is to really dig into what you're doing with your inputs you'll want to prioritize a system that can read throttle, brake pressure and steering angle. Those are going to tell the biggest stories when it comes to analyzing how you're driving.
You've convinced me :) RC Mk2 is inbound to feed the SoloStorm.
~Brian
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Sean Fenstermacher
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Re: Data acquisition recommendations

Post by Sean Fenstermacher »

V_Miyagi wrote: Tue Feb 23, 2021 9:45 pm Looking for some guidance on data acq.
Goal: drive better. I look at autocross as skill development as much as competition, and I'd love to get to a better version of both smooth and quick.
Car: bone stock MX-5 ND2 GT; Yes, it's my wife's daily driver. No, it's not a GT-S.

I recall seeing a lot of folks with SoloStorm, so I'm definitely leaning that way.
The further question is video/ data.
Some recommend the Garmin VIRB 30 because of its GPS and other data overlays, others suggest pairing the SoloStorm with Race capture mk2 (CAN bus) and phone camera for the video.

These both work out to about the same cost, so any hands on feedback is happily accepted.

I loved Anthony's video on camera positioning. Is there a benefit to two cameras (Driver + cones)? If so what are cost effective units to do this?

~Brian
Garmin VIRB 30 plus Solostorm (whether w/RCmk2 or not) is recommened, as you can use the data to compare driving line between runs. If you have a faster co-driver, it will be even more useful as you will always have some faster runs to compare to.

If investing in a full Solostorm set up w/camera seems like a bit much, just any video camera that you can quickly access the video after a run works wonders. A good sized tablet is recommened (7" - 10" screen), as screen size really makes a difference in seeing the details of your own driving. Video is good at catching basic driving errors, some line choice errors, too late turn-ins, etc....You'd be surprised at how much time you can pick up with just a quick video review in between runs. If you get the Garmin Virb 30, the GPS data alone is nice and makes for good videos you can use after for YouTube. You can also pair it with an OBD2 BT dongle to add some basic telemetry in postproduction.

As far as I know, Solostorm cannot access the Garmin camera's GPS data. So you will need an external GPS. From my own experience, using multiple bluetooth devices (BT OBD2 & BT GPS) to stream data to a phone or tablet gets tricky and many times unstable. Using the RaceCapture MK2 to connect to the tablet or phone via bluetooth and then the camera via wifi makes things a bit more simple and way more stable.

I've had best results when using a dedicated tablet w/o cellular data.
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V_Miyagi
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Location: Torrance, CA

Re: Data acquisition recommendations

Post by V_Miyagi »

Awesome details - thank you.
Went for RaceCapture/Track Mk2 via BT, and will hook in a borrowed GoPro via WiFi
side note: Those VIRB cameras are hard to find these days, and expensive when I do.

First test last night had SoloStorm and the RaceCapture communicating well.
~B
~Brian
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