R20 BTG - 200 Cup Track Car Blog

[R20BTG]

Very little done on the car recently, the weather has been so bad with various storms hitting us one after the other, I haven't even been bothered to take the cover off it and have a look. I've just had no motivation to look at cars or motorbikes.

Life has mainly been about work, kids, half term, and more work. Took my Star Wars obsessed 6 year old lad to London to meet Yoda and R2D2.





I got a GoPro Hero 8 Black for Christmas, so I've swapped out my old Hero 3+ for the new one. Supreme ran a new 2 x USB 12v supply to behind the passenger seat, so I'll be running a USB-C cable up the diagonal of the cage to charge this one. I've also locked the exposure to the windscreen area so hopefully no more washed out track footage.



The Hero 3+ got relocated to the passenger side dash, and will be a rear-facing passenger and driver cam. Supreme re-routed the switched live battery eliminator kit to this area so the camera will take power from the car. I did look at getting a 3D printed roll cage mount for this installation, but instead I went for the official GoPro swivel ball head mount which seems to be spot on for the job. A 3M sticky pad is holding it to the windscreen.



One last thing I never took a picture of was the 2 x USB charging points that Supreme installed within the glove box. As I have the custom carbon dash panel and stripped interior, I don't have the cigarette lighter in the console any more, so I had nowhere to charge devices. I now have this installed in the glove box, so hopefully I'll be able to use Harry's lap timer app tucked away in the glove box, recording track position and OBD2 input, then fiddle around later to add the footage. I've never done this before, so I'll have to learn about video editing along the way.



I think I'll rig up some kind of phone holder, or elastic cargo net solution inside the glove box to stop the phone from sliding around. I'm not a fan of having it mounted on the dash whilst on track. It's distracting and potentially unsafe if it comes flying off.

 

[R20BTG]

Still haven't been out in the car this year, and to be honest with how work is at the moment I suspect the Croft club date is likely to be my first of 2022.

In recent news, I sold my motorbike, it just wasn't getting used and with two young kids I thought I'd quit while I'm ahead. I lost my dad at a young age and I'd hate to be that guy. So yeah, she's gone to a new home:



I'd like to get into making some in-car videos with data overlay and picture-in-picture so I've wired up another rear facing camera. I got a bargain on eBay picking up another GoPro Hero 8 black for £100. The audio apparently doesn't work but that's fine because I didn't need it anyway. I'll take the main audio feed from the front-facing Hero 8 and this will be a picture-in-picture rear view mirror.

The Hero 8 doesn't have a great design for charging whilst recording, because the charging point, SD card slot and battery are all housed behind the same door.



This door needs to be open to access the USB-C charging point, which means the battery risks coming loose and if that happens the camera powers off. The solution, after much research, is this 3rd party door which clips onto the camera in place of the OEM door. This allows the door to close, seal off the SD card slot and hold the battery in place, but keeps the USB-C slot accessible. Obviously this loses the waterproof rating of the camera, but that doesn't matter in this application:



I ordered a frame case and a new SD card to go inside the camera, and mounted it above the boot hatch opening. I've run a 4m braided USB-C cable into the shell and out of a hole to pick up the loom, back to behind the passenger seat where the second USB-C charging point is located. This gives permanent 12v feed to the camera, meaning all 3 cameras in the car are now powered by the car. Running out of battery isn't going to be an issue.





Don't worry about the cable ties @R27WTF they're trimmed nice and neat after these photos were taken.

 

[LiamP]

Bargain, got a link to the door?

 

[R20BTG]

Bargain, got a link to the door?

HUAYUWA Chargeable Battery Lid... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B083SNJNC1/?tag=clio197-21

 

[R20BTG]

Here's a first draft of a telemetry and video template I've been working on for future track day videos. I've built it using software called RaceRender3 which is quite a powerful video and data overlaying process. I'll make it clear that this is just a template for now, using footage recorded back in November at Donington Park as a background to play with. This allows me to add data templates on top of the existing footage but I don't have the data to match the footage here (which is why everything is registering zero on this screenshot).

I've added rev counter and speedo to the bottom central area. Rev counter matches the 200 Cup clocks as best I can using the in-built clocks editor in RaceRender. The yellow is matched to the 200 Cup dial colour and the font is as close as I've found for now. Within the dial editor I've tweaked the min and max rpm values, added the redline zone starting at 7500rpm and rotated the dial so it starts and finishes in the correct locations.

The speedo uses the same font and again is matched as best as I can to the dials in the car (removing the km/h values). The actual dials in the car go all the way to 150+mph which is a little ambitious (!) so i've topped them out at 140mph instead. There is a small digital speed readout on the dial itself.

Between rev counter and speedo is a digital gear reading, I'll have to see whether I can get this working in the software I plan to capture data on. I'm not sure whether this is an OBD2 data output or whether the software will need to calculate it using speed and gear ratios. If it doesn't work, I'll remove it.

Bottom left is a G-Force meter which will read current and peak in all axis directions. Bottom right will be a throttle and brake trace. Throttle will hopefully have a percentage reading on it, whereas I understand the OBD2 output for brakes is binary ON/OFF, but should do for this application.

I've added a small picture-in-picture at the top to act as a rear-view mirror, this is where the rear facing camera will be synchronised. I might also add a passenger cam view in another picture-in-picture frame if I can get it to look good, maybe top left area.

I might also tweak the location and angle of the main forward-facing camera to get the windscreen a bit more in view, but I do like the steering wheel view I have now. The software also allows track map, and lap times but I'll play with these as we progress.

The plan is to buy a bluetooth OBD2 adapter that will stream live data to my phone in the glove box. This will capture and record the data on a specific app, I haven't decided which one yet, as there are a few (Harry's Lap Timer, RaceChrono Pro, TrackAddict to name just three). They tend to have in-built track databases which allows stuff like sector splits, corner names etc.

I may improve the GPS accuracy and sampling rate with a standalone GPS receiver, but to start with I'll use the GPS and accelerometer on the phone. Then the data and footage all gets stitched together at the end and rendered into a new video. It's a bit of a manual process but hopefully worth it.

If anyone has any questions or suggestions let me know!

 

[burrellbloke]

I have recorded some track laps using Harry's Lap timer. I have found that the phone GPS is okay, but the slow data feed from a bluetooth OBD2 port means that my overlays on Harry's Lap Timer sometimes are out of synch or just have not updated quick enough. For example if I have braked sharply the speedo may still look like the car is still accelerating.

This looks like a nice project.

 

[R20BTG]

Are you using Harry's to record and overlay data at the same time? Or are you overlaying the data in post-processing? I've seen a bit of delay on the former but I think doing it manually after the fact you can get it perfectly aligned. Here's hoping!

 

[burrellbloke]

No record the video and data, then post process it and create the overlay on the video. I think is probably something to do with my £12 dongle.

 

[R20BTG]

I think is probably something to do with my £12 dongle.

 

[jimmybell]

enjoying reading this thread! Nicely done and great for inspiration... although i can see this getting expensive - and i'm relatively clueless as to where to begin (and where to stop...).

 

[bedoef]

For this level of data and tracking you will 100% need a standalone GPS receiver. The 1Hz refresh in your phone is only good enough for navigation. I used to use my phone + RaceChrono and I can tell you the track location and speed data will be all over the place, and only give you a decent indication of what you were doing at the time.

I picked up a bluetooth GPS dongle that runs at 10Hz and that vastly improved the quality of data for my laps, but still has some issues. I have just purchased a Racebox dongle on Kickstarter that will do 25Hz, so looking forward to finally nailing down the accuracy of my data.

 

[burrellbloke]

I have been playing around with Race Render, some GoPro footage, and Harry's Lap Timer data that I already had. I was curious to see what information I could add as an overlay on top of the original footage. The data from Harry's Lap Timer is okay - as I had already been pointed out the data capture via the OBD2 port is at a slow rate. The GPS data is embedded in to the GoPro footage so that is not very accurate either. I could use the GPS date recorded by Harry's Lap Timer on my iPhone as an alternative. I am not expecting the data to be perfect and it is more for entertainment value than precise race analysis.



I have been able to use data from Harry's Lap Timer to show the timers on the right bottom of the picture, the rev counter, temperature, the speedo, the gear shift light and the current gear. The GPS from the GoPro shows the track map and location of the car in the top left. I cannot get the fuel gauge reading to work yet.

The two bars to the right of the rev counter are throttle and brake pressure - but I have not been able to extract and brake pressure data. Harry's Lap Timer uses their own formula to guess at brake pressure which is a proprietary calculation that I cannot extract to Race Render. If I use Harry's Lap Timer to create the overlay it will show brake pressure. After a quick search of the internet it seems that most OBD2 devices struggle to get brake pressure readings without specific PIDs.

The throttle bar shows how much pressure is being applied to the pedal and when the throttle is fully depressed the bar goes green and rises from the bottom upwards.

I am not sure there is a suitable substitute bit of data such as linear deacceleration that could be used for brake pressure - or how to extrapolate that information yet.

 

[needforspeed]

I use the OBDLink Mx+ with the Qstarz BL-1000GT with Race Chrono both work with IOS and Android

 

[burrellbloke]

I had been using Harry's Lap Timer to start my GoPro recording and stop it. I have come to the conclusion that when errors occur I loose footage.

Now I have got a cage in the car I have got a GoPro pointing forwards and one backwards. They are GoPro Hero 6 cameras. I picked up a GoPro smart remote in the week for £25 from eBay. The remote is a nice bit of kit that can work any GoPros that are linked to it. The smart remote will turn on the cameras even if they are powered off. With a single press of a button it can start both of the cameras recording.

I think I will try Harry's Lap Timer to collect data from the car and lap times and not use it to activate the front facing camera. I can use Race Render and it's wizard to synchronise the front and rear footage with the data. I will power the cameras from a dual USB cigarette lighter power adapter and use the smart remote to start the stop the recordings when I leave the pit lane and come back.

Provided this system works I might upgrade by £12 OBD2 dongle.

 

[bedoef]

I use the OBDLink Mx+ with the Qstarz BL-1000GT with Race Chrono both work with IOS and Android

How did you get that OBD reader to work? Every one I have tried on mine fails to get anything from the car.

 

[needforspeed]

How did you get that OBD reader to work? Every one I have tried on mine fails to get anything from the car.

Literally just plug it in and works from the get go

 

[R20BTG]

The last part of the data acquisition puzzle arrived today in the form of a Dual XGPS160 external GPS receiver. This a 10Hz GPS receiver that is recommended by HP Tuners as compatible with the TrackAddict Pro software.



Here's the set up in the car now:

Camera 1 - Forward Facing
Camera 2 - Driver/Passenger Cam
Camera 3 - Rear Facing
GPS Data - Dual XGPS160
Vehicle Data - Veepeak BLE OBD2
Data Recording & Processing - HP Tuners app 'Track Addict Pro'



If this all goes to plan then I'll put the raw data and footage together in Race Render after the track day. The XGPS160 has been mounted on the passenger side A-pillar roll cage gusseting, with USB power taken down into the glove box:



I now get strong GPS and OBD data logging via the Track Addict Pro app:




The Veepeak BLE OBD2 dongle seems to be able to record the following 14 data channels from the Clio. The ones highlighted in light grey are the ones that I've chosen to capture:



This appears to give a data capture rate of 2.0Hz, not the best, but it'll have to do. Altitude, speed and heading are being taken from the XGPS160. X, Y and Z acceleration I understand is taken from the iPhone's accelerometer.



In theory I've now got everything I need, we'll have to see how Croft goes! GPS accuracy should improve significantly beyond the 4.65m above, this was in the garage with the door closed without any view of the sky.

 

[R20BTG]

Croft 6th May 2022

Kind of a forum day out but not as well attended as Snetterton 2021 as a few people dropped out. My first time at Croft and I must admit I really enjoyed it. It's only 1h30m from me which helps, so I went up the morning of the track day rather than the night before. @NickD had given us free garages, so I was next to @RSRowe and @Lawton438 (a.k.a the TrackBaguettes). Signing on was a bit of a chore, nothing to do with the organising but just the amount of people that hadn't read the pre-emails about the briefings, I mean, how hard can it be?! It took me two attempts with rather long queues out of the door to get my wristband. When I finally got to the desk it took all of 30 seconds because I'd done what I was supposed to have done!

Rented the Brian James A4 again and got the car strapped up the night before:



My trailer rental place have added a Race Transporter 6 to their rental fleet which is a nice bit of kit, but twice the daily rate of the A4:







This is the first track day I've done in 2022. As a reminder I've had the rear beam strengthened with solid PMS mounts since Donington in November 2021. Session 1 was just getting used to the layout of the circuit. It was also the first proper shakedown of my camera and data acquisition setup with GPS data logging etc. The data capture worked superbly from OBD2 and GPS. The only issue is the brake trace, which is not data that is being captured, instead it is being calculated somehow within the TrackAddict software. I don't know how it does it, presumably something related to deceleration and speed, but it is clear that it's not working as it shows full brake application when I'm not even on the brakes. So, ignore that.

For Session 1 the rear camera decided it didn't want to play ball. I immediately heard a whining noise from the gearbox in 4th gear during the sighting laps which put me on a bit of a downer. I decided to crack on anyway and see if it broke. More on that later. Tyres were part worn R888R in all sessions, mainly because I was lazy and couldn't be bothered putting slicks on, as I wasn't sure what the gearbox issues were.

First impressions of the rear beam work that it is a positive, noticeable different to the behaviour of the rear of the car. Not a game changer but worth doing if you're considering it. The rear of the car feels a less prone to unpredictability. Vibrations are increased a bit with the solid rear mounts (the wing mirrors vibrate at idle) but once you're moving it's fine. It just adds more noise to an already loud interior. Who cares! I noticed from watching the footage back that on occasion I get a tiny bit of rear end movement on turn in that I perhaps didn't get before, which leads to me making a small counter correction on turn in. The rear comes into play nicely in rotating the car but not in an oversteer capacity. It's nice and I think I need to get used to the new turn-in behaviour. I'm probably turning in a fraction too early because I'm used to less rear rotation.

With it being a Mazda On Track (MOT) day, there were a lot of MX5s as you can imagine, but driving standards were great all day.

Croft really suits the Clio, most corners are perfect for either 3rd or 4th, perhaps 5th if you want to try it. There's a nice 3rd gear chicane, and a nice 4th gear quick section out the back of the circuit. Only one awkward 2nd gear corner which is the last hairpin, which you need to be really patient on the throttle. Straights are not too long, but good enough to get just over 100mph in the top of 4th gear. I'd definitely go back. It just needs a bit more elevation but with it being on and old airfield, that's never gonna happen.

Another amusing observation is when I clip the kerb of the fast right hander just right, my windscreen wipers come on as the switch gets knocked down. Might have to look at this as it can be distracting.

Session 2 I went out following Martin (@Helpimonfire), who was driving around an issue with his front right damper having lost most of its fluid. Despite this it was a fun session, but after a couple of laps I think he decided he'd rather chase than lead. During this session you can see a MK2 Megane in my rear view footage unable to keep up with us.

Martin has a bit of a moment at 05:00 and shoots off down the escape road! When I noticed he wasn't in my mirrors any more I slowed down and waited for him but then got bored. He then caught up at around 13:40

Annoyingly the front facing camera filled the memory card at around 16:57 but I kept the footage running as it got some nice footage of @RSRowe hunting me down from about 19:00 onwards.

Session 3 I took Martin out as a passenger, it was his first time riding along (we tried at Donington but got scuppered by red flags). Was a decent session, the Baguettes appeared in my mirror at 04:20 and I pointed this out to Martin. Despite not being able to hear each other, he knew what I meant. I lead for a lap then conceded on the main straight. I then tried to stick with them but I just couldn't hold on despite my best efforts.

Towards the end of the session at 13:50 we spotted @EthanMenace and @burrellbloke in the distance and decided to do a bit of hunting ourselves, with Martin giving them a friendly wave as we passed!

Session 4 I offered @EthanMenace a ride, pretty uneventful session (apart from the errant wipers!), I checked in a couple of times with a thumbs up and he seemed to enjoy it. I believe harnesses and a ZPO shifter is now on the shopping list!

Some pics from the photographer:

 

[EthanMenace]

Love how you can just see me grinning the whole way round!
I definitely enjoyed it, it’s cool to see the difference between a fast road/ occasional track car like mine and an all out race car like this, thanks again for the ride!

 

[RSRowe]

I love how much effort you put into these posts.
You’re much more articulate than me

Was a cracking day. Looking forward to the next!