Australian Motorsport legend John Bowe celebrates his 40th year of racing in style by winning the Touring Car Masters in the last round at Homebush.
Using his Video VBOX supplied by VBOX Australia to give him an edge in competitive motorsport, Bowe topped off a fantastic season by securing his first championship win in over 15 years, taking two race wins at the New South Wales circuit.
VBOX Australia's David Stannus (left) joins John Bowe (right) to celebrate his championship win
This season has been a whirlwind of success for both Sally – the name of Bowe’s ’69 WesTrac CAT/ Wilson Security Mustang – and the former Australian Drivers Champion, taking 12 race wins and securing no fewer than five pole positions in the eight round series.
Talking about his win Bowe said: “Championships have never really been my priority, but in this case I made an exception because so many people and companies have helped me with the Mustang Sally project.”
Predictive Lap Timing device wins both the PMW Technology of the Year and MSA Gadget of the Year Awards 2011
The concept of predictive lap timing is not new, but until very recently racing drivers have found the traditional methods of comparing laps based on rolling distance or time too inaccurate to rely on. So the Buckingham based company designed a driver display that uses high accuracy GPS position to predict laps in real time – an innovation that has earned Racelogic not one, but two of motorsport’s most prestigious awards.
Apple are usually very keen to promote the new features their latest product will include, running to the hill and shouting as loud as they can about how their latest device will revolutionise the market.
But, with the launch of the new iPhone4S, this time Apple missed a trick. Too concentrated on promoting how the phone’s revolutionary voice control feature will help users to get the most out of their new device, they forgot to mention that the new product will now also receive signals from the Russian GPS equivalent – GLONASS – and have a drastically improved positioning feature.
Only mentioned in the tech specs the day after its celebrated launch, the ability to connect to the new Russian global navigation system was nearly forgotten… but not by us!
Alex Macindoe provides us with an insight into his racing life and shows us why it isn’t all fun and games in the Caterham Academy as he tackles yet another wet race day at Mallory Park…
“I’m sure landing from a business trip to China at 5am isn’t the best way to start a weekend of racing, but it has been my tradition all season to make it as difficult as possible so this weekend at Mallory was no exception!
“After a few energy drinks and an early morning trip up the motorway, I found myself at Mallory Park with 20 minutes to spare before the first testing session. I unloaded the trailer and setup my Video VBOX ready for the day ahead.
“Luckily I have been around Mallory before so I was able to get on the pace quickly, getting down to the low 55s by my second lap. My dad had managed to get pole with a time of 55.1 last season so of course I set my sights on beating that on race day!
“Mallory is a very small circuit – only 1.35 miles in length – with three main braking areas, so it allowed me to play around with braking in different areas on the track… I was sure I would have to when it came to race day.
As a track fanatic from a young age Adam Walker, the winner of a recent Racelogic survey ran in conjunction with the BRSCC, is delighted to be the new owner of a Video VBOX Lite system worth almost £1,000.
Currently racing in the Championship Class of the highly competitive Formula Jedi series, the born-and-bred Yorkshire man, now has high hopes he can use the video enhanced data logging system to work his way up the Championship rankings.
“I am currently 7th in the Championship Class but would love to work my way up the rankings and head the series. Hopefully my new Video VBOX Lite will enable me to improve my racing performance by providing me with a chance to analyse where I am losing/gaining time on track, find the best braking points and choose the optimum racing lines,” said Adam.
“I’ve only ever used one video capturing device in my car but I wasn’t impressed; from what I’ve seen the Video VBOX is considerably better and should allow me to capture some amazing footage and help me to move up the championship too.”
He added, “I have been on holiday for the last couple of weeks but my next race is at Rockingham on Saturday 20th August. I hope to have the Video VBOX system installed and in full use by then!”
As a company committed to helping its customers improve their racing performance using in-car video and data logging systems, Racelogic are going to follow Adam’s progress throughout the Formula Jedi series posting his videos on our YouTube channel here>
The benefits of using data-logging in motorsport are well known, but it is only in the last few years that systems have started synchronising video as well. Integrated video and data is becoming increasing popular in all areas, from trackday enthusiasts who want to learn how to improve their lap times, to professional racing drivers and teams wishing to find the last few hundredths of a second per corner or compare the effects of different suspension settings.
Tightly synced video with forward and driver facing cameras allow users a wealth of visual information to make data analysis both easy and fast. Providing a video reference for braking and turning points video enhanced data loggers also give drivers a clear understanding of what else was happening on track at the time (e.g. if you were caught behind a slower car); offering you a clear guide to driver technique.
However, with an increasing number of systems becoming available all with different features it can be confusing deciding which one is best for you.
Compiled by users at many levels of motorsport, a list of the 10 questions you need to ask when purchasing a video enhanced data logger is attainable through the link below.
Alex Macindoe gives us an insight into his racing life and how he managed to gain the lead for the very first time in the Rockingham round of the highly competitive Caterham Academy 2011 series…
“Just like my first race at Brands Hatch I had had perfect preparation for this weekend – spending the last week in Las Vegas! I landed on Friday morning with sleep deprivation and a week- long hangover but had to get my race head on, and quickly!
I drove straight down to pick up my Caterham that afternoon, which luckily had been setup and prepared so I could jump in it and race on the Saturday. It was a nice sunny day so I wasn’t jealous of the other Academy drivers in testing. Wishing for rain on Saturday so at least we would enter the race on a level playing field with all the others testing in the dry.
Following last year’s undoubted charity event success at Silverstone Circuit, Ferrari North Europe once again used Racelogic’s Video VBOX systems to provide disabled, disadvantaged or seriously ill children with a video to treasure.
On Tuesday 26th July, 50 children were taken around the national race circuit by a selection of the country’s top racing drivers, with Racelogic lending the car giant 10 of its prestigious video enhanced data logging systems to record the action as it happens.
The event was held in conjunction with two leading charities: The Variety Club, the children’s charity which has been helping improve the lives of more than a million children and young people for over 60 years, and BEN, the automotive charity which provides care, financial help, emotional support and advice for those who work, or have worked, in the automotive industry.
With each child receiving the video at the end of the day via a free USB device, the Ferrari California Experience also gave them the chance to meet reigning BTCC champion and Fifth Gear frontman, Jason Plato (pictured above), and former Revved Up presenter, Mike Brewer.
Julian Thomas, the Founder of Racelogic, said: “We were more than happy to lend Ferrari North Europe our video enhanced systems so each child could walk away from the event with something they could cherish forever.
“I loved being able to see the children with a smile on their faces and think that Racelogic contributed to putting that there!”
Each child received a 15-minute passenger ride in the £140,000 luxury sports car.
Nürbingring expert, Sabine Schmitz, tackles the world famous circuit using her Video VBOX.
Now racing in the long-distance VLN championship (or Veranstaltergemeinschaft Langstreckenpokal Nürburgring for short!), Sabine uses the state-of-the-art in-car video and data logging system in her Frikadelli Race Team car to capture all the on-track action.
Admitting to tackling the 20.8km race course more than 20,000 times, the “Ring Taxi” – as Sabine has become known to her fans – shows how it is done, grabbing pole position with a jaw dropping time of 8.20.161.
Racelogic joined forces with Car Magazine and former Stig – Ben Collins – last week, to compare the very best supercars available today in the ultimate supercar test.
Pitched with the McLaren MP4-12C, Ferrari 458 Italia, Audi R8 V10, Lamborghini’s Gallardo Performante and a Porsche 911 GT2 RS, Le Mans driver, Ben Collins, was faced with tackling Rockingham circuit in a bid to pick the best supercar on sale today.
With acceleration ranging from 0-62mph time of 3.9secs for the Audi to a mind-blowing 3.3secs for the supercharged McLaren, Racelogic’s in-car Video VBOX was set the task of capturing all the on-track action.
Alex Macindoe reports on his first ever race weekend, which began with a 100 mile journey to the circuit in his race car (complete with a break down on the way and therefore no time to practice), and ended in 6th place at a very wet Brands Hatch
Thursday – Evening Track Day
Alex: “So work finishes early today as it’s my first race weekend ever! The sprints are over, now it’s time for real wheel to wheel racing. As my Dad is also racing this weekend in Roadsports he is using the trailer, so I am left driving the 100 miles to Brands Hatch in the Caterham! I have booked the Thursday evening track session to get some practice in before Friday’s Test Day, Saturday’s Qualifying and then the big one on Sunday.
After putting on two jumpers, one coat, a hat, scarf and gloves I strap myself in for the 2 hour Caterham motorway journey. It wasn’t as bad as I thought with loads of people looking, taking pictures, kids waving from the back of their cars and even motorbike riders giving the odd wave. Then DISASTER strikes just after the Dartford Bridge….I hear this horrible noise from what I thought was the underbelly of the car.
Donnington Park echoed with the sound of a 1982 Arrow F1 car, as Nigel Greensall took to the same seat as racing heavy weights Mauro Baldi, Brian Henton, and Marc Surer in his bid to beat the cars track lap record.
Now owned and raced by Steve Hatley, achieving pole position in the recent historic F1 Monza race, the car is prepared by Mirage Engineering at Snetterton Circuit. Nigel was hired by the team to assist with car set-up improvements and compare his laps with Steve’s all via data captured on the in-car Video VBOX. Nigel achieved a stunning 1.02.09 – the best ever lap time for the car. Check it out below:
Caterham Academy driver Alex Macindoe looks at his data and gets some valuable insights on how to improve his lap times at a recent test day on Curborough Sprint Circuit, in preparation for the next race.
It’s the weekend of my second ever competition event in the Caterham. After my 8th place at Aintree I was keen to improve at Curborough. I arrived on the Friday for a testing day on the small and narrow Sprint Circuit – it was nice and sunny so we could get some good dry runs in.
After installing my Video VBOX to the car it was time to head out onto the track for some sighting laps, as this was my first time around the circuit. It’s so narrow you can only have one car on track at any time, so it was lucky there were only five of us at the test day! I quickly realised that Curborough is a lot more technical than the Aintree Sprint I had driven previously, which consisted of only three corners! Good job I had the Video VBOX installed so I could analyze the data and find where I could improve my times.
Instructor Ben Elliot (http://www.trackday-instructor.co.uk/ )was also at the circuit, and drove a fast lap for me to compare with and see just how quick it was possible to go in the Caterham.
After my first session I came back into the paddock to open Racelogic’s Circuit Tools analysis software on my laptop and have a look at the areas where I might be able to make up some time. The software automatically synchronises the GPS data with the video, so it was easy to see where I was on the track and what position the car was in so I could assess my lines. It was useful for me to look at Ben’s data and video side by side with mine.
Turn 1
In the speed graph below, (I’m red and Ben is blue), you can see I’m lifting far too early and sacrificing speed in the first corner. You can see my line level off, whereas the blue line keeps gaining speed.
Lesson 1 – Don’t lift earlier than you need to!
Turn 2
The next corner (Mole Hill) highlighted a difference in apex speeds between mine and the faster lap. The dotted line is the corner apex in the graph below. From the graph it’s easy to spot that my speed (in the light green) dipped by almost 6mph below Ben’s (in the blue).
Lesson2 – Keep on the power at the apex and use the entire width of the track
Turn 3
Turn 3 is a long right hand hairpin which seems to go on forever. I was losing 0.2s in comparison to Ben’s hot lap, so first I looked at the lines by playing back both videos at the same time in Circuit Tools. Having found that the lines taken were similar, I examined turn in speeds to see if I could spot why Ben was so much quicker than me.
The graph showed that I (in red) carried 5mph more speed into the corner than Ben (in blue). This means I can’t get back on the power as early as Ben. With the main straight after this, the resulting difference in time becomes amplified.
This is made even clearer by looking at the delta-t graph, which is the graph below the speed trace. It compares Ben’s line (in blue) with my line (in red) to show where I am losing speed on the corner. I’m quicker than Ben in the first half of the corner, which is shown by my line dipping below the flat blue line. However, just after the apex I lose a lot of speed. Ben can get on the power earlier, and overtakes me. The difference in speed is small and would have been very difficult to tell without this kind of data and video.
Lesson 3 – Slow in and Fast Out!
So, did I learn my lessons? Throughout the day I practiced these three areas for improvement, as they showed the points where I lost the most time throughout the lap. It certainly helped, because by the end of the day I got within +0.31 of Ben’s time!
To say Team Racelogic’s last FunCup race meeting was eventful would be an understatement. Starting with a mysterious loss in power during testing which lead to the need for an engine change just 15 minutes before lining up on the grid, the trio nevertheless managed to make up some serious ground early on in the race at the Snetterton 200 circuit, but were beset with other difficulties. Julian Thomas explains…
Team Racelogic, third on the podium at Snetterton
“During testing the car felt sluggish, but even after changing ECU sensors the loss in power was still unexplained. Nigel Greensall, also in Team Racelogic, had been coaching some other diesel FunCup competitors. Comparing the data from their cars overlaid with our own, we found we were losing 3mph on the start/finish straight and 6mph on the main straight!
Team Racelogic's FunCup Car
We qualified 5th fastest overall, about 3/4s off the pace. We were convinced that the problem was with the car rather than the drivers, but were starting to doubt ourselves! We had the car looked at by FunCup technicians, who said that there was indeed a problem with the engine, so we made the expensive decision to replace it. The boys at JPR (FunCup) managed a miracle and changed the engine with 15 minutes to go before the race!
Having drawn 26th on the grid, our first driver Nigel had a lot of work to do. He got a lightening start as the lights changed, and with two wheels on the grass he overtook about 6 cars into turn1. With some brilliant overtaking, we were 7th by the end of the first lap, 3rd by the second lap and in the lead by the end of lap 3. Take a look at the footage…
Nigel then put his head down and pumped in laps which were over a second quicker than anyone else at this stage, managing a huge 50 second lead by the time we had the first driver change. The engine changed had done the job, and the car was now 1.8s a lap quicker than previously!
Whilst drivers usually use Video VBOX as a tool for improving lap times and promoting their racing, it sometimes comes in useful as evidence in the event of on track disputes.
In a Porsche Club race at Donnington National Circuit earlier this month, drivers Paul Winter and Tim Speed (from Dorset Sports Cars) installed a Video VBOX Pro with four cameras on their 250bhp Porsche 968 race car. Neither Paul or Tim had had any experience with Racelogic gear before.
Paul Winter
Paul said: “We were impressed with the footage, and seeing the video synchronised with all the GPS data in the Circuit Tools software was useful for seeing where we could improve our racing.”
Tim Speed
Tim appreciated having the system for another reason though, because a few laps into his final race he was engaged in some contact with another car. “The other guy nudged into me, sending us both off the track,” Tim explained. “He got stuck in the gravel, whilst I managed to get back on from the grass – while issuing some colourful language as I passed him that you can hear in the video! I was glad we had the Video VBOX footage because the other guy made a complaint to the marshalls. I was able to give them the footage, clearly showing that the accident wasn’t my fault!”
Here’s the video, the accident happens a few minutes into the race…
Paul and Tim are representing their dealership, Dorset Sports Cars, in the Porsche Club Championship with their 968 and 996 GT3 race cars (pictured below). The next meeting is at Thruxton on 11th and 12th June – hopefully there will be no need for video evidence at this one!
When Rover fan, engineer, car fanatic and Practical Performance Car magazine contributor Charlie Broomfield chose to modify his 1982 Rover SD1 he refused to think small.
Using a 27-litre Rolls-Royce Meteor V12 engine taken from a British WW2 tank – as featured on a recent episode of Fifth Gear – Broomfield set his eyes on topping 200mph. Racelogic were set the task of accurately monitoring his performance.
There are just a few places left on our UK Open Day at Silverstone Circuit!
It’s a great opportunity to try out Video VBOX if you or your friends are considering investing in a video data logger. A test track will be built on copse runway, offering you the chance to record yourself tackling our tricky circuit. We’ll fit a Video VBOX to your car, and your footage and data will be recorded.
We’ll give you your recording on a free USB stick, which will also include our highly rated driver training software, Circuit Tools, so that you can analyse your driving after the event.
All participants will be entered in to a free time-matching competition, and you’ll use our predictive lap timing OLED Display to help you win. The closest matching (not the fastest!) time to the one set by our team will win the driver a two camera Video VBOX Lite and OLED Display package!
We will also have Video VBOX and Performance Box systems available for sale at reduced, open day only prices.
There are just a few places left, so register quickly by emailing marketing@racelogic.co.uk with the subject line ‘Open Day’.
The first outing for Team Racelogic’s FunCup race car took place at Croft Circuit on the Easter Bank Holiday. Julian Thomas (Racelogic MD) recounts what turned out to be a very eventful race along with the video highlights…
LabSat by Racelogic is a low cost GPS Simulator (with Glonass option) which gives you the ability to record and replay real GNSS RF data as well as user generated scenarios.
If you are selling, testing or developing products incorporating GPS or GNSS engines, then you’ll find LabSat makes your job easier and more effective.
More and more racing drivers are using Video VBOX as a tool to analyse their driving and car setup. This season we’ll be following the fortunes of several drivers at various levels in the sport. So without further ado…
Having raced in the Mini Cooper Championship, it was still a serious step up for Steve when he decided to take the plunge and compete in the Porsche 997 Cup. It’s a big challenge to go from 200bhp in his Mini up to 410bhp in the Porsche on slick tyres, but Steve seems to have made the transition well – he’s currently first in the category of most improved driver!
David is our Rookie to (hopefully!) Racer. Having bought a Mk1 996 GT3 and struggling to get the most out of the car, electronics consultant David enlisted the services of race instructor Gary Marsh at A Need for Speed- (more about Gary here).
Rookie racer David Willis-Hargreaves in his Porsche GT3
Gary said: “On our first outing on the track David was a bit all over the place. I got out of the car and asked if I could get in the driver’s seat for a quick lap so I could show him how it was done. He must have been paying attention, because when he got back in the driving seat after my lap his driving was transformed. He copied everything I showed him and picked it up incredibly quickly. He’s a bit of a natural so we’ll get him through his ARDS license and see where things go from there!”
David’s easing into track days this season and once he’s got his ARDS license, who knows? Watch this space!
Julian Thomas, Nigel Greensall, Joachim Ritter and Derek Johnston (Racelogic) - FunCup
Julian Thomas with Racelogic driver team mates in the FunCup
Our very own Managing Director will be hitting the track this season in his FunCup car – a single seater racing car with VW Beetle bodywork which provides some aerodynamic challenges and entertaining racing! Julian will be joined by Nigel Greensall, pro driver and FunCup regular. Two further team mates will be taking it in turn to do races, in the form of Joachim Ritter and Derek Johnston, both of whom won the petrol class in the FunCup World Cup in 2010 at Donnington.
With the first race at Croft this weekend, we’ll be updating you shortly on how it went! In the meantime, have a look at this video for Julian in a FunCup car last year, demonstrating Racelogic’s new predictive lap timer:
Alex Macindoe (photo by Rachel Horgan Photography)
Alex is competing in the Caterham Academy, which as the name suggests, is for novices only. After trying out Video VBOX and the OLED predictive lap timing display at the Video VBOX Open Day competition at Silverstone in May, Alex knew that it could give him an edge to help analyse and improve his racing.
Alex says: “The series started for me in February when a large mechano set turned up for me to build into a Caterham Racing car! After a few long days and nights the car was ready for the IVA at VOSA to make it road legal. Thankfully it passed first time and I could start the race prep.
“To start off the series we had a low speed handling day in one of the front car parks at Silverstone, followed by a test day at Castle Combe Circuit. I then had my first competitive event at the historical Aintree circuit. It was only a sprint so no wheel to wheel racing, but was still an exciting introduction to the sport.
“The rest of the season sees me compete in two more sprints at Curborough and Snetterton 100, before full on racing at Brands Hatch, Donington, Rockingham and Mallory Park, so I’ll have plenty of action to report on!
“The first time I tried predictive lap-timing with Video VBOX was at Rockingham recently – I nearly ran out of petrol on one session because it was so addictive to try and beat the times I’d previously set – I just stayed on the track trying different lines and seeing the result instantly on the display!”
We’re following Alex in his first year of racing to see how he improves, and will be posting up articles and video during the season.
When Robyn isn’t heading up the production team building our products at Racelogic, she’s tearing around oval dirt tracks in her 220bhp class three Autograss race car at Evesham Autograss Club. We look forward to following Robyn’s progress in the series this season!
Jim is competing in the 24hours of LeMons – a fun endurance series featuring cars worth $500 or less. This season will be occupied with modifying and testing the Honda Prelude he and his team mates have purchased before launching into the racing next season. We’ll be bringing you updates on the lemon as they progress!
In the meantime, find out more about this refreshingly different racing series here.
Last Friday the sound of world rally cars echoed across the river Thames, as Ken Block and Ford WRC team mate Mikko Hirvonen hurled their Focus and Fiesta WRC cars around the famous derelict Battersea Power Station, London.
Former British Radical racing champion and Racelogic dealer, Anthony Dunn, happens to be married to arguably the fastest female racing driver in the UK. Amanda Whitaker has over 50 race victories to her name. Anthony told us how they use video and data to optimise lap-times and setups, and ensure that any disputes are cleared up!
Anthony Dunn: “I thought I would use my new Video VBOX Lite on my wife Amanda Whitaker’s TIGA SF78 Formula Ford 2000 as a means of documenting her track action – combined with an OLED display as a useful lap-timer.
The 1.6 Diesel Passat on its way to the 1,527 mile record, measured by a VBOX Mini
A VBOX Mini has provided The Sunday Times UK National Newspaper with the crucial evidence needed to break a Guinness World Record, as featured in the ‘In Gear’ section of the paper on Sunday.
It was for the longest distance travelled by a production car on a single tank of fuel. Using a Volkswagen Passat Bluemotion 1.6 diesel, the team drove from the south coast of the UK to the South of France and (almost) back before running out of fuel after 47 hours and 47 minutes, and 1,526.63 miles.
Predictive lap-timers are very useful for driver training and have been around for some time on many high end data-logging systems. The ability to see if your current lap is quicker or slower than your fastest, in real time, is invaluable for driver training.
However, they are often expensive and not particularly accurate. To combat this, we’ve developed a new technique dubbed ‘LineSnap’ which uses GPS position to accurately align two different laps, 10 times a second. This offers un-rivalled accuracy around the entire lap, maintaining 0.1s precision the entire way around any circuits, including very long circuits such as Spa and the Nurburgring.
Andy Hill of Wyndham-Leigh (who fitted Video VBOX to the Ferraris) reports.
Andy Hill: “This year Ferraris (including a 458 Italia, above, and a California, video below) at Goodwood Festival of Speed were fitted with Video VBOX systems to capture the sights and sounds of the famous Supercar Run.
Harry Nicholas, Marketing Manager at Racelogic, tests Superchips’s Bluefin on a runway with his BMW 330cd, using Video VBOX to see what performance the remap achieves.
Harry's BMW 330cd ready for the 'before and after' test on the runway near Racelogic
We’re lucky to have an airstrip just a mile or two from the Racelogic Buckingham HQ. We use it to test our GPS and video data-loggers, and we can screech around without endangering anyone on the public road. It’s also where I tried out the effects of a Bluefin, the engine remap device from fellow Buckingham based company Superchips.
Australian Motorsport legend John Bowe road tested the Video VBOX in-car camera GPS system at round 2 of the Touring Car Masters series recently at Winton Raceway.
Touring Car John Bowe's ‘69 WesTrac CAT/Wilson Security Mustang competing in the Touring Car Masters Championship
During an outstanding race weekend, Bowe broke his own standing practice lap record, qualified convincingly on pole, won all three races of the program and set a new race lap record in the process. Not a bad day at the office for one of Australia’s most versatile motor sport champions.
Bowe has now taken the lead of the Touring Car Masters Championship in his ‘69 WesTrac CAT/Wilson Security Mustang. Not one to dwell on past performances, what a weekend to relive with VBOX. Of the system, Bowe had this to say.
“I just want to say how fantastic the VBOX in car footage from Winton is! When I first saw the footage I was amazed. I think it is the one of the most innovative things to happen to motor sport in a very long time. I can see a time real soon where every race car in every category will have one fitted – from the pros to weekend warrior racers, they will all want to watch their form.
Video VBOX was fitted into the Porsche 911 GT3 RS for the Nurburgring 24hr Race
The Nürburgring Nordschleife is widely considered to be the most difficult and dangerous race track in the world. International Sales Manager Leander Speth was there for the 24hr race to oversee Racelogic’s support of Porsche’s GT3 RS, which finished 13th out of 250.
Finishing the gruelling race is impressive enough, but as Leander commented, the cars were also driven on normal roads to and from the Nurburgring!
One Video VBOX Pro with three cameras recorded the race, with the CAN bus used to show RPM, Throttle, Brake, and gear changes. Two Video VBOX Lites with one camera were also used.
We are running series of adverts and articles entitled ‘Advanced circuit driving techniques’, but you may ask yourself, in a real life situation, exactly how effective is Video VBOX and Circuit Tools in driver training? Given a Video VBOX, plenty of track time and an expert driver to use as a comparison, just how close to the pace could a novice really get?
To answer this, we have put ourselves through this process…
With the advent of affordable, focused training aids based on Video and GPS, driver training has enjoyed a surge in popularity.
In the second of a series of articles, we will be discussing Slow Corners and Hairpins with accomplished race driver and personal coach Nigel Greensall, to try to help you extract every last ounce of performance from yourself as well as your car.
Nigel Greensall – “You spend more time in slow corners than in fast corners, so you can often gain most lap-time by concentrating on these areas.
“Exit speed is important, but equally as important is minimising the time spent in the corner.
Moose Avoidance Lane Change Manouevre by Racelogic with the new Lane change Software and Video VBOX on board video
Last week Kevin Bursnall, Technical Director, carried out a ‘Moose Avoidance’ manoeuvre on the airstrip near Racelogic. Filmed with a new Video VBOX Pro and an external camera, the manoeuvre was carried out to demonstrate our new Lane Change Software. See the bottom of this article for a video of the manoeuvre! Read the rest of this entry »
The automotive industry is seeing quick progress in the development of advanced driver assistance systems. However, not being able to control and log the exact position of all traffic on public roads means that real world testing of new systems is not easy. To help solve this, FT Techno, at the Fowlerville Proving Ground in Michigan, USA, use the Video VBOX Pro.
Ferrari Californias, fitted with Video VBOX on board video and GPS data-logging systems at Silverstone
Monday 3rd May saw Mike Broadbent, Sales Manager at Racelogic, putting Video VBOX’s into 11 shiny new Ferrari Californias at Silverstone circuit.
Video VBOX installed in one of the 11 Ferraris
It was in preparation for the next morning, when 50 deserving children would arrive at Silverstone for a special treat. They were to be chauffeured around the iconic circuit by professional drivers and talented young members of the British Racing Drivers Club’s ‘SuperStars’ scheme, and get a video of their laps. Also taking the wheel were Fifth Gear presenter and touring car driver Jason Plato, and Pink Floyd drummer and Ferrari racer, Nick Mason.
Nick Mason takes an excited child out for a spin at Silverstone, recorded by Video VBOX
Incorating high accuracy GPS with synchronised video, the new 20Hz Video VBOX Pro enables automotive engineers to obtain definitive test results with detailed footage from up to 4 video bullet cameras.
For most engineers, data on its own is no longer enough. Faced with the desire to analyse several sources of information in any one test, video is increasingly being used to make the process more intuitive. Manufacturers such as Jaguar LandRover, Peugeot, and Continental are using data integrated with video, because it enables developers to see what is happening inside and outside the car at exactly the same time, helping them interpret test results. Read the rest of this entry »
We’re producing a series of articles with professional race drivers discussing advanced circuit driving techniques. The first article is on Compound Corners, which are common to almost every race circuit, and features the comments of racing driver Nigel Greensall. Read more…
Definition of a compound corner: “A series of corners, close enough such that the car is always turning and never travelling in a straight line.”
Nigel Greensall driving in the Funcup Misano 2009
Nigel Greensall
“It is a common mistake to treat compound corners as two separate items, whereas they should be tackled as one section, with sacrifices being made in the first corner to gain maximum exit speed. It often seems counter-intuitive not to maximise the speed through the first corner, but the end result is often a faster lap.
Misano World Circuit
“There are many examples, but let’s take Misano Circuit which is shown above…”
For the rest of the article go to this page on our site and fill in your email address. We’ll then email you the full 5 page pdf.
Posted by adamjcooke 
