Dash gauge placement for Sports Racer

Trying to wrap up some winter projects, most are straight forward but I would appreciate some thoughts on dash gauge placement.

Here's my first draft - I didn't like how the oil pressure, water temp, and AFR gauge were behind the steering wheel, they're basically illegible while driving. Figured I'd move the power cutoff and key behind the wheel and move all of the gauges to the left so I can at least glance left to check the gauges if need be.

Initially I figured the Tach would be most important, but I was re-watching some videos of us autocrossing it and I don't think I ever looked down at the dash.

Think this will be fine or will I regret it later? Would prefer to only do this once

Old setup:

Rough draft:

are big idiot lights better than gauges at least in your line of sight ?

and a big Tach with shift light......

and a big kill switch !

Which gage to you use the most?  Go from there outward, shift light on top of the dash?

I think you need a shift light and a low oil pressure light that you can see while driving.  You won't look at anything else on course (or at least you shouldn't - if you've got that much extra time at an autocross, you're not going fast enough).  Put the other gauges where you can see them while in line or in the pits - and put them where your video camera can see them.  Then you can go back and review what they were showing by looking at the video.

My input is based on my experience with road racing and dirt track cars.  I don't know how much of it is applicable to autocross because I have no experience with it.

I like a low oil pressure light and a shift light in addition to the gauges. I install the tach where I can see from the bottom of the torque curve to redline and orient it so that redline is at the top . Apart from the tach I don't really care what gauge is where as long as I can see the tips of the needles. I install all the other gauges so that I can see the tips of the needles without moving my head and orient them so that they should be straight up on the straights.  If I don't see straight up needles when I do my quick gauge scan then I know I need to divert some attention to the gauges otherwise that quick glance tells me all I need to know. If I'm running a data acquisition system or something that shows me lap times I like to put that front and center.

Idiot lights are probably the way to go.

The R1 dash has a big yellow shift light on the bottom right that is useful, and an oil pressure light would also be a good idea. I already have a port for it, too!

I'm with the previous replies, big bright warning lights in your face and gauges where you, and your GoPro, can see them...

Back in the day (70's) I went to a seminar on Rallying that was associated with that years NZ International Rally. Among the pieces of advice I still recall was the manager of the Ford team telling us that they only put gauges in front of the navigator (no pace notes in those days) and "large bright lights in front of their large dim drivers" with an override switch so they could be turned off.

Just as an aside how old is your helmet since I see stickers back to 2012? Over here, for competition use, Motorcycling NZ recommend replacement after 3 years and allow officials to impound after 10.

FWIW, gauges AND lights.

The lights are for when you are on track (practice, qualifying, and race) and may need to shut off immediately. If possible in line of sight – the sooner you see it the sooner you can react.

Gauges are for warm up, cool down, etc. The more important ones (temps and pressures IME) within quick eyesight and clocked so at normal operation the needles point up. If at a glance a needle is not seen you may have a problem.