http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2014/01/corvette-cosworth-introduce-industrys-first-performance-data-recorder-telemetry-system/
On the one hand I think this is neat and wish I had one in all of my cars.
On the other hand, I'm wondering how long after the introduction of this it will take before the data from one of these is used as evidence in some kind of trial.
I think it's awesome. Lots of knee-jerk tinfoil hat responses, but you've already got a black box in your new car. This actually is a benefit to drivers like us. How much would it cost to equip your car with a similar telemetry setup? It's got steering angle!
Don't want it to record? Take out the SD card. Voila.
This system doesn't record unless you tell it to.
You could put together something similar for about $700-$1000.
You think so? I'd love to see the recipe. I'm mostly familiar with the older Traqmate stuff, which would cost quite a bit more with fewer capabilities.
GPS overlay, 0-60, lateral G is all pretty normal. Brake/accel you could fudge with longitudinal G, or you could pull the accel pedal position out of OBD-II. RPM would also come from there.
However, steering angle is a pretty unusual parameter. Maybe you could dig it out of the CAN system on a car with electric steering, or you'll have to install a new sensor. The traction control indicator is also one you don't see very often.
Here's how I'd do it:
Data logger - Race Capture Pro, $400 - that gives you GPS, acceleromater & gyro data right off the bat. Then you can get TPS, brake activation, RPM and many others just by wiring up the vehicle's existing sensors. If the traction control indicator has a dedicated light that's easy to wire up.
Gear position - use a set of resistors and magnetic switches like this for a car with an H-pattern shifter - $20
Steering position - optical distance sensor and a target clipped to the steering rack (or a linear potentiometer if you have $$$) - $20
Interface - RCP BT adapter and Android tablet (or phone) - Could be under $200 if you get the tablet used, price can vary a great deal depending on what you use. App is free for the RCP.
Obviously this thing is made for track use. If you are dumb enough to have it recording when poop hits the fan on the streets its your own damn fault. Same goes with people who GoPro every mile of driving in their car in case they have an epic race of V6 mustang vs. 1.5L 95 Civic.
You'd have to tap OBD-II to get accel pedal position, can the Race Capture Pro do that? Gear position is easily calculated if you have RPM and speed.
Keith Tanner wrote: You'd have to tap OBD-II to get accel pedal position, can the Race Capture Pro do that?
You can split the 0-5v signal from most TPS sensors right into the box (that's what I'm doing). It doesn't come with an OBD2 interface but there's an add-on interface for that and CANbus coming up.
You can calculate the gear (although you should use wheel speed rather than GPS speed), but you might think it's worth $20 to get it straight from the horse's mouth and be able to log shift timing, and even clutch position (easy way - brake light sensor on the clutch pedal, closes circuit in fully released position).
Doing just about everything that does now, except for traction/stability control system status, steering angle and brake position with Harry's Lap Timer. Integrated into the car, along with the video, is pretty cool though!
Update rate, expecially for the acceleration data as shown in the videos, looks pretty poor though. Wonder if they'll be able to do better once it gets closer to production.
Reminds me I forgot about video and audio for my budget idea...so you can drop a recent GoPro (with the remote control port) on top of that, call it $300...still under budget!
stability control became standard equipment in MY12, so everything new has a steering angle sensor on it. data not available on standard CAN bus, AFAIK it's only available to the stability control ECU (same with yaw and lat)
This thread became very informative. Thanks!
Agreed.
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