Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Romanowski
Hi Guys - I'm the guy that put together www.trailbrake.net. I actually did the same thing as MFGJR about 2 months ago - I bought an Aim SOLO and then started searching for information on data analysis. A LOT of Google time later, I found it was tough to find any amount of information in one spot. I also found it tough to find what books were good. After finding some of the information "hiding spots" I thought it would be good to share. I think with barrier to entry for data sytems, in both price and complexity, coming down quickly, it will really help the HPD and track day drivers skills. So, I hope that trailbrake.net will be a spot for people to start, expand, and work through their journey with data analysis.
I'm more than happy to host and share data files from all makes of cars and data systems. I think it will be a great tool for drivers to see what other people do while driving.
I'm currently working with a couple of pro drivers and coaches to put up Featured Articles that will help with folks in their journey and provide new, online content towards learning how to analyze data. If anyone has suggestions, contributions, questions, or anything else, please feel free to email me at Matt@Trailbrake.net. |
Matt,
Kudos for going out of your way to put trailbrake.net together. I think TraqMate has a spot for their users to share data, but I haven't found anything of that sort for AiM users. Thanks for being willing to host that kind of activity, and thanks, too, for rounding up a bunch of reference materials. I'll be poring over that this winter, getting ready for the first event of 2012.
From our email exchange, I understand that if someone wants to share data, then they should email just the DRK file(s) to you at
Matt@Trailbrake.net. Alternatively, if wanting to also share GPS info, then we should zip the package of files for the session and then email. I'll send you some as soon as I get back on track, but that probably won't be until February. Hopefully, someone else can get you some files before then. (That's a hint for Randy!)
It might be helpful to make some background info about the sessions available to your users--track configuration (e.g., VIR's Full Course vs. North Course), driver experience (a Pro, vs. some hack like me with a whopping 8 days' on-track experience), the session (test, practice, race HPDE, etc.) car and significant modifications, and tires. Knowing what we're comparing with will be useful.
Since building good track maps in RaceStudio seems to be a pain, maybe facilitating the sharing of those would be a good idea.
As far as subjects for articles from your collaborators, I'd love to see something about a step-by-step plan for effectively using all this new and extensive data from the perspective of the track novice/data novice perspective. I've been thinking that I'll use RaceStudio to first evaluate and improve consistency--car placement, brake points, entry speeds and turn-in points. Then, I'd move on to looking at fundamental techniques: Am I coasting? Am I building brake intensity quickly, and coming off smoothly? Am I doing a good job matching revs? Are my turn-ins decisive and accurate? Am I building lateral load quickly and smoothly? Next would come looking at my laps alongside a solid, experienced driver's laps to see where the differences and opportunities lie. I'd very much like feedback on where to start with all this, else it may be kind of overwhelming. If anyone else here on this forum wants to weigh in on this topic, the please do.
Thanks again, Matt, for working to benefit the lot of us.