Race Car Data Reports

[youngoldy]

Hi there,

Does anyone know what should be added into to data reports that can be made at the end of a testday to show the race mechanics and drivers before the following days racing?

I am interested in making them this year when we go racing, but I don't what to include in them.

Thanks,

Jim.

[trikesrule]

Always include Barometric Humidity and Temperature. Digital weather stations are reasonably priced theses days. Walking the track with a digital pyrometer the type you point and take temps with before and after is important. I always found any data on tyre psi pump up a very handy tool as well as tyre temps across the tread immediately after a session. Wheel weights are equally important to tie in into the big handling picture. Used to do all this and more with the Supercarts. I'm so glad I race on dirt these days........trikes

[AU N EGL]

There is soo much you can do, almost too much.

Maybe just starting with the tires.

Tire pressure, before and after each run.

Tire temps across the tread in three places, inside 1/3, center 1/3, and out side 1/3 off all four tires, after each session.

[greenamex2]

And anything you changed on the car for each run.

Any specific driver comments after each run.

[ubrben]

I only have to do tyre data in my job (tyre engineer) but if I had to cover the whole setup I would do the following:

Write the vehicle's baseline setup on the left. Then for each run record any changes to the setup on a run by run basis. You can then set up a spreadsheet to automatically complete all the setup info because if you didn't change it, it can just copy across from the previous run.

That covers setup. I'd then record ambient and track temp. Plus humidity and wind speed/direction if you have a weather station.

Record the time the driver went out and then all the lap times.

When the driver comes in, debrief him and write comments on your sheet.

If you have a smart driver I'd do a phase by phase subjective ranking for each corner or at least the critical ones. I'd then have him do a separate sheet AFTER the session to see if his opinions change if he puts all the runs in context. If his opinion changes a lot between the two that could be vital to understand the difference between actual car behaviour and his perception of it.

Ben

[AU N EGL]

There is a lot of data aquistion softerware and hardware that can be installed in the car. When the car comes back into the paddock all the info can be downloaded from the cars DATA software and loaded into the lap top for anaylsis.

[TEAM78]

Gosh, theres so much you can do...
The prioity of what needs to be logged depends on the car and driver. the lap time can more than often be brought down through good driver tuition. get them to be critical and recall what they did at each corner. there is so much data to collect to the extent its unrealalistic to do it all. I personally go for driver reports which should include a corner by corner analysis. Break it all down for them, ask specific questions on your sheets. get them to use their brain. then I would add chassis numbers such as tyre temperatures and pressure followed by wheel speed and rpm (this helps to back up whats said). finally a couple critical engine parameters such as oil pressure and water temperature to see how the engine is doing.
This is basic but for me, the driver is an excellent tool and if they are not then train them to be better at testing the car. Its an expensive game buying lots of sensors and software. so its all relative to your budget. So much time can be found from the driver at amator level and I think its due to people jumping into cars too fast for them and thinking their good drivers. so they dont give them selves the opportunity to take things slowly to learn the craft. im yet to find a defined technique of what should be logged. most people learn through experience of whats important to that car. Id like to see one if it does exsist to help me as im far from an expert in this field. let us know what you decide on,

[shiny side up!]

Originally Posted by youngoldy

Hi there,

Does anyone know what should be added into to data reports that can be made at the end of a testday to show the race mechanics and drivers before the following days racing?

I am interested in making them this year when we go racing, but I don't what to include in them.

Thanks,

Jim.

Are we talking reports including data logged on board, or are we talking information recorded manually that you can do for the most part with no acquisition system?

If it is the latter, I think ben covered the bases quite well, the only things I would add (which he probably intended to come from the debrief) might be rpm at critical portions of the track and detailed info about your tire compound/history/wear/etc, which I am sure ben would have had in his setup info.

If it is the former and you are talking about what data to log on the car, I think the two biggest factors are amount of money available and a ranked list of your priorities. If you have a young/inexperienced driver, basic things like steering/throttle/brake, wheelspeed/engine rpm, and accelerometers are probably where the best money is spent, so your debriefs can focus on gaining lap time through driver improvement. If you have a crack driver and you are on a limited budget, you may choose not to instrument as many driver inputs and more suspension and chassis data like ride height, damper travel or velocity, engine temp/oil pressure/trans temp, even tire or brake temp to help you look for performance gains from the car itself. If you have the money do it all!

[AU N EGL]

I get my most help from tire pressures and temps.

Pressures and tire temps across the tread before each run, come in from hot laps, and after each run.

This information tells me a lot about the tires and suppension set up for that particular course.

[youngoldy]

I keep a record of all setup we change on our cars. I have made a database system and keep track of laptimes.

This is all very useful, as I'd say the smallest change that makes a big difference on our cars is altering the roll bar. When looking at our g sesnors on our software data, I can see we may or maynot be able to corner quicker, and tell the mechanics this.

What I was really asking is what content should be added for a data report regarding the data logging system.

Thanks alot. I've learned quite abit from the above posts.