Trackmaster Data System - Data on a Budget

[darthmonkeyIT]

Hello! A few people at Mid O last week asked me about the cell phone data system I am running in my car and following a search on here I did not find much information on the Trackmaster app for Android phones. So I thought I would do a write up.

Disclosure:
This system is not a plug & play data system as some of the dedicated systems are. There is a little setup necessary and to use the data requires some manipulation via excel or google earth. It will not generate all the pretty graphs and deltas for you but it does provide the information for you to do so yourself.

There is now a way to sync camera data with the app but I myself have not played with it yet. It is something I may try out in the future but I would need to research it more first.

What it does do:
Provides a heads up display in the car showing best lap, last lap, lap count, and split marker times if you want. The app also tracks g-forces, speeds, top speed, and will generate a theoretical best lap based on your fastest split times.

How it works:
Trackmaster bases itself off of Google Earth to do GPS based lap timing & positioning. The app knows the relative earth location of a lot of courses and will snap you to them with relative ease. It is necessary for you to program the split markers on the track for the system to track to though it’s easy enough to find some online or share already made ones with others.

The app can receive GPS data in two different ways. Via the internal GPS receiver in the phone (requires service to the phone) or via a Bluetooth GPS receiver (no service required on the phone).

Bluetooth receiver is considered better for a racing application because the built in GPS in most phones only receives at 1 Hz. For racing applications this is a bit slow. Dedicated GPS receivers can go up to 10hz which is 10 times the data of the built in phone GPS. The Bluetooth option though does require a Bluetooth 2.0 I believe or newer phone (circa 2006 I believe maybe earlier).

My setup:
I use a non-serviced Droid 2 with a Qstarz Bluetooth GPS receiver. I have the GPS receiver set to 5 Hz (10 Hz just bogs the phone down and is way more data than necessary) and mounted the GPS receiver with Velcro to my dash with a clear show for it out my front window.

I purchased a RAM mount to hold the phone in a viewable position while driving. The phone is attached directly to my roll cage cross beam. This allows me to see the phone while driving giving me fastest lap, last lap, and lap count information.

The pros:
Cheap
-Phone ~$70-100 off craigslist
-GPS receiver ([ame]http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001R1OO1W/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00[/ame]) $70-90
-Trackmaster app $12
-Bluetooth GPS app $2
-RAM mount $40
Shows lap count!
Keeps track of lap times
-Accurate within thousandths of time sheets
Top speed
G-forces
Theoretical best lap (for hope)
No beacon needed

Cons:
Data comparison can be cumbersome
Display is only phone sized till exported to a computer
Track position layout is viewed through google earth
RPM data requires more setup (I do not have connected currently lacking a OBD2 port for ease of connection)
Third party program necessary to overlay video if not using the built in phone camera

Overall:
I have used this flawlessly since June of last year. The lap time data, top speed, and g-forces have helped understand how tweaks to the car and driving are effecting lap times.

Helped diagnose a bad shock in a friend’s car at Mid Ohio based on his g-forces being compared to another car with a similar setup.

For less than $200 you can play with data and have a heads up display. If you already have an android phone to use it can be even cheaper if you are comfortable with your daily cell phone being used in a race car.

Here is the website for the app which goes into much more detail about how it works and what else the app can do.
http://trackmaster.trackaroo.com/welcome

[jfeniello]

I've been using it for about a year also. Works great. Most of the time i forget my external GPS unit, so i just let it use the internal one, which is only 1hz, but i've had great luck with it being down to the 1/100th of a sec with official timing. I do use my live phone (2.5 year old Droid X). The data to use afterwards is ok, since it's only once per second using the internal gps, but still works for overall laps or even split markers. The other thing is it will post lap times to facebook or twitter while you're driving (if you're into that kinda thing).

So in my case, total cost was $9.99 for the app since i already have the phone and a car dock for it.

[Eagle7]

I started using it this year (1 race weekend so far), and like it a lot. It also integrates seamlessly with the RaceRender 2 video processing software, which can add some nifty data overlays to your incar video. Here's a sample from May - the RPM and throttle position came from my Megasquirt logs, the other goodies came from Trackmaster. You can see the lap timer display it provides on my dash - the layout is very configurable so lots of other options are available.

http://youtu.be/UaOv7-kw3rs