Race Car Data Acquisition & Analysis Seminar
Seminar Calendar to be published soon!
DOWNLOAD THE SEMINAR BROCHURE HERE
Data acquisition is an invaluable tool for establishing racecar and driver performance. The technology that was once only applied by high-end racing teams with considerable financial resources has found its way over the last decade to all racing disciplines. Today systems are available that give even the club racer an enormous amount of data logging capabilities. This 2-day seminar teaches the participants how to analyze the data logging system’s output and convert this knowledge into a key advantage on the racetrack. The latest available technologies are covered.
The seminar begins with a general introduction into data acquisition and measurement technology. The participants will learn then how to analyze the driver activities and use this analysis to improve driver performance. Vehicle performance analysis is covered with an emphasis on vehicle balance, stability, wheel loads and weight transfer, aerodynamics and shock absorbers. The use of infrared temperature sensors to measure brake and tire temperature is also extensively discussed.
This seminar is developed for everybody in the racing community wishing to extend their knowledge about racecar data acquisition analysis. Engineers, crew chiefs, drivers, mechanics or motorsport engineering students would benefit from this course especially as it will emphasize mainly on real-world examples. This seminar doesn’t concentrate on one data analysis package. However, mathematical channels are extensively used. All attendees will receive a list with the math channel syntaxes and detailed explanations of all channels covered in the seminar for most of the commercially available data acquisition systems. This way, at the end of the course the attendee will be armed to apply the newly gained knowledge immediately.
By attending this course you will be able to:
- Choose the appropriate hardware for your data acquisition system
- Identify the basics of electronically measuring physical parameters
- Develop procedures to effectively analyze your logged data
- Designate the best way to visualize and organize your data for efficient analysis
- Diagnose problems from logged data and determine reliability risks
- Compare the performance of different drivers and cars not only during one lap but also over longer periods of time (a session, test day, race event, season…)
- Statistically track driver performance over a race weekend or racing season
- Determine the amount of grip available on a given racetrack
- Determine a vehicle’s balance from logged data
- Determine which vehicle balance to aim for with setup changes
- Evaluate vehicle balance using infrared tire temperature sensors (determine if and – more importantly – why a car is over- or understeering)
- Perform aerodynamic measurements on a vehicle
- Analyze and alter the transient vehicle balance through damper tuning
- Effectively use shock speed histograms
- Characterize a track and determine the main set-up variables for specific tracks
- Plan an appropriate race strategy
20 examples of questions that you should be able to answer after attending this seminar:
- What is the difference when I connect a suspension potentiometer with a 5V supply voltage to an analog data logger input with a range of 12V instead of 5V?
- How can I visualize my data so that they show me trends over a longer period of time (eg. a complete race event or even a complete season)?
- How can I manually insert a missed timing beacon in the data using the suspension movement data?
- I work in a professional racing series where all drivers are performing in a very close range. Difference in braking points, cornering speeds and throttle application points are very small. How can I still discover fundamental driving style differences from the data which can help my driver improve his performance?
- How does the way the driver applies and comes off the brakes influence the chassis platform?
- The ever returning question: ‘I’m taking Turn 3 in second gear. Do you think it would be better to take it in 3rd?’
- How do I know if my driver is taking the fastest driving line around the track?
- How do I compare 2 different types of braking pads for their temperature working range, bite, longevity and modulation?
- How much grip are the tires on my car developing in braking, cornering and traction and how much of this grip is the driver using?
- How does the track grip develop over a race weekend?
- How can I put some objective numbers on how much my car is over- or understeering?
- How can I calculate the roll stiffness and roll stiffness distribution of my car from the data and use this information as a set-up tool?
- How do I work with tire pressure monitoring systems? How do they help me to figure out which running pressures to aim for and calculate the corresponding cold pressures?
- How is tire surface temperature created and how can I influence this with the setup of the car?
- How can I use the data from infrared tire temperature measurements to find out WHY my car is over- or understeering?
- How can I use the data from infrared tire temperature measurements to put an objective number on how good (or bad) the setup of my car is?
- How do I know if I’m running the right camber or tire pressure?
- What kind of information can I extract from the shock speed histogram about my car’s suspension?
- How do I compare different tracks and adapt the set-up of the car accordingly?
- How can I improve the accuracy of my fuel consumption measurements and use this information to stretch the fuel mileage of my car to its limit?
Registration fee: 750€
Students and FSAE members: 550€
- Lunch and drinks during the 2 seminar days
- Binder with presentation hand-outs
- Math channel syntax list for most commercially available data acquisition systems
- Copy of the book 'Analysis Techniques for Racecar Data Acquisition - 2nd Edition'