How to use video + data to cut your lap-times

However, there is an area which can bring even greater rewards, for less money, but it’s often overlooked. This area is Driver Training.

Why is driver training often overlooked?

Race Engineers understand the mechanical aspects of race cars, and are therefore happy to invest money in these areas in order to improve performance. However, in a race team, there are very few people who really understand how to drive the car to get the best out of the package. The assumption is therefore made that the driver is in the best position to understand this, and needs no help from the engineers.

Does the driver need no help from data-logging in improving driving technique?

Yes! Even the very best drivers in the world compare their data with teammates in order to go quicker. For example, at a recent Formula One race in Abu Dhabi, one of the very best drivers in the world, Mark Webber, used Sebastian Vettel's data in order to find 0.5s in sector 2, whilst he was fighting for the world Championship!

If his team-mate wasn't quicker than him, the engineers would have assumed they were getting the best out of the car. To find 0.5s a lap improvement would cost Red Bull millions of pounds and take a lot of effort, whereas Mark found this time in a 10 minute analysis session.

But doesn't this require a fully trained race engineer and a complex data-logging system?

NO! It used to be the case that in order to perform effective driver analysis you needed complicated equipment and specialised training to get the most out of such a system. However, technology has progressed to the point where the equipment is now small, inexpensive and easy to set up with no beacons required to get lap-times. The integration of Video and GPS data has made the process of improving lap-times much easier.

One of the biggest improvements has been in driver training software. By designing the software to be used by the driver instead of the engineer, the hard work of finding improvements can be done by the computer, which can be presented to the driver in a clear and concise format. Race car data logging is no longer the sole the preserve of the specialist data engineer.

So how can video and data actually be used to cut lap-times?

The clearest examples come from a situation where you have two drivers in a team, and one driver is quicker than the other.

Let’s take a look at some data taken from Misano in Italy (Valentino Rossi’s local circuit!):

In this example, the team consisted of two drivers; professional racing driver and instructor Nigel Greensall, and experienced racer Dirk De Groof.

The car was a VW FunCup, rear engine rear wheel drive race car.

After qualifying, the drivers sat down and compared their fastest laps, simply by loading the SD card from their Video VBOX into a laptop with Racelogic’s driver analysis software.

Based on the GPS data, the software automatically identifies the circuit from a database of over 170. See screenshot on the right.

The fastest laps from each driver were automatically detected and lined up side by side for comparison.

There is an area for the lap-times, an area for the two videos, an area for the speed trace and an area showing where you have lost or gained time around the lap (Delta T).

Click on the screenshot below to see the different windows in high resolution.

Over the course of a lap, Nigel gained nearly 4s over his team mate. How?

Let's look at turn 1. Which video is quicker?

By clicking on the velocity graph, the two videos are lined up at that exact point. The software does this by using GPS to align the data using position information – which is far more accurate than using distance elapsed, especially around longer circuits such as the Nurburgring.

With one click, both videos are aligned at exactly the same place. You can see that Nigel has used more of the track on the inside of the apex. This allows him to carry more speed around the corner, which is worth around 0.5s in this section - as shown by the lap time trace.

Have another look at the youTube videos above!

As you can see, you don’t have to be a high level data-engineer to get this information! It’s very easy to improve lap-times by using video and data synchronised in this way. Race and race car data acquisition has never been easier.

Let’s go to Turn 7. Which video is quicker?

As Nigel approaches the corner, he is slightly further over to the right of the track than Dirk, allowing me to carry a little more speed through the corner, making up 0.3s.

Just by looking at the video snapshots you can see that Nigel is taking a different line to his team mate through this section of track.

Nigel actually misses the apex of the first corner, whereas Dirk is clipping this apex.

They both have the same speed through this section.

No time is lost or gained at this point, but by running much wider into the next corner, Nigel can use more of the track and carry much more speed through the next section.

Dirk was treating the two corners as separate sections, using a traditional apex on both, whereas Nigel was combining them into one section.

This meant he could exit the second corner faster and carry this speed onto the next straight.

By switching to the track map and looking at the driving lines generated from the GPS data, you can see this different approach.

Watch each driver side by side, in slow motion, to see these different lines:

Nigel misses the apex of the curve in order to get much further over to the left for the next right hand corner.

Looking at the speed and lap-time difference graphs at the bottom of the circuit tools screen is very useful when finding the big areas where lap-time can be improved, but video adds another dimension to the analysis.

With the right equipment and driver focused software, it is very easy to compare two drivers and work out where time is being gained or lost.

What if I don't have a teammate who is quicker
than me?

If you do a number of laps in a session, there will be laps where you really nail particular corners.By picking out all of these best sections and concentrating on what you did, you can often improve your best lap-time quite significantly.

The analysis software makes this very easy to achieve, and can automatically split the lap up into suitable sectors.

By overlaying these sectors you can work out and what you did differently and gain significant lap time.

You can also go out and deliberately try different lines and techniques to see if you can find any gains in different parts of the track.

Improve lap-times using video and GPS –
for any level of driver

With the current generation of GPS based Video data-loggers, combined with the right kind of software, you can see how the benefits of focused driver training can be achieved by any level of driver.

Video VBOX – state of the art in car video and GPS data-logger

Video VBOX is the ultimate onboard racing camera system, as used by professionals and enthusiasts worldwide. With its broadcast quality video, accurate GPS logging, stunning graphics, and arguably the best driver training software available, you can see why.

You need to be sure that a video system is easy to use, simple to install, and that it can function reliably in the demanding conditions inside your race car. With its small size and flexibility, power back up, (the only system that saves video in a power interruption), and auto-logging features, Video VBOX is intuitive to use and produces great footage and data. Tied in with a high brightness OLED Display with LineSnap predictive lap-timing to provide real time driver feedback, Video VBOX is hard to beat.