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Lap Timer questions

C

craigincali

New member
Joined
Oct 12, 2015
Location
Upland CA
Moto(s)
SV650,
2016 Super Tenere
Name
Craig
What are you guys using for lap timer on track days? I used to use a Micron (I think) with a receiver on a tripod in the old days. What is an inexpensive lap timer for track days?
 
I would say XT Racing is the most common. Never been to a track day without someone else throwing out an XT beacon.
 
ive been to plenty of trackdays without a working beacon. so when my XT broke, i bought an AIM Solo. works great and i actually use the extra functionality available from having GPS data.
 
Hard to go wrong with an XT. 90% of the time there's a beacon at the wall and if you're anal about having laptimes for every TD you can spend $60 on beacon.
 
Thanks guys. I feel a little lost after taking 9 years off. I appreciate your help !!!!
 
Look into some of the simple GPS timers. Lots of extra information and data provided that can be very useful. If you are buying a new Ultra and a beacon then you're close to the cost of a basic GPS timer.
 
XT Racing has a great line up of GPS based lap timers. Other brands have come and gone but XT is still the go to brand whether you are using a beacon or GPS.

I would not recommend a beacon timer at this point as the data you get from it is extremely limited compared to a GPS. You might not want a GPS today but as you progress you are going to want to know things like top speed, speed in corner, speed by sector, etc.

Don't do what I did and buy cheap then more expensive then more expensive, etc. Invest in a solid unit from the beginning.
 
If you are running a Windows only laptop, check out the QstarZ GPS laptimers. I can email you all the features. QstarZ has a special for AFM racers & Barf and if you would like to run a demo feel free to pm me.
 
abhijitz said:
If you are running a Windows only laptop, check out the QstarZ GPS laptimers. I can email you all the features. QstarZ has a special for AFM racers & Barf and if you would like to run a demo feel free to pm me.
Click to expand...

+1. I really like QstarZ color feature. It's the best way to know if you're on a fast lap.
 
I use a sundial.
cheap. portable and reasonable accurate.
 
Used the Qstarz unit, but I've been on the hunt for something that will give me real time lap times and splits and data logging.

I'm just trying something out today that I think will be money, to be proven this weekend.

Harrys Lap Timer running on a $10 android Tracfone from Walmart. The software runs great so far, maybe just a little visually cramped, but for $9 for the entry level or $30 for the premium software combined with the $10 phone and this could be a dynamite solution.

eta: turns out he's got a $5 weekend use license of the midlevel version for those doing the odd track day now and again.

Just playing around with it walking around the front yard and so far so good

I'll do a write up after getting back from the Z2 Turkey Day Thill weekend, but I'm very pleased so far, just have to figure out mounting the phone on the dash
 
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^ id be surprised if the GPS chip on that phone was any faster than 1hz. fine for walking and running, terrible for anything faster where accuracy matters.
 
stangmx13 said:
^ id be surprised if the GPS chip on that phone was any faster than 1hz. fine for walking and running, terrible for anything faster where accuracy matters.
Click to expand...

it's a 1hz chipset. Harry does some predictive magic to make laptimes accurate even at these pathetic update rates. I can't find the link to his discussion about it at the moment but will add it when I run across it.

But the phone has BT and the nice thing is that I can try this burner phone out, and if it works as anticipated, then I can add a capable standalone BT GPS at 10 or 20hz and get the resolution I'm after. If it all ends up working out I'll still be into the entire setup for at/under $100

eta: found it. last page here under interpolation: http://www.gps-laptimer.com/LapTimerDocumentation - Points of Interest and Triggers.pdf

As long as the speed development is nearly linear, this interpolation yields accuracy beyond 0.01 seconds. This is the reason why even receivers with 1 Hz update rate are sufficient for timing popular track days.
Click to expand...

science yo!
 
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The QstarZ unit also shows splits on-board and on the software (where you can define your own splits). The splits on-board are complemented with the RED/GREEN flash feature, so when riding a glimpse can tell you which split was faster!

If you like Harry's Lap Timer, try RaceChrono. It is a feature rich software on Android and works decent on 1Hz inputs as well.

We had also proposed OBD inputs (atleast brake + throttle) but seems like the car industry doesnt need it, which is where QstarZ's presence is bigger.

There is another affordable player in the market, speedAngle which records Lean Angle, Its a nifty unit and seems accurate. QstarZ kept the G's for cars.

The LT-Q6000 unit is a one piece unit, which you power on and forget. Sure, it is expensive than an android phone + s/w + bluetooth receiver but you would need to remind to tag along the receiver + phone + start the s/w.


SonoraMike said:
Used the Qstarz unit, but I've been on the hunt for something that will give me real time lap times and splits and data logging.

I'm just trying something out today that I think will be money, to be proven this weekend.

Harrys Lap Timer running on a $10 android Tracfone from Walmart. The software runs great so far, maybe just a little visually cramped, but for $9 for the entry level or $30 for the premium software combined with the $10 phone and this could be a dynamite solution.

eta: turns out he's got a $5 weekend use license of the midlevel version for those doing the odd track day now and again.

Just playing around with it walking around the front yard and so far so good

I'll do a write up after getting back from the Z2 Turkey Day Thill weekend, but I'm very pleased so far, just have to figure out mounting the phone on the dash
Click to expand...
 
The $20 solution with the Walmart burner phone coupled with Harrys Laptimer software worked outstanding for a laptimer, and having the behind/ahead split indicator that I could see while at speed was exactly what I was looking for.

For me it was a 9/10, hoping to get a detailed review of the setup in use over the Z2 Thanksgiving weekend posted up here "soon"
 
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