Now that one-way telemetry is permitted in all cars at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill, Technik/HQ Autosports’ used the technology as a recipe for success in the team’s first effort at the 25.
“We’ve got a couple of things going on here,” said team owner Rob Henretta. “One is the Race Capture/Pro system. We’re communicating to an Android-based tablet over Bluetooth. We’re then taking the data and streaming it up to the cloud to racecapture.com where we can actually monitor any of the telemetry data that we’re collecting on the car from the pits. It’s a very affordable way to do it. It basically works over a cellular network.”
RaceCapture/Pro uses 10Hz GPS, 3D accelerometer, yaw sensor and high-speed sampling for sensors. The Bluetooth-connected real-time dash app, which turns a phone or tablet into a cost-effective dashboard for watching lap times and sensor data. Race Capture/Pro communicates with the tablet through Bluetooth, and the tablet is linked to a wifi hotspot. The hot spot sends the upload to the cloud and also provides the download to the team’s other in-car technology, the Race Spotter app.
Spotter displays racing flag updates from your race organization on a mobile device. Technik/HQ Autosport had an old iPhone in the car connected via wifi to the hot spot. So the tablet was used to display car info and the spotter app monitored track conditions. Both devices were mounted in plain sight of the driver.
But there’s more. The team also used a Sony action camera to live-stream HD video to the Web. The crew could see the video feed in the pits in real time. They used the feed to give one of the drivers who had limited track time at Thunderhill guidance and instruction as he drove in practice and qualifying sessions. The whole setup was powered by the car’s 12-volt system.
“We’re able to get a lot of data out of the car to make the correct adjustments,” said driver Peter Hopelain. “We’re able to do that using tablets and technology and the Internet, and we’re one of the first teams to really pioneer a telemetry system. It’s a competitive edge. We clawed our way back using it.
“Using the internet-based camera and the microphone, you’re able to listen to the car and you can hear all the shifts,” Hopelain added. “You’re able to actually hear the radio inputs coming in. It’s a game changer and there’s a lot left in it.”
