Electronics For Skills Improvement

[Spaghetti]

I'm thinking to get a RAM mount with Harry lap timer to improve my skills: the ability to check lean angles and track section times sounds like a good idea. I always found the videos recorded at the school a great way to improve because you can see what a mistake look like, not just describe it. What other electronic tools are available?

 

PS: I know there are data loggers recording any possible bike input but maybe those are more for performance setups then skills training.

[rchase]

I have the BMW 2d datalogger on my S1000RR. Dataloggers can be used for performance calibration but they also can give a rider input into their riding. The BMW logger gives a LOT of useful data to me on trackdays. I use mine mostly as a learning tool to see corner speeds, lean angles and even available traction.

 

RAM also has a steering stem mount for cameras which is quite useful. You can get a view of the tach and the track in front of the bike. It's really useful for "seeing" what you are doing.

[Stroker]

I concur.It is like having a friend critique you.

[rchase]

I concur.It is like having a friend critique you.

 

With the notable exception that the electronics won't tell you how good you are when you aren't to make you feel better.

 

I find the information helpful though. Especially questions like "how fast was I going here" and "how much grip do I have left before the TC kicks in to save me". It makes the decision to go "faster" much easier with hard data.

[rchase]

So I was going through some of my data from a track day and saw this. I was eager and greedy with the throttle to get it pinned on the straight and sport mode decided to override that decision and do a slower roll on. The orange line is the rider requested throttle and the blue line is the actual throttle the bike used and the green line is the RPM. Information like this is very cool to see.

 

[Hotfoot]

I'd be interested to see lean angle, too, to see if there was any added lean angle contributing to the TC kicking in, and slip rate to see how much it allowed the tire to slip.

 

Interesting how smooth the actual RPM increase is.

 

Wouldn't be cool if you could also track what your eyes were doing? For example, I'd like to see what your eyes did right at the point there was a little dip in the user-input throttle, then a hard roll on. Was that little hesitation caused by your eyes getting stuck on the apex for a fraction of a second too long, followed by shifting them to your exit area and then going for it with the gas?

[rchase]

Yeah. That would be quite cool. I might have to setup a camera on the bike to look at my eyes sometime to get an idea of where my eyes are going. Not very exciting footage but lots of learning could be done from that. Thanks for that idea.

 

My theory on the RPM dip is me shifting into my "hold on this is going to be a wild ride" position behind the screen as I rocketed down the straight at 150+. I thought I was doing that smoothly while still rolling into the gas but the data does not really show that. This is exactly the kind of information that's useful out of a data logger.

[Timmer]

This is very interesting to me as well.

 

Below is a list of the things(from the above posts) that you all said that you are interested in:

1. Section times

2. Lean angle

3. Corner speed

4. Available traction

5. Amount the tire slipped

6. Throttle position

 

What else would you be interested in measuring about your riding?...Let's keep this going!

[tmckeen]

I'd be interested in a sensor that would let me know what the bikes physical and effective lean angles were so I could quantify the effectiveness of my body position in a particular corner

[Spaghetti]

The amount of pressure on the brakes. If there are ABS sensors, there must be something that can tell us how close we are to lock the tire (or how far rather for beginners).

[Timmer]

Good ones guys, good ones!

 

Anything else?

[rchase]

The BMW 2d system provides both a front and rear brake pressure indication in a percentage. There's actually so many data points that sometimes it's confusing. For example there are 3 speed channels (GPS, Front wheel sensor, Rear wheel sensor). You can get Lean angle via the DTC sensor or via GPS as well. What's interesting to look at is the %control throttle vs %bike throttle vs RPM in the various modes as well. I find myself swimming in data and I'm having to decide what the important stuff is. As well I have drawn some incorrect conclusions based on the data. I saw the DTC system engaging the last time I was at the track and concluded that I must have been running out of traction. Talking to someone more knowledgeable and I figured out that I was tripping the lean angle sensor in sport mode. It's a learning curve but the information is quite valuable. Combined with video footage you can really retrace your steps and figure out exactly what's going on.

 

If you are a suspension person there's an add on to the datalogger that can tell you the exact travel of the forks and rear shock using strain gauges.

 

I'm going to be diving more into the data analysis here soon. I'll share anything interesting that I discover. The big thing so far that I have discovered is how much faster I could have gone.

 

The logger is also useful for keeping track of your ex racer mechanic. Here's my mechanic Opie Caylor taking my S1000RR for a spin in race mode. 18% slip rate. I think he was having a lot of fun. The aqua line is slip. My highest ever slip rate was 8% at the track.

 

[XPyrion]

Video is the only electronic tool I have and found that it is very valuable in analyzing laps. The first thing I did was take my best lap and then recorded top speeds (where applicable), turn in speed and apex speed. I then found someone else's video that was a little faster than me to see where I can make improvements. I already suspected this but I was able to quantify that on average, I am 6 mph slower on right hand turns and only 2 mph slower on my lefts. This gives me something to focus on next time out. For my next track day, I am planning on another 650 showing up so we can get video of each others body position. That may provide more insight into my right handers.

 

A few issues with mirroring another bike is that not all things can be compared equally. For example, top speed and braking points will differ since I am comparing an 899 to my 650.

 

I spend a lot of time analyzing my video, if I had all that data from BMW, I would go bonkers. I am still hoping for a middleweight from them.

[Hotfoot]

Good ones guys, good ones!

 

Anything else?

Acceleration and deceleration, mapped on the track (green and red) and gear.

[benhamf15]

And the ability to time sync all of this data to a video camera with the ability to select what data you want to actively display during playback.

[tmckeen]

I'd be good with this really

 

 

 

[Stroker]

Even you must find this all very confusing Robert, and you are a computer man.

[rchase]

 

Good ones guys, good ones!

 

Anything else?

Acceleration and deceleration, mapped on the track (green and red) and gear.

 

 

The datalogger has acceleration mapped on the speed map view. Which is color coded based on throttle position. Decel I have yet to see a view on.

[rchase]

I'd be good with this really

 

 

 

 

This is pretty close. The new 2015 S1000RR gives you your maximum lean angle on it's instruments in real time. I'm hoping they have a setting to turn off the speedo display as well as that would be SUPER nice not having to tape it.

 

[XPyrion]

Using RaceChrono on my Android phone, I was able to map it to a GoPro video using RaceRender but unless you have a good GPS, it is not as good as using the bikes gauges.

[Spaghetti]

We might not be very far from the Iron Man style display. There is this helmet adds-on that shows speed and GPS data on the lower corner of the windshield: http://www.skullysystems.com/#intro

 

And this one: http://www.ridenuviz.com/#intro

[rchase]

Some more snippets of useful data. Here's a graphic that the data logger software generated for me showing me throttle usage. It's helped me determine that I'm chopping the gas WAY early in a lot of places on the track especially the straight and have rather spotty throttle control on the left side of the track (i hate that part of the track and my SR's are showing). This was a lap at Atlanta Motorsports Park in rain mode just having some fun. This is the kind of data that's extremely useful for me.