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If you have been to the track before, I am sure you are familiar with
the most popular question that comes up in conversation between riders.
"What kind of times are you run'n?" Lap times are probably the most quantifiable
way to measure a rider's skill level. That and the number of times they
have thrown their bike down the track in the past season. With MotoReplay
I think we can take these conversations to a whole new level with talk
about split times, corner speed at the entry or exit of a particular corner,
G-Forces, suspension travel/velocity, etc., etc.. This can all be made
possible if the two riders that are making the comparison are referring
to a common reference point. When riders discuss lap times, their common
reference is a physical timing beacon set up on the side of the track,
usually near the start/finish line. You can think of the MotoTracks track
library as having virtual timing beacons in pre-designated areas of the
track to mark the entry/apex/exit of a corner as well as the start/finish
line. That way when rider A uses the MotoPlayer to overlay the data acquired
with their MotoRecorder and is discussing the entry speed of turn four
with rider B, they are talking about the same location on the track. Of
course, if you haven't figured out already, there will have to be some
compensation for whether rider A and B were taking the same line through
the corner, or if one of them was more to the inside or outside of the
track.
After reading this, and if you are anything like me, you are probably thinking to yourself, "Well that sounds like a great idea but the hardware alone would probably cost way more than I can spend as a club racer or casual trackday rider." My solution to that problem is to come up with a design solution utilizing inexpensive, commonly available components that will integrate together, with a little messaging of the Linux code on an embedded mobile computing platform, to form a single all encompassing system for capturing data and video. So far I am estimating that the components necessary to build the full blown MotoRecorder prototype will cost between $700 and $1000. If you only want to capture GPS data and video then you can slim that price down to $500. Since I brought up cost I would like to say that it is not the intensions of MotoReplay to sell MotoRecorder systems, but to design and test a system and then make available to the MotoReplay community a list of hardware and software necessary to build a MotoRecorder. If this concept takes off like I would envision it to, then I would hope that we could find a 3rd party to build the systems for riders that don't want to deal with the hassle of sourcing the individual components and piecing it all together.
Click Here to Learn More About the MotoRecorder