Laps Testing at Tuas

This test was done on the night of 30/8/2011, which was a wet and rainy day. The main objective was to test out the lap functions and to try and overlay the results to compare. The car was a toyota corolla, so naturally the figures would be very conservative. Because the run is sampled as a continuous drive, one needs to break up that continuous drive into laps, or consecutive single runs, in order to overlay them and compare.


The above diagram shows the typical main screen displaying speed, longitudinal and lateral acceleration. The drive was fairly consistent except for the first lap, which was a 'Reece' lap.


Further screenshots showing the positional data overlaid on Google Maps. The blue arrows denote markers which are used to determine sectors.


Overall, it was a simple rectangular left handed circuit. It was a learning experience trying to explore and utilise the software in greater detail. The potential for this is literally limitless once one knows how to manipulate, create and present the required data. :)

Tests lined up

A couple more days before I can dedicate my 100% into this interest.. and we've got a couple more tests lined up to familiarize myself with the system and it's capabilities before we test it on the actual field. Currently, there are no confirmed dates although the nearest 'confirmed' one is a go-kart test somewhere in September, and probably one at Sepang around then too. Btw, we're looking for volunteers to test this system out. Volunteer = no monetary gains obviously, but the driver would be rewarded with detailed information and feedback on his driving and if possible, his car's capability and setup. If this plan works out, he would have other perks and priority as well.

First up we've got the OBD (On Board Diagnostics) to Serial adaptor which we will test to see if it able to read and record ECU data and synchronize it with the other data. I have a feeling that we can only either record both logger and OBD or view OBD alone only, and not both together. We'll see how it goes.

The next test would be trying out laps. I haven't had the chance to use the lap function in the software, with sector markings, split times and all. It would be interesting driving around my block round and round. =)

Hopefully, will get these two tests sorted out by the end of this week cuz Murphy's Law always stands. Something will go wrong. If it doesn't, then you're doing it wrong.

oh. Look what's cooking

This little test was done on the 18th of Aug so it's another backdated entry. Before that, I was having troubles with the live data display function of the logger. It turns out that I have been using the wrong cable - a straight through serial cable instead of a null-modem or cross over serial cable. Basically, the former is a one-way street, and the latter is a two way street. Another D'oh moment.

Although we know that the sensor from the manufacturer would be pretty much calibrated and ready to be installed on the car, I just wanted to see it working for myself under controlled and known conditions. The purpose of testing was also to see how close both sensors were in the temperature readings, which was more important as it is the difference between the two temperatures which would be used in calculations for the radiator test.


This was the very impromptu test setup that I made on my kitchen stove top. The tripods prevent the wires and sensors from touching the pot directly. Also there is a reference temperature probe for a '3rd party' point of view.


I used the lowest heat settings to reduce the heat coming from the sides of the pot. Thus it took a very very long time for the water to boil.


The temperature plateaued off at around 97 degC, not too far off from the reference temperature of about 98 degC. The difference between both sensors was also around +-1.5 degC. The graphical results are shown below.


You can see the very slow climb to the top, till it reached a small plateau. This was when I added a little more heat to give it a 'boost'. Then the heat was shut off and the pot allowed to cool on its own. The sharp drop was when I added extra water at room temperature to bring the temp down, and the final drop was when a couple of ice cubes were added in.


This graph shows the difference between both temperature sensors. If both were reading exactly the same, it would be a single straight line. The increasing thickness of the line shows that the difference between both sensors increase as the temperature increases. Still, they were not that far off each other.

This concludes the test. Hopefully next time, we will get to do some real testing.

The First Test

Well this is a little back dated since I received the stuff about 2 weeks ago on the 5th of Aug. This was the first test of the data logger with GPS at Kallang, with a friend and his Honda Civic EK hatch.

Since it was the on the day the package arrived, I only had a couple of hours to figure out how to use the software and logger, and it wasn't an easy thing. Unfortunately we were too excited to remember to take pictures, although we do have some results to show.

The run was from Kallang KFC, around to leisurepark and back. The 'circuit layout' is shown below:


Notice that we start on the left actually while Kallang was on the right of the map, because the system was reset along the way due to some mounting errors. This run was the 2nd run of the day, and the better one with a little more 'g' force and speed than the first slow run which was just to test the GPS connection and logger. The colours in the lines represent the speed of the car with red being the highest and dark blue being the slowest. You can see that red is achieved on the straights and blue for the corners.


Above are the results of the first run. We'll explain more about how to analyse this data in the future, but for now we have speed (in km/h) on the top, lateral acceleration ('g') in the middle, and longitudinal acceleration ('g') on the bottom. The top right box shows the details of the car at the chosen instant (marked by a crosshair on the chart), and the track layout on the bottom right of the picture shows the position on the track at that same chosen instant. Note that there are many more ways to represent these data and this is just one of them.

A few quick observations in the results. The maximum speed reached was about 110km/h on the stretch towards kallang macs. Note that the 'circuit' is in a clockwise direction, and it is actually 1.5 rounds since we start on the left and finish on the right. The maximum lateral 'g' pulled was close to 0.8gs and it happened on the second left turn. We also see that the maximum acceleration was about 0.33gs, and the maximum deceleration or braking was about -0.56gs.

Another hint. If you look at turn 2, you can see that it wasn't taken very ideally. It was a sweeper bend taken with an entry speed of about 80km/h without any or much brakes, relying on the 'engine brake' or coasting/lift off to slow down. It seems that as he turned the steering, he gave some throttle. About a quarter into the turn, he gave another jab of throttle and at the same time adjusted his steering (which shows some hesitance). After the apex, speed was allowed to drop further suggesting that the driver hesitated on the throttle. The second lap of the same corner shows a similar pattern in the trace (where the crosshair is), but with less hesitance suggesting a little more confidence.

Well, that's all for now. =)