The October 2017 edition of VARAC Pit Signals by Jeremy Sale has been released!
Click here to download your personal copy.
Features this month include:
With a gorgeous, sunny weekend at CTMP, the VARAC 2017 season came to a close on Sunday, October 1. Now it’s time to plan upgrades, fix the niggling problems and dust off the project cars for winter enjoyment.
Even as we speak, the Vintage Historic and Classic Directors are tabulating the VARAC Drivers’ Challenge points to determine who won each of our racing classes, as well as the overall club champion.
This awesome article by Chris Rupnik is a re-print from the October 2016 issue of Pit Signals.
I owe David DiCesar credit for this finding. While at the spring classic at Tremblant earlier this year – David clued me into what I had wanted most: Telemetry for our vintage cars!
As Tremblant doesn’t have a racehero.io compatible version of their track software – all we could get as racers was the best lap and total time. That’s probably fine for most – but I’m a numbers guy and would have appreciated more statistics. He had pruchased an android phone at Walmart in the U.S., one of those cheapy deals where you get the phone for very little dollars but have to pay a high monthly fee. What I didn’t know – and the key – is that the phone works fine without it ever being activated. The software is loaded on the phone via a wifi connection – and the GPS tracking doesn’t require an active cell phone contract to work. I should have guessed that – but now I knew for sure.
This opens up the ability to use any old android or apple phone as a track phone! Maybe someone in your family has upgraded to the latest and has an older phone that is no longer suitable for daily use – however recording 30 minutes of track telemetry requires very little processing power – so really even phones from 3-4 years ago work perfectly!
The software that I use is free – and is called track addict. This software has all the tracks loaded into it – and once you load the application on your phone in fact detects via the GPS which track you are at.
The app is pretty amazing. Using the GPS which provides specific time and location – it is able to determine speed – G-force and what I really wanted – lap time for each lap at Tremblant! Depending on how you mount your phone – you can even take video. However, in my case I much prefer the quality provided by my gopro cameras.
As vintage cars are not allowed to view the telemetry while in the car – please mount your camera in such a way as you cannot see the screen while running, in my case Andrew built a lovely marsupial pouch. If capturing the video isn’t necessary – I am pretty sure just having the phone in your pocket in an open topped car is good enough. Once the session is over – the data is exported as an excel file (CSV) which is then emailed separately – once the phone is in wifi connection. (Editor’s note – please do not carry your phone in your pocket while driving – have it securely mounted away from where it can slip down an interfere with operation of your vehicle).
Now for my case where I have multiple gopro camera video that I want to overlay, the same company that provides track addict application makes “RaceRender” which is $30 but does exactly what I need. This software is step by step assembly of very professional looking video. It takes the CSV file from the phone, asks a few little questions and has a great sync tool that matches the telemetry to the actual video. There are many different pre-defined dash type layouts to choose from – and this is the one that I have found most to my liking. The results is pretty spectacular – and you can see that since the CHGP I ahve been using it on all my videos. Example: https://youtu.be/yOZ-alK1Now
Walter demonstrated at the 2014 CHGP the Harry Lap Timer software which does effectively the same thing but the editing of the final video is done on an ios device – which isn’t my personal preference.
I hope to see more people taking advantage of this great tip by David – THANKS!
The August 2017 edition of VARAC Pit Signals by Jeremy Sale has been released!
Click here to download your personal copy.
Features this month include:
This article was written by Charlie Pinkerton for the London Free Press
Original article can be found here.
At 80, Bob Long’s as quick-witted as ever. And on the racetrack, he’s the fastest he’s ever been.
“Most guys my age play cards or something, well I’m bored as (expletive) with cards. I can’t do that,” Long said.
As the oldest fully licensed Formula 4 (F4) race driver in Ontario, Long recorded his personal best time at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park two weeks ago.
He’s been building and racing his own cars since 1958, the year he moved to London and joined the London Auto Sport Club.
With the 5-foot-8 senior in the car, the Gamma II — named because gamma rays are faster than X-rays — weighs only 375 kilograms.
“I average at Motorsport — which is uphill, downhill, short corners, long corners — around 170 km/h,” he said.
He races about 10 times a year.
“It’s pretty nice when you get in your own car and it goes fast and you do well.”
According to F4 Canada’s website, Long’s a 14-time national champion in the sport. But Long says being on the track isn’t what he enjoys most.
“I get more of a kick out of building the car,” he said.
Long was trained as a tool-and-die maker before moving to London. He spent 22 years working in the auto sector and 12 more in the food-vending business. For another six years, he dealt with air compression for a friend’s company.
The senior retired for the fourth and final time 15 years ago, and with his wife, Nancy, lives in a central London home, where he maintains a house he owns next door, and keeps the Gamma II and a few other classic cars.
“Nothing gets easier when you get older. Nothing.”
Long says if he could be any age forever, he’d pick 30.
“You’re smart, you’re dumb — so you can associate with anybody,” Long said. “You’re kind of a man, but you can still be goofy.”
Long’s next race is at Calabogie Motorsports Park at the end of the summer. He knows his final race is coming. He’s said if someone buys his car, he will quit.
He says he’s trying to sell it to the right person, preferably a woman, because that would help the sport.
Although his car is one of the fastest on the track, he’s struggled with selling it. He says he’s been told by other drivers that there’s a stigma attached to his car.
“What kind of a stigma, it’s fast?” Long asked when he heard that.
Apparently, no one will buy his car because they don’t want to drive it slower than an 80-year-old.
The July 2017 edition of VARAC Pit Signals by Jeremy Sale has been released!
Click here to download your personal copy.
The Special VARAC Vintage Grand Prix edition features this month include:
VARAC Racers will benefit from a new FUEL PRICING PROGRAM according to John Shane, President of Shellbourne Fuels. He says: “Shellbourne Fuels is very proud and pleased to support VARAC and Vintage Racing to the best of our ability. We supply the very best racing fuel blends for vintage performance engines as well as our EXTREME Enhancers and lubricants. Our goal is to ensure that VARAC racers have the best products available to deliver performance and reliability.”
The new pricing program applies to racing fuels and has been worked out with Shellbourne’s Regional Distributor, Bob DeShane of BRITSPEED Special Tuning in order to meet the fuel needs of VARAC racers through a new VARAC Fuel Pricing Schedule that includes lower, more competitive pricing.
DeShane says: “Having been a VARAC racer, I know all about the expenses that come with the sport. Now that I am representing Shellbourne Fuels, I wanted to find a way to lower that cost and make it easier on the racers. I also wanted to be in a position to offer fuel advice. Fuels are such an important element of racing and yet many don’t realize the performance potential of their cars because they use an incorrect fuel. But, performance is what racing is all about. Engine reliability can also be easily compromised by making the wrong choice and that’s when things get expensive.”
Most VARAC racers choose to purchase fuel in twenty-litre containers. The new Shellbourne Fuel Pricing Program is designed to benefit those customers. It will involve a “Container Exchange Program” where the racer will be required to have sufficient Shellbourne branded containers to meet their fuel usage requirements as well as exchange containers. For instance, if a racer requires two 20 litre containers of fuel for a weekend of racing, Britspeed will provide those. In preparation for the next weekend of racing, the racer will exchange the two empty containers for two full containers. Britspeed will label all containers with the driver’s name and fuel blend (eg. D. Smith, 110 Leaded) and this will ensure that the racer always has the right stuff.
This system will enable us to offer fuel at lower prices and it will eliminate the build-up of used containers in the racer’s trailer or garage. To qualify for the lower prices of the new Program customers will need to have sufficient “Approved Shellbourne Fuel Containers”. New customers will be required to make their initial purchases at the regular price. The regular price includes the container. Established customers will very likely have enough containers on hand. We will even buy back clean surplus containers at $10 each.
For more information, please call Bob DeShane at 705-878-5422 or email [email protected]
Refer to the website for more details.