Solo Board:
I oppose a "ban" or significant restriction on use of data acquisition at
any Solo II events in any class, but especially in Mod. I say this even
though some of my competition may run and understand much more
sophisticated systems than my simple recording tach and G-Cube!
1. Recording Tachs: For Mod classes, what is a recording tach? Is it the
traditional mechanical or electronic tach with a telltale? Is it a simple
(by today's standards) and common Stack or other brand round tach which
permits a very brief review of rpm between runs? Is it a Stack or PI dash
which some of the newer cars are delivered with or which are in the car
when purchased from a road racer. If any of these are banned at Nationals
it would mean that many of us would need to buy and install non-recording
tachs or change instrument panels for Nationals. To what benefit?
2. Video Cameras: I doubt that anyone driving a mod car can gain any real
advantage from watching in car videos of someone else's runs compared to
simply walking the course lots of times.
3. G-cube or much more complicated data acquistion: This has lots of
potential value for helping prepare and develop a car and driver but no
real value between runs at an event . . . at least not for me. As GH says,
it may be an advantage in Pro Solo . . . but thats OK since the whole Pro
Solo format faciltates more car changes and driver "adjustment" during
competition. Part of being called "Pro". However, I enjoy being able to
analyze my mistakes and successes after a big event . . . maybe all winter!
At Nationals most of us are much too busy cleaning tires between runs,
changing drivers, watching other cars run, etc. to have any chance to do
any serious analysis of any of the above. Let alone make any significant
changes to the car.
The "real" potential "advantage", in my opinion, is from having friends
take comparative split times, observe driving styles, etc. and then sharing
that with a driver between runs. We certainly do not want to ban this!
With today's technology, someone who really wanted to could probably hide a
"heads up" display in their helmet, put a few minature data collection
modules and transmitters at key points in a car, probably even tap into the
on board computers in modern stock cars, and nobody would ever know.
My advice: Don't worry about it :-)
Dick Rasmussen
CM 85
85 Van Diemen RF-85 Formula Ford
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