G-tech meter, got it!, How many g's can you pull???? Options

[Charles Deutsch]

I got mine....in factory box with instructions....never opened, etc....I think that they can't move them for $139.

After playing with it, it is worth ~$50.00

I am looking at it for the baseline vs. improvement factor.

change brake pads, what happened.

Put in a v-8, what happens.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

herb

Are your acceleration times a secret?

[TimT]

heres a g-circle of a session at Lime Rock. This info tells me I turn left and right at basically the same limits( to low), and that I brake to hard!!! LOL and that my car acclerates at almost .5G

[crash914]

Not a lot of data at this point....but now that I am playing with buttons....

0-60 times, 11+- seconds. HP--77.

Sounds like a tired 2.0!! Looking at some stock dyno runs, not too far off, I know my engine is tired.
I need an engine!! Lets see, 150hp will just about double what I got now....heh heh....

turning is .85+
braking is .95+

How about those who have large cylinders and cams....what hp # do you get??

[Charles Deutsch]

0.85g of lateral acceleration is good. The key to getting accurate drive-wheel hp figures is to enter the true weight of your car. Jake Raby says he gets 150 (flywheel) hp from his 2270 motors.

[ss6]

Guess I'm still a little skeptical as to how you can compare apples to apples on baselines vs improvements.

ie, It's nice to know what your cornering g's are, but isn't the real question what is your AVAILABLE traction circle (per given chunk of pavement / pavement temperature / tires / tire temperature / suspension setup)? To find that, you'd have to repeatably run exactly the same line in the same corner, step over the limit (ie slide), and record your accels at the onset of the slide.

Once you had that, then you could divide your subsequent accels *in that corner* and get an approximation of how aggressive / conservative your cornering is.

Nice doodad factor, but no surprise their eBay price is so far below their MSRP.

[fiid]

The tool is most use on a track where you are running multiple laps throughout the day. Basically you can use it lap after lap to help smooth out corners so that you are running the minimal Gs on the car. Theoretically, you can then speed up your run on that corner when you have the better line.

When you are at the track for a whole day or weekend, constantly tweaking your line, any sort of performance feedback you can get is meaningful, because in my opinion - whatever you think about which laps were faster is probably wrong. Only quantitave analysis tells you what is actually improving your driving.

Same is true of suspension mods. If you are tweaking your swaybar slowly through the course of a day, you can look at how the peak cornering Gs alter with those adjustments.

Used right, it can be quite an awesome tool. And it's probably pretty good at what it was designed to do. Don't hammer screws in.

Fiid.

[ArtechnikA]

...you can use it lap after lap to help smooth out corners so that you are running the minimal Gs on the car. Theoretically, you can then speed up your run on that corner when you have the better line.

yes, but ...

what you -really- need for that is track maps and segment times, because the classic novice mistake is trying to go too fast in the slow parts, and too slow in the fast parts.

pulling lots of lateral g in a place you should be going straight looks good on the friction circle but it is not the fast way around the course.

i agree 'it's just a tool' and must be applied correctly. i'm in the business of making 'just a tool' software too.

i don't get the feeling this product has time stamps and lap markers so you can correlate individual g ratings with individual turns across multiple laps. there are products that do that, but not for these prices.

IMO they've found their price point. if you want to measure HP improvements, the safe & proper way is to go check out the local dragstrips and compare 0->60 and quarter-mile times, and trap speed. this is a decent lateral-g tool and there isn't really anything else in this price range that is. i think it probably leads to socially inappropriate behaviour on public roads, but i can't much blame the maker for that, and the marketer only to a slight degree...

[fiid]

I was wondering about this. If you could get a datasteam from one of these things and also from a GPS into a laptop, you could do some damage.

System could lay several laps you have done (or other people have done) on top of yours and show you how each technique you have tried is panning out.

This stuff isn't all that hard - I suppose it would have appeal for anybody who is spending time on the track, which ought to make it quite marketable.

Fiid.

[ArtechnikA]

This stuff isn't all that hard - I suppose it would have appeal for anybody who is spending time on the track, which ought to make it quite marketable.

Mike Valentine used the time he couldn't make radar detectors after leaving Cincinnati Milacron to design the g-Analyst, but i understand it hasn't been available for years. here's a similar accel-recording device

BelTronic Vector webpage to the g-tech.

i've seen data-acq systems that do it all, you don't really -need- GPS since if you've got precision accel's you can do inertial-nav just fine ... but nowadays it'd be pretty simple to provide a standard GPS-stream interface for them's that's got one - and it'd be a decent track of elevation change - although the portable GPS's i've seen update ~ 1Hz which is not going to provide a lot of resolution at racing speeds - track map is probably a much better source...

and then there's Extreme GEEZ that use a Palm Pilot for the core CPU acquiring data from their 3-axis accel device. this site was dormant for a while but i note it has recent updates now ...

anybody here a current SCCA member ? the current data acq companies used to advertise in SportsCar all the time ...

[seanery]

that magazine was my favorite part of being an scca member. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[redshift]

To find that, you'd have to repeatably run exactly the same line in the same corner, step over the limit (ie slide), and record your accels at the onset of the slide.

You could take the variables out by making a false steering wheel lock, accelerating to a given speed, locking the wheel, then slamming on brakes, all on a big flat piece of ass-fault.

I don't think it's a good idea in traffic, but you can cause repeatable events, just ignore everything else.


M

[TimT]

The unit I use to tell me what a crappy driver I am uses GPS, and 2 accelerometers to produce track maps, graphs, you can use a wheel speed sensor to further increase the accuracy of the measurements (the algorithm will interpolate with 4, instead of 3 data inputs). You can place markers on the trackmap at any location you want, then analyze your progress through that section as you change driving techniques or setup

Here is a shot at Lime Rock entering the braking zone for turn 1

you can tell Im braking way to early

[TimT]

in this screen shot, Im exiting the downhill turn, turning and on the gas, which is good. I used to tap turn thenget on the gas for this turn. Now I lift turn and gas, Im exiting the turn about 8 mph faster just changing that

sitting shotgun with other better drivers, getting more seat time, and using this logger Ive knocked my times at LRP from about 1:08 to 1:01-02's this year.... Im not even close to the top of the pack with the big guns in PCA

[redshift]

Limerock.. I saw that place on TV. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif) What are you, some kind of movie star?

Why are there ants in the pits?

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

M

[seanery]

got more details on the hardware and software you are using.
Is it affordable for the average joe?

[Charles Deutsch]

if you want to measure HP improvements, the safe & proper way is to go check out the local dragstrips and compare 0->60 and quarter-mile times, and trap speed.

But this is exactly what the G-TECH Pro does best. It can very accurately measure acceleration times, speed and hp. I also seem to remember getting an email from Performance Products where they were advertising a similar unit made by Escort.

Here it is http://www.performanceproducts.com/Product...&producttype=10 .

(IMG:http://assets.performanceproducts.com/assets/product/109384/109384_200_1.jpg)

[TimT]

I use a DL90 data logger, I bought it when the product was launched, cost me about $480, I then upgraded to a better antenna,5Hz sampling rate GPS for an additional $180. It aint cheap, but the amount of info it provides is amazing!

Affordable is relative, I had some mad money from my income tax return, probably should have used it for something more practical.

another fellow has just put together some software that overlays the DL90 output over video....kinda like the speedvison displays....

Ants in the pits WTF LOL

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[ArtechnikA]

But this is exactly what the G-TECH Pro does best.

and it is clearly marketed as doing that ON PUBLIC ROADS.

Street racing is stupid!

street 'performance testing' is only marginally less stupid.

all these performance doo-dads know only two things - accelleration, and time.

it can only approximate a 0-60 time. it has no idea how much you car, as tested ACTUALLY weighs, and that's key.

every dragstrip has an accurately surveyed, safe quarter-mile with a safe shutdown area. and scales.

i acknowledge that there are places where 0->60 runs can be made on public roads in RELATIVE safety.
you want a dyno - go find a dyno - it's not hard. you want a dragsstrip - go find one - they're all over.
you want to do 0-60 runs on public roads ? well - i just think that's not very smart.

[Charles Deutsch]

But this is exactly what the G-TECH Pro does best.

and it is clearly marketed as doing that ON PUBLIC ROADS.

Street racing is stupid!

street 'performance testing' is only marginally less stupid.

all these performance doo-dads know only two things - accelleration, and time.

it can only approximate a 0-60 time. it has no idea how much you car, as tested ACTUALLY weighs, and that's key.

every dragstrip has an accurately surveyed, safe quarter-mile with a safe shutdown area. and scales.

i acknowledge that there are places where 0->60 runs can be made on public roads in RELATIVE safety.
you want a dyno - go find a dyno - it's not hard. you want a dragsstrip - go find one - they're all over.
you want to do 0-60 runs on public roads ? well - i just think that's not very smart.

If the accelerometer produces accurate numbers (and everything that I have read indicates that this is the fact), the math involved is rather simple and will allow you to calculate speed, distance and hp with great accuracy. You can input your car's weight and then the device will also calculate your drive wheel hp with great accuracy.

"G-TECH/Pro is a very accurate machine, and the trap speed result that you get from the G-TECH/Pro is actually more accurate than the racetrack. Reason is that the racetrack averages your speed over a 60 feet stretch between two beams and G-TECH/Pro measures your speed at the exact 1/4 mile point."

http://www.gtechpro.com/gtechpro.html

[ArtechnikA]

Street racing is stupid!
street 'performance testing' is only marginally less stupid.

If the accelerometer produces accurate numbers

never did i say it was not accurate -- IF you know your exact weight.
(how do you propose to find your exact as-tested weight? number-one answer: go to a racetrack...)

i said trying to do this kind of testing on public roads is stupid.

since you haven't addressed that issue and keep harping in accuracy, i gather you think street racing is just fine. stay off my street - i already have enough people thinking my street is start/finish at Le Mans.