Track Testing for Racing Cars

A test day is the best way to look for more speed, or try new set ups.  We offer our service to test with you.  We test at Wakefield Park, Goulbourn.

Workshop Setup
Before going testing, the workshop set up must be done, and the settings recorded. 

Testing with Hand Timing

After the initial warm up, we like to record split lap times, or sector times for every lap you do.  This way, no lap is wasted.  Say if there are three sectors, on your "out" lap, sectors 2 & 3 are at full speed.  Similarly, on your "in" lap, sectors 1 & 2 are meaningfull.  If you get held up, or make a mistake in one sector, the times on the other sectors are still usefull.  The other reason for split times are to compare the performance of the car for the different characterstics of the circuit.  eg sector one times are for the fast section of the circuit, and sector two times for the slow twisty bit.  You can see that it is not necessary (or desirable) to do more than five or six laps at a time.  The driver can relate a problem to the actual lap on the time sheets (and of course observers will have noted anything they saw already.)

Testing with the New DL1 Data Logger

The DL1 data logger is set up with it's own battery so it can drop straight in your car.  It uses GPS for speed recording, so no wheel sensors or other fittings are required on your car.  We no longer need hand timing, because, on completion of the run (5 or 6 laps say), we instantly get split times for the run just completed, along with any other comparison laps that are loaded up in the computer.  This is a big saving.   There is more time for observation and there is the possibilty of testing more than one car at a time.  Also the logger times are exact - no beacon needed on the side of the track.

Testing for Short Races as per Most Amateur Categories

In amateur racing, we are looking for one set up that will generally be used in practise (qualifying) and racing.  The tyres will be used in a succession of race meetings over a number of weeks or months.  Dot racing tyres seem to be able to handle a lot more heat cycles without going off, compared to racing tyres of the past.   For short races the fuel load is not a factor.  The driver may have set up variations for wet vs dry, old tyres vs new tyres and say generally fast circuits vs slow circuits.  What we are aiming for is to test a range of settings that the driver might use to set up for a particular race meeting.  e.g. Have a range of front anti-roll bars, or a choice of front springs.

We will take tyre temperature readings after every run.  They are very meaningfull on a test day.  The driver stays at race speed right up to the pit entry, so that the tyres stay hot.  They tell us a lot about what tyre pressures to run, what cambers are needed, how the car is using the tyres (eg did that shock change help?) and even about the balance of the car (sometimes).  One set of readings in isolation doesn't mean much, but a succession of readings over a number of runs are very instructive.

If we have just done some work on the set up, we will generally have some different bars, springs and or shocks to test.

And the best thing is that most times the car will a lot faster than before.

Data Logging

The race meeting where the car is slower than before, and your not dicing with the people you usually race with is definitely no fun.

We think some data recording is very beneficial in this regard.  If the car is slow it is often hard to tell what is happening.  But if you overlay the data from your previous best laps with this race meeting, you might see it.   eg" I have definitely lost straight line speed."

We are not talking about digital dashes and expensive stuff.  Just rpm, kph, braking/acceleration G and lateral G sensors.  We use the DL1 logger from Racing Technology, UK.  We are an authorised re-seller and can get you one for A$1650 with full software support from us.