New video cameras mounted on F1000

[Richard Dziak]

Over the past several months I read many different articles on the mounting of....and using video cameras on race cars. After some research, I decided to go the low cost route and mount a few GoPro Motorsports Hero 3 cameras on the F1000. I asked lots of questions on placement and mounting. I will test these cameras this weekend on a test day at my local track. Hopefully I can get some video footage up on You Tube in the days ahead after this weekend.

Visit my website........www.formularacingltd.com .......the Blog section.....for more photos on the way these cameras have been mounted. I have closeups of the mounts. The GoPro camera kit offered many different mounts and choices. The mounts are permanently attached to the engine cover, and I drilled extras screw holes for extra support. I didn't trust the sticky backing on the mount alone. The camera slides in and out of the mounts, and lock when in place. It's an easy and great system for mounting.

Double click the image below to enlarge it.

[ghickman]

Richard
Nice work on the installation. A few months back Nic @ GoPro sent out a mass email to all the FB guys with a 40% discount offer. I bought 2 cameras back then, hope you were able to swing the same deal.

I mounted one of them on the handle bar of my road bike...i couldn't get the wind noise out of the sound though.

I'll have 2 cameras mounted on my FB next month when we start testing. Let me know if you are able to get your sound working correctly.

Gary Hickman

[Richard Dziak]

First test of the GoPro Motorsports Hero was very disappointing. In the rear mounted camera, there was lots of vibration. After 4 minutes on the track and speeds up to 110 mph, the mount stayed on the car, but what I call the "twist mount" did not hold and the screws that held the mount together, came loose and the camera angle changed/shifted. Lots of vibration in the video, most likely due to placement of the Go Pro.

The front camera stopped and did not record twice. When using the front mounted camera in a stable position and no movement the camera worked great as well as the rear mounted camera. As with the rear mount, the front facing camera mount did not hold either under the vibration and wind speeds. I think these mounts may have to be glued all together as one piece, once the proper angle of view is achieved. It seems that once the car starting rolling and the camera suffered some vibration, it just wouldn't record.

I will try again using the cameras in my car/truck as I won't be racing for another month.

While the cameras are low priced, this test was a failure. I will not give up and will try different mounts and ideas. For now, the Go Pro was a Go Dud in my experience and experiment. I spoke with a racer at the track that uses the GoPro mounted on a motorcycle and he stated it worked great. So I guess it's back to testing to give the camera a second chance. I will say on the rear mounted camera I did get some video and the overall image was very good, just lots of movement and shaking.

I will keep everyone posted.

[PaulL]

I thought I had solved my GoPro quitting problems with different batteries ... but they still shut off all the time.

I returned them, and I will not use them anymore.

[Richard Dziak]

Paul:

I did the same, shipped it back to Amazon........they wouldn't work mounted to my dash of the truck going to the office. While some may have had or do have a good experience with this product, I found them to be terrible.

Thank heavens Amazon issues refunds.