What were the earliest data systems used on racing cars...

[alangbaker]

...and when did they come into use?

I would assume that more than a few on this forum are old enough to remember their introduction.

[SteveG]

I saw a a team using string potentiometers connected to various points on a formula ford chassis then recording the pot's movement on a paper strip chart recorder. IIRC, this was in '73 or '74. I believe they where trying to capture chassis flex.
I believe Indycar's Shierson racing was one of the first teams to use a purpose built system that could be loosely compared to today's systems.

Steve

[Daryl DeArman]

...and when did they come into use?

I would assume that more than a few on this forum are old enough to remember their introduction.

Someone want to use DA on their vintage car and the organization frowning upon said use ?


I am surprised it was as early as suggested, but makes sense given progression of computers since we landed on the moon. Racepak and Dynatek both entered the scene around 1986-1988. My brother in law was crewing for Ron Braaksma's top-fuel hydro (the team that broke Eddie Hill's long standing Top Speed record on water). They were one of the first to utilize DA in the drag racing world. My brother-in-law was the youngest member on the team so they figured he was most likely to learn this new-fangled computer stuff. I knew barely any more than he did about it, but I knew a bit more about engine theory at the time. We went to Dynatek and Robert gave us the full demo of the prototype they had on his ProStock drag bike. I remember being blown away by the capabilities of their system at the time, as far as channels, sampling rates and the software was bit better than PONG or PacMan!

[Charlie Schmidt]

There's a picture in Pete Lyons CanAm book of a reel to reel tape recorder in a Chapparal about 1966.

[DanW]

Ford brought out their equipment to Shelby doing DA in the early/mid 60's developing the GT40. Ken Miles did the driving. (Kent did not rip the equipment out of the car as portrayed in the movie Ford vs Ferrari).

One of my fellow Cal Poly Pomona students used string pot displacement sensors on his TR-3 for suspension and shock development for his senior project in an analog datalogger on magnetic tape. That was 1971.

[Bob L.]

Tom Dvorak in StL. was using small reel to reel recorder, followed by cassette on his Lola FF in mid 70's.... Not sure it made him faster. Data reduction/interpertation must have been a real bear. Certainly was trick at the time.

Bob L.

[E1pix]

There's a picture in Pete Lyons CanAm book of a reel to reel tape recorder in a Chapparal about 1966.

Surely the ECU for the snowmobile engine.

Oh wait, that was the 2J.

Edit: It’s for sale!:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.con...parral-2j.aspx

[Bardahl77]

There's a picture in Pete Lyons CanAm book of a reel to reel tape recorder in a Chapparal about 1966.

Yep. Actually, Hall debuted the 2C at Kent, WA in '65. I knew one of the race officials that was there, and he told me about the reel-to-reel in the car. He claimed it wasn't hooked to anything, just there to fake out the other drivers.But when I met Hall at a vintage race in Seattle 30 years later he said it was usually hooked to several sensors. Quite the innovator.

[tlracer]

The Tyrrell F1 team had early computer data, recording and analysis, run by Dr Karl Kempf around 1977.

[stonebridge20]

This was my data system in 1989. It was called a G-analyst. I had it mounted to the floor in-between my legs so that I could reach the buttons while strapped into my RF81

[924RACR]

This was my data system in 1989. It was called a G-analyst. I had it mounted to the floor in-between my legs so that I could reach the buttons while strapped into my RF81

I remember those, we had one for our FSAE team about the same time...

[10rmotor]

CDS had a commander I that used the G analyst accelerometers. The box was about the size of an encyclopedia (remember those??).

[kea]

I remember Dave Manzolini at the 1982 Run-Offs having a 20 channel data system on his FC Zink (Super Vee). He said at that time, the "Indy Car" people only had 4.
As far as I know, this is something he did himself.

[Rick Kirchner]

I believe the first widely used system in Indycar was the EDGE by Emerson Electric in about 1985/6-ish. Granitelli had Emerson sponsorship and the systems on the cars.

I so wanted to try and get in on the ground floor of all of that. problem was, the contract I was overseeing at the time was with Emerson Electric - lots of issues, big lawsuit at the end. the lawyers would have none of it.

[EYERACE]

A non-electric system used long ago......................their butt.

[Pi_guy]

I believe the first widely used system in Indycar was the EDGE by Emerson Electric in about 1985/6-ish. Granitelli had Emerson sponsorship and the systems on the cars.

I so wanted to try and get in on the ground floor of all of that. problem was, the contract I was overseeing at the time was with Emerson Electric - lots of issues, big lawsuit at the end. the lawyers would have none of it.

We provided a Super -Vee in 1984 that was used to develop the system sold to Newman Haas & Lola it was tested at Bridgehampton. We found out why you soldered the chips to the board after the first hi G turn. Chis W was a very interesting person

[FVRacer21]

I was going to bring up Chris Wallach. He worked with the Skip Barber Racing School in mid 80’s

https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/29/s...er-s-edge.html

ChrisZ

[Charles Warner]

It depends on your definition of a "data system." In the early 1960s Colin Chapman was having problems with the rear suspension on the Lotus Cortina and couldn't figure out the issues. He had Jim Clark drive around the track while Chapman himself was spread-eagled between floor and roll bar in the rear so he could listen and feel for flexing.

[Jerry Kehoe]

I think McLaren did the same with his designer on the Can Am car! You would have to been completely nuts to do that because if notes were taken it would start out at the first few seconds of the lap with "Oh, God no!"

[E1pix]

I’d have trusted Bruce on a ride like that, and am not completely nuts yet (work in progress).

The tires, on the other hand...

[David Ferguson]

According to Paul Van Valkenburgh, (in his book Chevrolet = Racing? ... Fourteen years of raucous silence !!) Chevrolet was doing data acquisition in racing cars in the mid-60s using strip-chart recorders (6-10 channels), he describes how they then developed a wireless "telemetry van" that could gather they data in realtime from 1969 on, with a 15 lb box mounted in the vehicle.

As mentioned earlier, they did start with just measuring wheel speed fed to a tape recorder. The frequency would change with speed and they could analyze it to determine the speed at all points around the course.

[Dave Harmison]

On page 362 of “Race Car Vehicle Dynamics”, Milliken, there is a g-g diagram from a Corvette, 1958. That would be data acquisition on a production car with racing pretensions, and I’d bet GM did race cars on Black Lake in that era. Also seems to me Maurice Olley did some sort of axle tramp data on solid axle cars. Did that data apply to solid axle Indycars of the day? Milliken also mentions Jim Hall and strip chart recorders circa 1965. And of course Donohue is documented as doing data acq in the Z28, 1968-69.

[Bardahl77]

One of the earliest systems was designed to monitor the engine parameters, fuel pressure, tire wear and also notified the driver of traffic. It was advanced for its day, using plain English as the HCI basis, allowing for immediate query/response/feedback.