To measure or not to measure: the next seminar of Yakhnich Motorsport highlighted the issue of telemetry systems

The next seminar in the series “The professional racer’s secrets” took place in Yakhnich Motorsport’s camp on February 10, 2008. This time it was conducted by Vladimir Ivanov.

The topic of the seminar wasn’t simple so the audience (who always asks questions actively) this time intended more to listen than to discuss.

Russian motor racers discuss very actively whether to use telemetry systems or not. Some racers insist that there is no need to use them – what for if all the mistakes are obvious? But many experienced pilots realize that they need outer “helpers” and that collection and processing of information are very important. The telemetry system records readings of different sensors:  the engine and air temperature, a speed sensor, a gyroscope which records speeding up parameters, suspension transference sensors, a throttle opening sensor, etc. All this enables to analyze different parameters in future: the speed in different points of the track, a trajectory, the work of the suspension. This approach is catered both for those racers who have already exhausted all usual ways of the result improving and no standard methods are able to help a pilot achieve higher results and for the “beginners”, while using the systems with the most important “channels” for analyzing a pilot’s mistakes. It is important to understand that not everything is as obvious as it may seem to a racer: sometimes it is a matter of fear, subconscious mind and even reflexes and it is very difficult to change them.

Telemetry systems are very useful for the comparative analysis. For example, it is possible to take analogous information about the concrete track from other racers and compare it with your parameters. Ideally, there should be a special person in each team whose duty is to get, process and analyze such information.

Vladimir showed different graphics, told about special terminology. The main questions asked by the sportsmen were mostly about the cost of such systems and aspects of their acquiring.

Those racers who want to achieve high results must have at least the simplest possible system on their bikes.

The pilots of “Yakhnich Motorsport” use rather popular Starline system which draws a track, trajectory, gives ideal lap time and enables to compare trajectories. Without such analyses it is impossible to head for really high results.