Trackaroo Trackmaster GPS lap timer for Droid phones

[Garandman]

Seems like there's a lot of interest in this application and several of you are already using it.

Trackaroo Trackmaster is a $7.99 [currently] application for Droid phones. From their website:

Trackmaster provides the following features:
Record the following track data: position, speed, acceleration, altitude, bearing, absolute time, split times, elapsed times, and lap times.
Record your track data using multiple trigger modes: immediate, by movement, delayed, or by first split marker.
View your lap times and split times with graphical analysis on your phone.
Calculates your best theoretical lap time and best rolling lap time.
Replay your track data instantly on your phone.
Share your track data via email, web posting, or Twitter.
Send your data to Google Earth for desktop replay, analysis, and editing.
Send your data as a spreadsheet for analysis in MS Excel or Open Office.
Enable speech to have your speed and times spoken to you while you're racing. This works great for motorcycle racers using a stereo bluetooth headset.
Provide real-time lap times and speed to your fans via Twitter.
Launch Street View to see a panoramic view of your race line and the track.
Supports metric and English units.
Supports external bluetooth GPS receivers (via add-on).
Download custom layouts or create your own.
Overlay your laps to compare your race line.
Record your setup for car, motorcycle, and karts.
Export video data for video overlays.
Works great for autocross, hillclimbs, road rally, and track days!

I've just downloaded it and set up a profile. Has anyone laid in NHMS and the start/finish line for lap times?

Is there any consensus on where to split the track into segments?

[SVRACER01]

i forgot to use it wed. i tried it at MMC with some issues. MMC isnt on a map so i couldnt set up split times or S/F line and i think the GPS was weak because the layout was all over the place.
i wish i had remembered to at least try it at NHMS

[Pigman]

i forgot to use it wed. i tried it at MMC with some issues. MMC isnt on a map so i couldnt set up split times or S/F line and i think the GPS was weak because the layout was all over the place.
i wish i had remembered to at least try it at NHMS

Dumbass we even talked about it......

[moto316]

i tried it a trackday back in august along with the bluetooth gps add on so it would update at 5hz instead of 1hz. Couldnt get it to work right my phone was acting up but i look forward to playing around with it more next year

[Damnut]

MyTracks works pretty good too and it's FREE.

[Garandman]

One of the guys on a WRX forum (NASIOC, which makes this place look staid) posted the following helpful review.


"Alright, so I thought I would post up a more formal review of Trackmaster.

My overall opinion is that this really can't be beat for the dollars! Like I said a little earlier, it was within .05 sec/lap. Which was about as accurate as when I was running MaxQdata last year. Only this app (if you are setup with the phone, car mount, etc) costs next to nothing compared to the other systems. Even after investing in the car charger and car mount, it is still much less expensive. Bang for the buck, it's awesome!

Setting split markers and a start/finish marker was very simple. Following the instructions via Trackmaster's website made it very straight forward. I thought I would do a quick walkthrough of the process though for track day timing.
- Open Google Earth from your PC.
- Locate the track you will be running.
- Add a folder for the track under "my places"
- Then right click on your new folder and add -> placemark
- This will throw a thumbtack up on the screen. You can drag it to precisely where you want the point
- Be careful, you need to set the placemarks in the order in which you intend to pass through them. This may cause some issues on multiple configuration tracks. You'll have to set the placemarks for each configuration and driving direction.
- Once all the placemarks are set, right click your folder and "save place as".
- Next email the *.kmz file to yourself (whatever email you have linked to your phone).
- When you open the attachment on your phone; Trackmaster should automatically recognize it and ask if you want to import it.

When you are ready to use Trackmaster for to time your laps, just select the "split marker" set (track configuration) that you are about to run. One tricky thing that caught me up a little was getting the logger to recognize what split marker set I wanted to use.
-Select "split markers"
-Once it is open, select "edit"
-Select the check box at the top "Select this split marker set for data logging"
-Scroll to the bottom and select ok

One other thing that tripped me up a little was to make sure I forwarded all incoming calls while you are on the track. An incoming call that is not forwarded will disrupt the logger.

Someone mentioned also that the accelerometer in the G1 was a little slow. The screen display may seem a little slow, but the the accuracy of the lap timer is great.

A requirement that wasn't necessarily easy to identify was that you also need a "Text To Speech" application in order to have Trackmaster speak your lap times. It was a free app, and wasn't a big deal to setup.

Everything else about the app is pretty straight forward. You can setup your own personal profile, setup stats about your car(s), email your session data, review your session data via your phone (or google earth or Xcel), tweet your laps times to anyone following you on twitter, and a bunch of other cool things.

One other neat thing that the app will do is allow you to record/analyze autocross or hillclimb runs. Setting up autocross split markers is a little bit a different process. I have played with how it is done, but I have not run an autocross with it yet.

Essentially you would set place markers via your phone during your course walk. To do this you would create a new split marker set. Then as you are walking the course, select the "locate" function. This will zero in where you are right then and you set the placemark. A couple of notes about using the locate function. I have found that you need to be zoomed in on your location to set the place marker accurately, the more you zoom, the more accurate the locate will be. Also, I noticed that you need to "locate" a few times (3 or 4) to make sure that the GPS has found you precisely. Each time you select locate, the crosshairs will move a bit. The more times you select locate, each time the variation will decrease. Once it looks like the location is not jumping around, I added the placemark."

[tdiloren]

I used in august and it worked pretty good. It was within a .1 of the timer they use at the TDs. One down side was that it combine a couple lap together probably because it was in my pocket. Over all it's worth the money.

[nhbubba]

Anyone used this recently? How does one go about mounting their phone such that it will pass tech?

[Roland]

Seems like there's a lot of interest in this application and several of you are already using it.

Trackaroo Trackmaster is a $7.99 [currently] application for Droid phones. From their website:



I've just downloaded it and set up a profile. Has anyone laid in NHMS and the start/finish line for lap times?

Is there any consensus on where to split the track into segments?

I personally use "Harry's Lap Timer Petro Head" it has every track and every turn kinda built in. i works on Android and iPhone for maps you just go to the tracks tab and download what ever track you are going to and that is it. it works best with an external GPS device (like the "Dual xgps 150a"). The GPS in the iphone is good but i like to put the phone in my leathers and only have a gps zip tied and Velcro-ed to the dash. it even allows you to syc your gopro camera to it. I posted a thread yesterday showing it in action on here.

[nhbubba]

i works on Android...

It seems to be iOS only, per their website.

I do have an old iPhone4.. But @ $20 for the non-stripped version, I wonder if it isn't worth just renting a dedicated, 10Hz GPS timer instead?!?

[rolker]

I wonder if it isn't worth just renting a dedicated, 10Hz GPS timer instead?!?

I'm assuming you are not interested in seeing your times as they happen on the track and are looking to analyze your data at the end of the day, correct? In general, real time display of lap times is discouraged for track day riders as it is not a very effective learning tool in that environment.

For many years, since before GPS lap timers where on the market, I have been collecting data at track days and races with an ordinary 5Hz gps logger and analyzing the data at the end of the day. The device you can buy or rent from Lou (http://madmonkeyspeed.com) will do the same thing and can serve you well.

Once you get to a certain level of riding, a lap timer with a real time display can become a useful tool. I finally decided that I was ready for a real time lap time display this season. I did look into using an app for my Android phone, or even writing one myself, but I decided that this was a tool that I was going to use often enough to justify spending a little more money on it. I decided to go with the LT-Q6000 that Lou also sells. After the first round of racing, I'm very satisfied with the LT-Q6000.

A few things to keep in mind when deciding how to log GPS data on the track: Where are you going to put the device to maximize the view of the sky? This is important if you want to collect good quality data. I'm not sure you can guarantee good data collection from a phone in your pocket, unless you use an external GPS, in which case, why not get a GPS that can log the data itself so you don't need to carry around the phone? In my case, I've always had good results with a gps logger both zip-tied and duct taped to the tail of the bike.

What about battery life? Will you need to remember to charge your phone between sessions if you want it to last for 8 sessions at a track day?

Anyways, just a bit of food for thought.

[Garandman]

Holy thread resurrection!

After a couple of tries I gave up on a smartphone-based app due to concerns about the speed of updating and mounting concerns. Because I was doing a number of track days per season, it was worth it to purchase one of the dedicated QStarz GPS trackers from Loudog.

For a first-time or occasional rider, getting real laps times from a smartphone app is a lot better than imagining them. And considerably more humbling.....

[nhbubba]

And considerably more humbling.....

This is pretty much my expectation.

Having the data in a closed device that is not accessible (or that I choose not to look at) until the day is over is fine. I definitely have no need for real-time info. I am purely curious.

My V-Strom has a very large mounting surface that faces the sky.

I've actually thought about asking someone to stand around and measure a lap or two with a stop watch.

[Garandman]

BTW, I have the 5 MHz QStarz. Any reason why as an occasional track day rider I should upgrade to the 10 MHz model?

I've gotten used to the software but it's not the greatest.

[Roland]

It seems to be iOS only, per their website.

I do have an old iPhone4.. But @ $20 for the non-stripped version, I wonder if it isn't worth just renting a dedicated, 10Hz GPS timer instead?!?

sorry about that miss information. I swore it was Andriod compatible as well, guess i am wrong. BTW i use it with an old iphone 4 as well and an exteranl gps device (dual xgps150a 89$ on amazon ) connected via blu tooth at 5hz and it is very accurate, atleast at my slow pace it is.

[nhbubba]

BTW, I have the 5 MHz QStarz. Any reason why as an occasional track day rider I should upgrade to the 10 MHz model?

I would think it is not worth it. 0.2 second resolution seems pretty good to me.

[rolker]

BTW, I have the 5 MHz QStarz. Any reason why as an occasional track day rider I should upgrade to the 10 MHz model?

Absolutely no reason to upgrade! 5 Hz is overkill already. The first GPS logger I used could log at 5 Hz, but didn't have much memory, so I logged at 2 Hz with great results.

You only need to log data at a higher rate if you need to capture changes that occur at higher frequencies. Contrast that with what the fast guys drill into our heads: Be smooth! No abrupt changes. Smooth changes translates to lower frequencies in the signal processing world.

Does this make any sense? I might have to dig into to some 10Hz data and do a bit of analysis to demonstrate what I mean...

[Garandman]

You only need to log data at a higher rate if you need to capture changes that occur at higher frequencies. ...

So, wheelies?

[rolker]

A wheelie that lasts less than 200 ms is nothing to brag about!