I've had the idea in the back of my head for awhile to do

#1) Do a datalogger for a drag car

and ultimately

#2) Be able to predict the 1/8 or 1/4 mile elapsed time before the finish line and use nitrous and throttle stops to hit the ET near perfectly every time.

For a complete cheat solution, I'd use cameras to detect the yellow flash perfect passes nearly every time.

The cheat part would be a proof of concept (as you'd never be able to successfully and continuously cheat because of teardowns and perfect runs consistently being huge red flags, etc) with the useful piece left over being the basic data collection for runs. I realize the data collection stuff already exists and the pros have been measuring G forces and such for decades but I imagine it's hella expensive (though I haven't done in research, maybe you can get some good stuff for not too much money).

My test bed would be a Jr Dragster running high 8s in the 1/8th and ultimately if it proves workable to coax my uncle to use it on his rail running 7.80s in the 1/4.

I'm in the brain storming stages now and was curious if the state of consumer products has advanced enough that they have the 0-60 meters working extremely well or if they are still in the state they were when I was last looking at them and they only work OK.

[Edited on April 4, 2009 at 10:05 AM. Reason : .]

4/4/2009 10:03:46 AM

http://www.google.com

4/4/2009 5:54:39 PM

So they spec the newer model Gtechs at .01, but most of what I read says they aren't quite that accurate in general, though much better than the first generation.

4/6/2009 9:02:45 PM

$120 shipped

http://www.carolinanissans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=20501

4/6/2009 9:55:41 PM

Umm, thanks?

4/6/2009 10:10:39 PM

the iphone app will give you a number everytime

no idea how accurate it is

if you're going 1/4 mile in 7.8 seconds youre going to need something accurate . lol

4/7/2009 6:10:13 PM

It's an 800hp rail with tons of nitrous thrown on top of that to hit that index. I don't expect to ever really get that far with it and my uncle is doing a lot less racing these days than he used to do, so if anything it will see use on my cousins Jr Dragster. It's more for the challenge of the project and to also build my embedded systems knowledge back up during this shithole of an economy because that is the career I am wanting to switch in to.

It's kinda funny, there were actually patents filed with mid 90s (or maybe early, or maybe late?) dates on a system to connect sensors to the driveshaft and everywhere else and for a display to read out to the driver for a predicted finish time. I only read the abstract so I don't know how detailed the systems were. I can imagine someone somewhere has purchased a ready to go modern IMU system in the many thousands of dollars range and purposed it for their cheating needs.

4/7/2009 10:54:35 PM

supposedly the iphone/ipod app is the most accurate thing out now, at least for mainstream use.

oh, and lol at the old school computer thing with driveshaft sensors, etc... my dad has one of those things sitting in a box that he used on some of his cars. still looks almost new.

4/8/2009 2:00:01 AM

i had one on my bicycle like that 20 years ago for a speedo

4/8/2009 12:26:12 PM

g tech 2 for the win. turn yout 15 second car into a 10 sec car in no time

4/8/2009 11:54:19 PM

a tree will turn your shitbox mustang into scrap metal in no time

4/11/2009 7:37:18 AM