- In this module, we will cover some of the more advanced sensors that are used by
professional teams and look at why they're used.
There's an almost unlimited number of potential sensors to choose from here so we can't
hope to cover all of them but we will touch on some of the more common ones.
We'll start with tyre pressure monitoring systems that can relay the current tyre pressure in real
time to the logger and often via the telemetry to engineers in the pits.
This may also include data on the internal carcass temperature of the tyre as well as the
air temperature inside the wheel.
The sensors required are mounted inside the wheel and are attached to the valve stem.
This data can be used to help ensure the tyre pressures on track are where they should be
but they can also be used as an early warning that a tyre has been damaged or
punctured.
This can be used in conjunction with a visual driver warning to let the driver know
something is wrong and can quite possibly help prevent a serious accident.
While we're discussing tyres, another advanced sensor is the infrared tyre temperature sensor
that's mounted on the chassis pointing at the tyre tread, allowing the tread temperature
to be monitored while you're on track.
These come in a variety of options including an array of indivdual sensors that focus on
different parts of the tread or a single sensor with a wide field of view that can monitor
multiple points across the tread simultaneously.
This data can show how the tread is working on track and can be used to help optimise camber
and tyre pressure.
The same technology that goes into infrared tyre temperature sensors can also be applied to
measuring the temperature of the brake rotors.
This gives you real time information about how much heat is being built up inside the brake
rotors during braking and can let you know if you're within the temperature range that
your brake pads are comfortable working with.
This sort of data can be used to help optimise your brake package and also help with
adjusting your brake cooling ducts depending on the track and ambient air temperature.
Moving into the suspension itself, it's common to find professional teams using damper travel
potentiometers that monitor the movement of each damper.
This inormation is used to produce a variety of data from understanding how much of the available
travel is being used, through to advanced analysis of damper velocity histograms that can be used
to help with optimising the bump and rebound adjustment of your dampers.
Damper travel sensors can also be used to help understand the effect of downforce at high
speed from aerodynamic devices.
Although, this will often be coupled with load cells in the suspension system that can log
the loads being applied to each of the suspension components at each corner of the car.
The sensors that I've just been talking about can easily run into the thousands of dollars
on their own before you've even considered the effort required to fit them to your car.
Or, how you're going to analyse that data.
You also need to understand what the data is trying to tell you for it to be of any benefit.
As I've mentioned already, I firmly believe that at least to begin with, less is more when it
comes to data channels.
It's still worthwhile to have an understanding of what other sensors are available but don't
think that these are essential for your average club level car.
That was just one of the modules taken out of our Data Analysis Fundamentals course.
If you want to become a better driver, get faster lap times and constantly progress
your driving skills, you'll need to know how to use a data logger and understand the
information it gives you.
In this course you'll learn the different types of logging systems and what'll
work for both your needs and your budget.
You'll learn the fundamental cornerstones of data logging and analysis that'll form a
strong base that you'll be able to build on for the rest of the course.
Next you'll learn all about the bare minimum sensors needed to start analysing your driving.
And after that you'll learn about your logging setup's more complex functionality which
you'll be able to make use of as your skills and experience increase.
To ensure you're able to put the theory of what you've learned into action, there's a
detailed practical skills section that shows the concepts explained in the course being
applied in the real world.
Finally, you'll learn the 6 step data analysis process that'll give you a clear and structured
template to work from as you embark on your own data logging projects.
If you want to find out more, click the link in the description.