2008 Evolution Performance Driving Schools

[sammm]

Anyone here going to be there tomorrow?

[cone-cerned]

Anyone here going to be there tomorrow?

I will. But as a go-fer, not a student.

[rpmchris]

I'm in Phase 1 on Saturday, and Phase 2 on Sunday.

[CosmosMpower]

I'm in Phase 1 on Saturday, and Phase 2 on Sunday.

[POS Racing]

So kids, how did it go??

[sammm]

So kids, how did it go??

[cone-cerned]

Extreme on Saturday started a bit slow because of MaxQData problems. The instruction was top notch. My instructors were David Newman and Pat Salerno. Both were amazing drivers and great instructors. Once the MaxQData was working, we got even more help from the analysis of the data.

I can assure CosmosMpower that the $460 I spent on the school made me a lot faster than $1200 for new SSR wheels. When someone like David and Pat jump in your car and go 2 seconds faster on a 30 seconds course, you know it's not the car or set up.

And, a big thank you to lost216 for the use of his car for my last set of runs.

[CosmosMpower]

Extreme on Saturday started a bit slow because of MaxQData problems. The instruction was top notch. My instructors were David Newman and Pat Salerno. Both were amazing drivers and great instructors. Once the MaxQData was working, we got even more help from the analysis of the data.

I can assure CosmosMpower that the $460 I spent on the school made me a lot faster than $1200 for new SSR wheels.

I never said it wasn't worth it, I just said it wasn't cheap!

[onething]

I did the Extreme and I was a lot faster at the end of two days than I was at the beginning. OTOH a year's worth of AX in two days should make me faster!

Sunday was a much prettier day than Saturday, and that probably helped my driving too!

Several of my classmates bought MaxQData systems. I didn't. I will be interested to see how that improves their driving.

[CosmosMpower]

I did the Extreme and I was a lot faster at the end of two days than I was at the beginning. OTOH a year's worth of AX in two days should make me faster!

Sunday was a much prettier day than Saturday, and that probably helped my driving too!

Several of my classmates bought MaxQData systems. I didn't. I will be interested to see how that improves their driving.

Did they teach you how to use the MaxQ and analyze the data after the event to improve as well?

[rpmchris]

So kids, how did it go??

Time will tell if it was worth it

April 27 at TMS

[onething]

Did they teach you how to use the MaxQ and analyze the data after the event to improve as well?

They tried

[Jim_H]

I've been doing these schools since they were called Mckamy and I found the Xtreme to be the best I have run. The instruction was outstanding and the number of runs was the most I've ever had at a school.
I liked the way they constantly changed the course then let us have 4 to 8 runs without a walk thru.
Pat and Dave were great instructors and I learned alot from both. I've done schools with Pat before and he's always been good. Dave was new to me has a totally different style from Pat. Kind of grumpy but boy does he know his stuff. When he spoke I listened.

I found their instruction to be more informative than the MaxQ.

The MaxQ was interesting once we got to see the data after the Saturday morning problems. I did get to see what a spin looks like on the MaxQ after my tires started going away on Sunday afternoon. Kind of a big red SPLOTCH.

I question if we'd actually have time to look at a MaxQ with E.R and SCCA between runs. I'm usually checking pressures, adjusting Koni's, watering tires and scraping rocks (M.W.) between runs and barely have time for that between runs. LSBMWCCA and S2000 AX's have a break between morning and afternoon runs so there would be time then to check it. If there's not time to look at it, it would just become post event or evening entertainment.

I emailed Ed the Prez of MaxQ to send me the files of my runs 4 days ago. Have not received them yet. When I get them I'll post them here so all can see what it's all about.

See you at the next AX.

Jim H.
Noisy red S2000

[altiain]

I sent the following to someone who asked me whether I thought a MaxQ was worth it or not. Hopefully he won't mind if I repost it here:

Honestly? It was a neat toy, but by the end of the season I wasn't even downloading the data files after an event.

Here's why: We were able to pinpoint some differences between drivers, but the resolution is a limiting factor. I had the 5 Hz version (which was the only one available when I bought mine), which samples 5 times per second, or every .2 seconds. Unfortunately, Jeremy and I were usually so close that it was hard to pick places where either of us had a clear advantage over the other. Sometimes we could see where one of us was obviously faster than the other, but most of the time it came down to variation in driving style or just the luck of the run. I honestly think this sort of datalogging would be more beneficial for a slow driver paired up with a fast driver to learn from, but with two closely matched fast drivers, there just wasn't much learning.

Also, with a 2-driver car it is tough to do any useful data analysis between runs, simply because there isn't much time. If you're really dedicated you might be able to analyze data between runs, but again the data tends to be more of the subtle variety. Most of what we learned took a lot of post race analyzing, which isn't something you've got time for between runs when you're trying to cool tires, check pressures, make sure the right numbers are on the car, etc., etc.

Two caveats to the above: First, there is a 10Hz system available now, which means twice the sample rate and twice the resolution. This will be more useful to finding the miniscule amounts of time won and lost in a 30-second autocross run.

Second, we did not have video in the car. If I had it to do over again, I think I'd learn more from comparing video of two drivers side-by-side. Since you already have video (iirc), you may find more benefit form syncing the datalog to the video, so that you can overlay the data from the graphs with what was actually happening in the car.

I ended up selling mine over the off season. Frankly it didn't tell me anything that I didn't already know, and it didn't help me solve any setup problems or help me dig my head out of my ass when I was making mistakes.

Overall, if you're looking for a quick fix between runs to find that missing tenth, I don't think this is what you're after. However, as an analysis tool (especially paired with video) I think it can be useful, especially if you pair up with a much faster driver or one who has a very different driving style. Single drivers or pairs of nearly equal drivers will learn less, since the data is really best used for comparing and contrasting purposes.