Fancy digital dashes like AIM or Racepak

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davegt27

Well-known member
Looking for input on these type items

This is my thinking--the primary purpose of the instruments is to save my investment in my motor.

So that pushes any type of data logging to a secondary mode.

The reason these digital dash are looking good is they are programmable and you can (I think) set up the alarms where you want, say 15PSI for the oil.

The down side is these digital dashes are pretty expensive.

Looking at Racepak, on top of buying the Dash be it display only or logger dash I would need to spend another $1000 on sensors and cables.

I found a Racepak dash only for $625 or a logger dash for $1275 that’s double the dash only
So does that sound right---over $600 for the logger function when it is a secondary function anyway?

Any thoughts
davegt27
 
I started off with a RacePak G2X when they first came out. It was one of the first systems to use GPS for timing. Now just about everyone has GPS. I purchased a RacePak IQ3 logger dash right after it was released and have really liked it. RacePak support is great. I have called them and used their forum a number of times for answers to questions.

You can use standard 0-5 volt analog sensors (VDO, factory sensors, etc) with the RacePak USM module. These are the same sensors AIM uses for their units. You can also buy higher end sensors and also go directly to the RacePak sensors with the V-Net modules. You can mount the USM module right by the engine and use short sensor leads which can help with the install.

I got a data logger right when I started working on getting back into racing. I figured it was about the same cost as a set of tires and I would burn up a set of tires trying to gain the speed found using the data logger. Since I was moving the car from ITB to Prod I wanted to replace all the factory dash gauges so I looked at the logger style dashes.

One of the features I like about the RacePak software is you can sync up the data with any digital video. It allows you to move through the video to "see" how things effect your time or car.

With any of the loggers know what you want to monitor and don't bit off it all at once. I ran same used VDO gauges for a while getting use to the logger. I only used it for RPM, shift lights, and timing. I then started moving over the VDO sensor over to the unit to start logging them.

One hint, for pressure sensors is to mount them off the engine. Use a 1/8" NPT to AN4 line to remote mount the sensor on the firewall instead of directly on the engine. I found I killed a pressure sensor due to engine vibrations.

Here is the kit I used to remote mount them:
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Braided-P ... ,4147.html
 
I put an AIM Strada in my new car. The Strada is a dash only with no data. Around 1k complete. Same display as the Pista, nice and large, easy to see and read. Completely programmable for warning lights and you can see everything on one unit. I'll never run another car without one.
 
Data after the fact is helpful to some of us. We coach quite a few drivers and some really understand what they are seeing and make the on track corrections. However they ALL get a dash that provides 'relative split times' during a session. At exit just a glance let's you know exactly how you are doing, turn by turn and lap by lap.

Units that do that cost from 400.00 to 4,000.00

James R
 
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