Belatti wrote:I would like to gather here some info about Data acquisition history in motorsports. Companies who started developing, using or selling comercially, in wich series (undoubtedly F1) and anything else related.
Some of the more known brands I know and have worked with are Stack, Aim, Pi, Motec, Racepack, Performance/video Box, etc.
Stack, for example, says:
The first commercial data-logging system to be run during Formula 1 and Indycar races.
year1987
http://www.stackltd.com/stack_history.html
In 1990, Pi attempted to apply for a Patent on motorsport data acquisition as being the first specialty company specific to racing. They were founded in 1987. Another racing data company (US) was Competition Data Systems founded in 1986, there were specific only to racing. Not like Stackltd, who adapted existing data loggers from their commercial loggers to racing putting their loggers on F1 cars and Indy Cars which would happen later in the early nineties when they created specific racing loggers and created a division for it. CDS would have sued for the patent, but alas Pi backed off.
Competition Data Systems (CDS) would become the first company (along with building specific racing systems) to add graphics and found many of the software items you see in motorsports today. The trackmap invention came from CDS (Bill Mitchell was the programmer hired then). The graphics software interface was born into racing software. After Bill Mitchell left CDS he sold rights to the graphic interface to Pi, STack and others. Now is present in most all racing software. Though it is Pi and CDS today that have signal plotting on the trackmap that isn't color banding. Infact the software graphics are almost identical in look.
Trackmapping with signal plotting, driver graphics of steering wheel, throttle, brake, moving plane suspension graphics all were created by Bill Mitchell while employed by CDS.
In the early nineties another company that had a large presence in motorcycle and kart racing in Europe was Drack. They had some interesting graphics of bike angle/lean. They would later get taken over by an Italian data acquisition company, which would become Aim.
Also at this time, Pi was to become the dominate choice of systems in F1, endurance racing though Ferrari utilized their own creation company Magna Marelli. By mid nineties F1 teams of Mclaren (TAG later to become Mclaren Electronics) and Ferrari would have their own internal companies to do data.
By 1995, you had racing commerical systems from Stack, Pi, CDS, Edge, Bernstein (drag racing, later to become Racepak), Drack (Aim today). The growth of club racing and pro racing systems became commonplace at this time.
In late nineties, Motec entered the US market along with the European market. Their hardware being the first commerically avaiable "surface mount" technology for racing and integrated dash/logger. Though Motec has been around for years as an FI/ECU company the data end didn't occur till late 90's. It was also around this time that EFI, also an FI company started to create a data system.
About this same time, Karting had Pi as a dominate system but quietly being taken over by Aim who's popularity would move it into cars.
Interesting to note that while many companies have come and go, Pi (Cosworth), Stack, CDS still exist.
It is simply amazing how quickly the technology grew to where we are today.
In Simulation software, in 1997, ADAMS (airplane simulation company for aircraft design) was approached by an american engineer, Lynn Bishop, to create a Sim for motorsports. This "module" would find it's way into F1 in short time. Opening a new field in racing with Sim creation followed by Pi and later Chassis Sim. Again F1 would take it in house and create their own, though a few still utilize ADAMS.
"Driving a car as fast as possible (in a race) is all about maintaining the highest possible acceleration level in the appropriate direction." Peter Wright,Techical Director, Team Lotus
