Taking video on track days or on cruises

[xoom]

Hi All,

Ok ive had several PM's and various discussions with people asking for recommendation on taking video footage while on a cruise or while on a track day and what possibilities exist to doing so.

Ok the most obvious response is get urself a camcorder and u can jam it under the headrest of the passenger seat ..... this can be a pricey path if u want some quality video and if you want to mount it outside the car then u'll need to buy a car mounting kit which = $$$'s just ask northy .....

however in doing this u will get extremely high quality video with sound to boot that will work in all modes of light etc because chance are ur camcorder is built to handle.

I would recommend if going down this path though that u buy something that is able to record to solid state memory cards because the knocking and rocking will most likely kick the "do not record" safety feature on to protect the camera in most film & hard disk camera's.

However, an even cheaper alternative is one that i have tested and found to be extremely good value for money and its the motorsports hero gopro setup (http://www.goprocamera.com/index7.htm) ..... if you google it you will find shops in aus that stock it.

I borrowed one of these from a friend and found it did the trick. Can handle 1hrs worth of high res footage with a 2GB SD card and is able to be stuck pretty much anywhere as it comes with suction cup and various brackets so u can work out the best mounting position for it.

The only down side i found was in low light situations it suffered a little and in complete darkness it was a little useless but during the day with plenty of light it was fantastic ....... So given sunset is not currently happening till 8pm u'll get some runs in if u wanna film ur drag runs or if ur doing circuit work most of these are during the day which is perfect for this setup

Some sample clips from the gopro camera (these were taken using the wide version which has a wider lens)

http://vimeo.com/1378530

http://vimeo.com/1554084

http://vimeo.com/1549110

http://vimeo.com/1378972

When i hit the track im definitely getting one. Hope this helps. Also i should note that there is now the wider lens option available which i believe is about $100 more than the normal version.

I found the normal version to be priced around the $250 mark and the wide lens version around the $350 mark.

Some other helpful links

http://www.boostcruising.com/forums/index....howtopic=268937

http://www.pressportal.com.au/news/672/ART...2008-11-28.html

http://www.vsport.com.au/gopro_camera/gopro_camera.php

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Pr...ra-t202073.html

cheers

Bill

[DHC09]

Nice info Bill.

So when are we going to see some track action? Even North has harden up and visited the track in the past month :P

Side note: I heart Laguna Seca

[SuperDave]

If you want some cool in car footage Kaaz make a neat little system called the Race Monitor. Allows you to have footage, lap times, g's as well as speed/revs all on the screen. However it does cost a pretty penny with all the extra equipment. There are a lot to chose from at this level, but this is the one that comes to mind first.

http://www.kaaz-sports.com/kaaz_parts/racemonitor11.html

[spillige]

xoom what vids u got on utube i wana have a look at your car in action, is your time still mid 12?

[xoom]

here are all my vids

http://au.youtube.com/profile?user=xoom69&view=videos

dont have any in car footage though

yep still @ mid 12's or 12.6 to be more exact.

If i can get here cleanly off the line might crack that 11.999 barrier give the trap speed is good for it ;)

[spillige]

when are u gong to put the 2zz on the map with a 10 sec pass............im thinking about a gt2554r

[xoom]

when are u gong to put the 2zz on the map with a 10 sec pass............im thinking about a gt2554r

it has already been done ...... 10/12/07 - MWR Celica drag car makes 666whp at 30psi and runs 10.9@140.

now imagine if they also popped happy gas into it ;) ;) ....... i was having a chat with Matt a little while back (he works @ MWR and drives the drag car) ..... if 3rd & 4th hadnt of let go on their last run they were shooting for a mid/low 10 sec pass. but yeah 3rd n 4th gave up half way down the track.

[MT]

Hey Bill,

What we use is the VIO POV-1, small camera, remotely controlled, SD recorder, neat little package. Best bit is it comes with a roll cage adaptor so it bolts against the cage with ease.

http://www.vio-pov.com/

Only problem with this camera is it doesnt have a microphone sensitivity switch... meaning all you hear is the vibration. I dont have any footage uploaded from that camera, I will try to get some for you.

I know u have seen this, but anyway...

Please wait a few seconds for Video to Load!

Taken with an I dont know what kind Sony Handycam, and mounted to the passenger side window with the suction cap and tripod screw in device thingy. Worked pretty dam well, except I kept trying to wind down that window LOL

[Hiro]

I've always thought a cool way to get in-car footage would be to take a spare stock headrest, rip the cushion out but keep the base (maybe add some reinforcing too). Then, bolt the top of a tripod mount to the base of the headrest, and then attach your camera to the tripod mount. Then simply pull out the stock headrest, and drop in your custom camera mount headrest. Aim it towards the driver a bit with the tripod mount for that "over-the-shoulder" look, and you're off, without any holes in bodywork or interior panels

Dunno what scrutineers would think about it though.

[SuperDave]

^ Thats what I've been doing for the past few years. Use the passenger seat, except I made my from scratch. Two bolts welded to a steel bar with a bolt sticking up for the camera.

I use a compact flash camera that does video. MOV format it easy to deal with too kiddies B)

[Blind Kid Seeks]

Best exterior camera mount i have seen was a modified Caravan Reversing Mirror, that was modified with a mount to suit the screw in style cameras.