Creating datalogging videos with HD action camera and SOLO 2

27/08/2019

This post is a set of instructions for getting the data off the SOLO 2, analysing it, and creating a video with data overlay of speed, G-force, laptime and delta.

What you need:

  1. The awesome Aim Solo 2 GPS Racing Lap Timer
  2. A securely mounted (GoPro / Action Camera Billet mount) action camera
  3. A Windows Laptop with Race Studio 3 And Dashware Installed

The SOLO 2 has built-in direct WiFi so no cables or routers are required.

Get the data:

  1. Turn on the SOLO 2
  2. Launch Race Studio 3
  3. Press the WiFi button in the top right of the software (hover over buttons to get tooltips)
  4. Select the SOLO 2 from the list of WiFi connections
  5. After 15s the SOLO 2 will appear in the Connected devices list.
  6. Click on the SOLO 2 in the connected devices list and the right hand pane will populate with a list of the available downloads on the download tab.
  7. Use the checkboxes to select the race you are interested in and download the data from the SOLO 2 to the laptop.

Analyse:

  1. Press the Analysis button (top left) and RS2Analysis will launch and load the data you have downloaded.
  2. Click Map->New
  3. Select 4 Wheels
  4. Set the filename as the name of the track (eg Castle Combe)
  5. Press Ok
  6. Click View->Split times

You can now see all the split time data, best rolling and best theoretical lap times. If there are cooling down / warm-up laps you wish to discard then you can do so in the lap manager tab.

Export Data for overlay:

  1. File->Data Export
  2. Select Csv
  3. Select All channels and All Laptimes
  4. Note the location of the csv file
  5. Click Save and Exit

Sync data and video:

  1. Open Dashware
  2. File->New Project
  3. Select HD Racing template
  4. Drag and drop your video file
  5. On the project Tab press (+) add data files and select the csv exported in the last step
  6. Click on the synchronisation tab
  7. Use the slider and the arrows to position the data to the start of lap 2
  8. On the left hand pane use the slider to position the video to the start of lap 2
  9. Tick the synchronise checkbox at the bottom left of the synchronisation tab

Create the video:

  1. Use the little triangles to set the start and end points of the video
  2. Drag and drop gauges on the video to reposition them  - you may wish to delete the dashware logo.
  3. To Add titles and credits select Project-> Edit Start Title
  4. Click File->Create Video

Rendering typically takes the same time as the video length. The end result will be something like this