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Edited Date/Time
1/22/2022 1:30pm
Ok so I have a Information Technology background and am wondering how I could stop dealing with the regular corporate people and transition my I.t. Skills into Racing industry (racing is my passion period). (Not limited to motocross either, I’d work for a nascar/Indycar/rally/f1 team in like .01 of a second)
Do any of the teams run Data Acquisition (Telemetry or otherwise) when practicing and need to use a cloud to hold the data and or getting that configured or live time data transmission of such things? If anybody has any insight into this it would be appreciated… side note, I’m going to start helping a off-road race team and I’m hoping to find a way to bring I.t data into the fold to learn more/progress.
Do any of the teams run Data Acquisition (Telemetry or otherwise) when practicing and need to use a cloud to hold the data and or getting that configured or live time data transmission of such things? If anybody has any insight into this it would be appreciated… side note, I’m going to start helping a off-road race team and I’m hoping to find a way to bring I.t data into the fold to learn more/progress.
I think the amount that use it doesn't create enough need for services that would keep someone busy as a job.
I may have miss understood the later question, but the teams can't receive or send a live signal to the bikes in race trim.
https://analyticsindiamag.com/ducati-goes-big-data-machine-learning-imp…
I have thought about going this way, but I think the way to get paid less than working at a university is working on a race team…
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I work as a test engineer and on a daily basis, deal with collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data. In our industry, it’s frowned upon to “engineer from the gut” meaning you better have data to support your decision. This mentality doesn’t exist in moto. It’s all by feel and rider to crew interpretation of what’s happening on the track. I truly feel the lack of data to drive decisions is why historically certain riders and teams are constantly chasing their tails throughout the season, looking for the magic combination of parts and setup. The bikes and riders are so competitive today, that we are getting to the point where splitting hairs on % setup improvement will be done with data and engineering, not what a rider “thinks” they feel. Not saying the rider element will ever be eliminated, but data can and should play a much bigger role.
I remember a story on pulp where KYB had collected some on-track suspension data. They brought over Honda CRF engineers, who were good engineers, but had NO IDEA how to interpret the on-track and what it meant. From the story, they spent a significant amount of time working with the rider and the KYB tech to gain a grip on what the data actually meant. Once they understood how to interpret the suspension data, they started making massive gains in performance. Proof that data enables hidden performance, as this example was Tomac’s final year on the Geico Honda 250 team where he absolutely murdered everyone on that bikes.
I see soo much potential for data acquisition in MX/SX. 32-bit ECUs, with input/output channels and CAN terminals, like the AiM Taipan, is a massive step-function in the right direction to simplify a data logging system. For the life of me, I can’t understand why the major Factory teams don’t employ some sort of a data analysis/mechanical engineer that is viewing every bit of data when the bikes come off the track. This would be a major advantage over time. When you transition from making decisions because of data, instead of off the cuff, you start getting millions and millions of data points, then you start modeling AI and ML models that can can trained to simulate the outcome of a change before a part is even swapped or a tuning adjust is made. Think about hours many hours of physical testing that would save. F1 has laid the groundwork for what’s possible, even if SX/MX would follow that model to even a fraction of a percentage, it would start to revolutionize how the teams are managed.
If you ever want to talk offline about starting some sort of 3rd party data service company, specifically targeted at MX/SX, hit me up. I could talk about this topic for days!!
With all of that said and you guys mentioning live on track data via a cloud or even a wireless hub perked my ears on a possibility of an overlay system that could possibly be very beneficial. MXDave15 and mxtech we maybe should talk. I am not an engineer nor a IT person but have to dabble a little in each enough to be dangerous.
I probably should've mentioned that in the above post that KTM did continue with them, just in a different format.
Outside of the major race teams, the standard wiring harnesses on these bikes are going to need a major overhaul/upgrade for any regular consumers to utilize data systems.
2D and Aim are the two primary systems I see most teams using. Most of them using 2D.
Operation manager here in the utility space, with expertise in mobile field applications, GIS, ioT, algorithm writing and data management.
What’s a Vortex ECU run? A grand? I’m pretty sure someone could market a system like the Aim platform with a mobile app and UI that brought in telemetry from a la carte sensors that were modular integrations into the ECU and data lake.
Taipan ECU
-> AiM SmartyCam + an AiM GPS08 module
-> AiM data hub
-> ECU CAN connector
-> AiM memory module
Download data after each ride then can use AiM software, or something much more capable, like nCode, to post-process. This would give you the ability to create videos, with time matches CAN data like throttle percentage, gear selection, engine RPM, etc.
You can load up additional sensors (gyro, string pots, rotational, pressure, etc,) by adding additional multi-port AiM data hubs. No big deal.
LitPro has a great product, but they focus solely on the software side of data. They stopped investing in hardware, which may limit them in the future, unless they figure out how to partner with 3rd party electronic manufactures to tie the ECU CAN traffic into their suite.
That’s a No brainer hombre.
You will also need to have some good mechanical design, fabrication and machining skills because in my experience, a huge part of the challenge for this work is being able to retro fit sensors in a way that doesn't damage or affect the performance of the system you are trying to measure. If you can be a one stop shop you have a better chance of being able to bring the cost down to a point where you can attract customers, but also get reasonably compensated for your time. If you end up having to outsource design and machining on top of sensors etc. it becomes infeasible very quickly.
Just my two cents. Anyway cheers for making an interesting thread hope you can find a way to align your work with your passion!
Pit Row
One day there will certainly be a data scientist at factory Honda, but they are not going to get someone good enough to make progress unless they are paying him/her at least 250k. Correct me if I am wrong, but that would probably be a lot more than the team manager.
I don't really understand why normal people want to see more tech in Motocross. As in not the teams hunting titles.
There are tonnes of high tech, mega money, mm motorsports and rarely does it lead to better racing and more fun for the majority of people involved.
I appreciate electric start as much as the next guy, sometimes, but the (relative) simplicity of a motocross bike is one of the things that makes them so cool in my humble opinion.
The problem is this would be overly complicated and extremely expensive. And at the end of the day does it really matter??? It's just dirt bikes after all...
Set up and design in MX is more about "translation" of what the rider feels to engineering principles than it is about "measuring" things and drawing conclusions without filtering through the rider. Also, if you think that the mfgs do not have state of the art data engineering, then you are delusional. They have access to equipment we have probably never heard of. If they are not regularly using it, it is because of the rider vs measurement usefulness issue.
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