Data acquisition: a valuable asset in motor sports

Digital data acquisition is an advanced technology that greatly facilitates decision making in motor racing. It allows to collect measurements, to record them and to analyze them. It is a precious asset for Aurélien Panis and the Sainteloc Racing team during their participation in theAndros e-trophy.

The Audi A1 data

This high-tech data acquisition system is made up of four essential elements: the sensors, the signal conditioning, the analog-to-digital converter and thecomputer with the software. Aurélien Panis'Audi A1 is equipped with numerous sensors that measure and deliver different information on the car's behavior, but also on the way it is driven.

Data acquisition analysis

This is how data acquisition of a lap looks like:

The blue curve represents the speed of the car. It allows to know if the turn was taken fast enough, and can be compared to the best lap done.

The position of the accelerator pedal is shown in orange. This tool indicates if the acceleration is done at the right moment on the track. Aurélien Panis must always be very precise in his movements: accelerating too early can destabilize the car, accelerating too late can lose time. This data helps to find the ideal timing.

In purple, the brake pressure is shown. In the same way as for the gas pedal, this indicator allows you to brake at the right time. If Aurélien Panis brakes too early, he loses time, if he brakes too late, he can miss the turn.

The green curve measures the steering wheel angle positions. This data analysis helps to specify the timing of the turn. It also helps to adjust the car, because if there is too much steering wheel angle, it may be due to a bad technical setup. Indeed, if there are a lot of corrections on the steering wheel, it means that the car is too unstable and that it is necessary to remedy this.

The last red curve represents the ratio of engaged speeds. As the Andros e-trophy is a 100% electric competition, the participating vehicles do not have gears, but MAP. This measurement is used to compare two different MAP laps to see which one is more efficient.

This gives you an idea of the complexity and the technology involved in competing in the e-Trophée Andros. But there is much more data that the engineers use to help them tune and monitor the reliability of the car, whether it is the dampers, the engine, the batteries, the chassis or the steering.