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Bullet Camera Footage
gingerprince - 14/2/06 at 09:33 PM

Did my first trackday in the Indy at Silverstone yesterday. Had my new bullet camera jubilee-clipped to the rollbar and took some test footage. Camcorder was in a bag bolted in passenger footwell. Only got one lap's footage though because the bag kept pressing stop on the camcorder - doh! So concequently the footage is from early in the day when I was finding my feet, but it gives an idea of the kind of footage the bullet camera can give.

Download Video Here

Think the little microphone struggles with a hundred and million decibels though

donut - 14/2/06 at 09:42 PM

Brill video, really enjoyed watching that!! Looks like you had the whole track almost to yourself!

gingerprince - 14/2/06 at 09:50 PM

It was pretty quiet TBH. There were 2 sessions, a "fast" and a "slow". I went for the slow because it was my first time driving the car at any pace so wanted a bit of space and not being bullied by the murcialargo, ariel, 911's etc. Think there were probably about 20 cars on the full GP circuit in the slow session, so plenty of space!

[Edited on 14/2/06 by gingerprince]

Tim 45 - 14/2/06 at 09:51 PM

What type of cam were you using?

gingerprince - 14/2/06 at 09:54 PM

quote:
Originally posted by chris mason
nice bit of footage there

was wondering where your front wheels were though, that's until i saw them through the aeroscreen


LOL didn't I mention it was a special one-off 3-wheeler Indy?

quote:

Btw which bullet cam were you using?

[Edited on 14/2/06 by chris mason]


It's the RF Concepts camera (480 line, sony ccd). Bought it from http://www.camerascctv.com/ when they had it as a pack for about 20 quid discount. Still was about 170 quid including VAT and delivery but I'd rather that than the gaffer-taped-to-rollbar that one guy with a Tiger used the same day Still the scrutineers didn't seem to mind :O


Sy

OX - 14/2/06 at 09:59 PM

nice one,sounds brilliant and the bullet cam gives a good picture,,i wouldnt mind one of those

nitram38 - 14/2/06 at 10:26 PM

Found one here:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bullet-Cam-Dog-Cam_W0QQitemZ7589145621QQcategoryZ15215QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Phil. S - 14/2/06 at 10:35 PM

Nice video. Silverstone takes a while to get to grips with. Like you I took it pretty easy for teh first few session last Friday (with Lotus-on-Track.com - excellent guys), but by the end I was flying (though I say so myself). A superb track. One of the best, imo. Those who say it is no good for a light agile car are either ignorant or can't drive. I still have a smile on my face three days on!

BTW, you're supposed to overtake on teh left on track days

[Edited on 14/2/06 by Phil. S]

speed8 - 14/2/06 at 10:37 PM

Looking good Simon. Looking forward to that myself in a few months.

When is the Griff going or are you keeping that for now?

greggors84 - 14/2/06 at 11:12 PM

Ahh i wondered whose this car was! Bit of pre session meditation i think!


Indy
Indy


Was going to come and speak to you but could never see you when the car was parked up.

I put a post up about the trackday a week or so ago. How did you find out about it? Mind if i stick the video on the Brookes forum?

Wil (Givemethebighammer) from the forum was also there in the yellow tiger, he was there with the black Lambo Gallardo and the silver Porsche Carrera 4.

[Edited on 14/2/06 by greggors84]

muzchap - 15/2/06 at 02:21 AM

Great lap, great camera! :-)

Tell that ALFA's it's no parking on them corners

Ooooh can't wait to build mine and get down to Silverstone

M

ed_crouch - 15/2/06 at 02:24 AM

Excellent!

Just realised that it was wet, by the look of your front tyres.

Ive never driven silverstone, but have passengered it a couple of times. Its a scary circuit: SO wide and open that its easy to get carried away, and then, boom, the next corner is upon you. I know this as I have experienced a couple of misadventures from the passenger seat!! One a Becketts, and the other at Brooklands 2(or is it Luffield?? The left handers after bridge, anyhow...).

Cant wait to get on and build mine now!

Ed.

gingerprince - 15/2/06 at 08:31 AM

quote:
Originally posted by nitram38
Found one here:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bullet-Cam-Dog-Cam_W0QQitemZ7589145621QQcategoryZ15215QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


That's quite a good price. You have to be careful buying though a lot of the Dogcam's are 420 lines which makes the picture look quite a bit worse, but this one is the 480 line with sony CCD so pretty good. When I was buying the Dogcams were all 420 lines with an inferior CCD.

gingerprince - 15/2/06 at 08:32 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Phil. S
BTW, you're supposed to overtake on teh left on track days


Usually yes, but in the briefing for this one they told us we could pass on either side provided we didn't pass on corners. Didn't stop some going 5-abreast into corners though

gingerprince - 15/2/06 at 08:34 AM

quote:
Originally posted by speed8
Looking good Simon. Looking forward to that myself in a few months.

When is the Griff going or are you keeping that for now?


The plan is to sell the Griffith when the sun starts shining. Need to get a couple of bits sorted on it first. Will be hard to see it go but to be honest I'm getting a bit peed off shaking my bones over all the potholes on the way to work every day! Be nice to get something with "normal" suspension for the commute

gingerprince - 15/2/06 at 08:40 AM

quote:
Originally posted by greggors84
Ahh i wondered whose this car was! Bit of pre session meditation i think!

Was going to come and speak to you but could never see you when the car was parked up.

I put a post up about the trackday a week or so ago. How did you find out about it? Mind if i stick the video on the Brookes forum?

Wil (Givemethebighammer) from the forum was also there in the yellow tiger, he was there with the black Lambo Gallardo and the silver Porsche Carrera 4.

[Edited on 14/2/06 by greggors84]


LOL yeah looks like I'm meditating there

Heard about the trackday from a friend in the FTO owners club (used to be a member). He found it from the Isle of Man EVO club via someone called Craggle? Put us in touch with Ben and that was that.

I saw the yellow tiger but never got chance to speak to the guy. Did speak to another Tiger owner though (the black one with the Pinto).

No problem posting the video so long as you include the disclaimer that it was one of my early laps

That Gallardo was something else! Gotta have big balls to take something that expensive on a wet track with people hooning around a moist track in sierras with slicks :O

gingerprince - 15/2/06 at 08:43 AM

Indy
Indy

And this picture makes me realise how urgent a new rollbar is - chocolate fireguard springs to mind

stevec - 15/2/06 at 09:02 AM

Great vid and nice sound,
Did you get a bollocking for crossing the pit lane exit line?

gingerprince - 15/2/06 at 10:08 AM

quote:
Originally posted by stevec
Great vid and nice sound,
Did you get a bollocking for crossing the pit lane exit line?


They only told us to not cross the line on the way out not the way round. If you look in the mirror you can see my head moev to check there was no-one entering the track

Granted generally you would cross it a lot later (had I carried more speed round copse) and had more time to double-check, but even in F1 etc they cross it when on circuit, just not when leaving the pits.

Confused but excited. - 15/2/06 at 11:24 AM

NICE ONE! Make it have it.

Thanks for the free lap.

Renewed incentive or what. Where's that hammer?

stevec - 15/2/06 at 11:31 AM

I wasnt being funny its just that a mate got a right bollocking for doing that, I think the organisers of these events should stick to the same set of rules that would normaly apply.

DarrenW - 15/2/06 at 02:36 PM

That is a fantastic piece of vid. i really enjoyed it. As said above, thanks again for the free lap.

Did you simply connect the bullet cam into a regular camcorder?? That has got me thinking now............ Im really impressed by the quality.

Deckman001 - 15/2/06 at 02:48 PM

Yeah great lap and quality, be proud !!

Jason

gingerprince - 15/2/06 at 02:52 PM

quote:
Originally posted by DarrenW
Did you simply connect the bullet cam into a regular camcorder?? That has got me thinking now............ Im really impressed by the quality.


Yep, all you need it a camcorder with an analog input. Entry level ones tend not to (because in the UK there's a tax on camcorders with analog inputs because they're VCR's or something). But I got a canon with analog input from http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Canon-Outlet for 120 quid with a years warranty. Used it snowboarding too to good effect.

It's amazing how stable it is at speed just jubilee clipped to the rollbar, don't think mounting a camcorder there would be quiet so stable with the weight

I need to find a good way to mount the camcorder out of the way though, having it in the bag just kept stopping. Think I will bolt it to the floorpan somewhere with some straps for good measure. Maybe I won't press stop and lose so much footage next time!

Wadders - 15/2/06 at 04:08 PM

Great video, just like silverstone on the X-box
except you managed to stay off the grass more Is the digidash display always so erratic btw ? It appears to be almost unreadable in the vid.
ATB
Al.

JoelP - 15/2/06 at 04:12 PM

that'll be flicker interference, or whatever you call it

gingerprince - 15/2/06 at 05:04 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Wadders
Great video, just like silverstone on the X-box
except you managed to stay off the grass more Is the digidash display always so erratic btw ? It appears to be almost unreadable in the vid.
ATB
Al.


It's stable in real life. Like Joel says it'll be flicker interference

Basically the camera records 25 frames/second, the LCD will be updating at a different frequency, so you get interference (ever tried to video a computer screen? same idea).

givemethebighammer - 15/2/06 at 11:24 PM

"That Gallardo was something else! Gotta have big balls to take something that expensive on a wet track with people hooning around a moist track in sierras with slicks :O"

Yup, Brett (owner of lambo) was more than a little worried about damaging it ! However, he is a firm believer than cars are there to be driven and enjoyed as well as looked at. There was no way he wasn't going out on the track.

My first time at silverstone, the day started very wet and slippery, however it got better as the day went on. My Yoko A048R's performed much better than I thought they would. Crap when they were cold but much better once they had warmed up, letting go very progressively and easily controllable. Mind you I spun once at Abbey - pulled over to the left let the faster cars past, messed my line up into the corner and spun off on to the grass. No harm done just a bit embarrassing really.



I watched you from the pit wall driving the slow session. I started the day in the slow session (wet track I'd never driven before - seemed the best idea). The marshals asked me to move to the faster session after they brought us in when the BMW buried itself in the gravel soon into the first session. Turned out to be a good move, everyone seemed to have some idea of what they were doing compared to some of the people in the slow session (6 off the track on their first lap out says it all).

Great day, glad you enjoyed it. The wet track taught me loads about my car and helped my driving no end.

wilkingj - 16/2/06 at 09:32 PM

IMHO.... Get CCD cameras and NOT CMOS ones.

Get at least 420 lines or more, avoid the 380 line cams. (poorer resolution).

Stick with Sony, or Sharp CCD's Both are very good.

Also good steady picture... and liked the car.. Good Pics Well done.