What does it feel like to drive Mount Panorama?

Sadly, I can't tell you from personal experience but there is nothing like a properly mounted helmet camera to put you in the driver's seat.

You are riding with Christopher Mies in and Audi R8 LMS during the 2016 Liquid Moly Bathurst 12 Hour week end.  Turn up the volume.



The ideal placement for a POV camera is as close to eye level and as centered as possible but, unfortunately, there are no perfect mounting solutions out there at the moment.   There are accessories for other positions but, mounting the camera on the side of the helmet doesn't look right, on top is too high and on the chin bar,  too low.

The best spot for a POV camera is on top of the visor in the middle.    Marshall Pruett came up with this placement and method, aided by abundant gaffer's tape to produce the great POV videos that occasionally appear on Racer's web site.

Incredibly, nobody has yet stepped up with a proper mount for this location without having a big contraption sticking out from your helmet.  
I've used a modified version of Marshall's mounting technique involving 3M Dual Lock tape and the GoPro upside down to line up the lens  even more.   Obviously this is particular setup is adapter for a closed car where you might keep your visor open and not ideal if you need to close it.

Perhaps someone out there knows of a better way or might like to step up and design something that will work better because this IS the sweet spot for in car POV shots.

It sucks to be GoPro today

GoPro hit hard by bad journalism

Google "GoPro and Schumacher" today and you'll be submerged by articles blaming the camera for Schumacher's injuries.   This uproar caused a 10% drop in GoPro share prices.

Basically it sucks to be GoPro today.  But it really should not.

Questions about the role a helmet cam may have played in the skiing accident, came up this past February but this latest furor started last week with an article in Italy's Gazzetta Dello Sport. It reported  on what French F1 journalist Jean Louis Moncet claimed in a radio interview.

Here is the actual interview, a quick google search away.  The relevant bit is at 6:22


Jules Bianchi : la F1 est-elle un sport... by Europe1fr

So what did Moncet say?  Asked if he had any news of Schumcher, Montcet says

"I have news of Schumacher, I saw his son very recently and he's (Schumacher) waking up slowly.  But you know, Schumacher, for him it was not the shock, it was the pillar of the GoPro he had on his helmet which pierced his brain.  So he's waking slowly, he's at his home and there he has his whole life ahead of him to get better."

Those four lines have been elevated online to a "new report".  It is interesting to note that the actual accident investigation ruled out the camera as being a factor in Schumacher injury.  He hit the rock with the side of his head, skiers mostly mount cameras in the middle of the helmet.

More to the point Moncet, in a tweet,  basically said he was just talking out his butt on that radio interview.

STOP ALL SPECULATION. I say I saw Mic Schumacher, I dont say where, I dont say I talk with him or I did an interview with him. Clear ? #F1
— Jean Louis Moncet (@moncet) October 13, 2014

OK,  so everyone from Gawker to Business Insider to the NYPost to Autoblog all just repeated what they read somewhere,  without even the minimum of checking on this new "report" and GoPro's stock tanked.  

It sucks to be GoPro today.

BMW is now the world's best GoPro Remote!

And you can run the M Lap timer at the same time.

Of course baller CG already ordered an M4,   when he gets it you will get the "beat on mercilessly" review, promise.

Throwback Thursday: BMW Eargasm

Dan Morgan/Flickr

While we reflect on sounds produced by the new "green" race cars whooshing around La Sarthe this week end, lets bask in the glorious sounds of a now 20 year old race car.

Justin Bell got to drive the Big Mac from  BMW North America's fabulous historical collection around Mid Ohio.  GoPro was along to record every possible angle and capture that amazing engine wail.

Chassis 17R, Ex Team Bigazzi was driven to eight place overall in the 1996 24 Hour of Le Mans by Nelson Piquet, Johnny Ceccotto and Danny Sullivan.

Turn it up!

Fresh off the presses:  BMW has announced GoPro integration for their cars via iDrive apps.  Check out the press release and info on the Axis Facebook page



If you'd like a more raw experience, less cameras, more sound, let me suggest this clip

Baptism By Fire

Seems like a million years ago but it was just 2008 when the first GoPros started showing up on people's cars at track days.   Most used camcorders then and the idea of a small camera seemed great but reality was that those first models, the ones with the AAA batteries famously never worked for more than a couple laps...ever!

Not many years but unbelievable tech improvements and growth by the company which now not only owns the market but, like with Kleenex and Scotch Tape,  has become what you call any action camera. From space to your local kart track, GoPros are now, literally, everywhere.

Nick Woodman, GoPro's founder, is among other things, "one of us" gear heads and his latest venture,  off road truck racing, is documented in this new clip.

GoPro has been very smart hiring very talented people to shoot and edit videos showcasing the camera's capabilities.    Dynamic range and low light performance has gotten so much better in these little cameras.  And they can certainly take a pounding now.

Many of you probably own a GoPro or two,  what would you like to see improved in the future?   Our wish list is short but very motorsport specific,  of course.


We'd like a visor cam,   because video with the camera on the side of the helmet or on top or on the chin bar, never look quite right.

The ability to do live graphics overlay, a GoPro smartycam.

Add your suggestions in the comments.

Amazing what you can do with a Motorcycle

Since we are in Dakar season and thinking of my friends CG and Andres, bombing around Colombia in their adventure bikes... Beautiful clip via YAN ZAHAROV on Vimeo.

Flashback: King for the win.

(Photo: AC/Axis of Oversteer)

We're real happy that our old friend Alex King made this new cut of his dad James' win at the 2010 Grand Prix Historique in Monaco available.
Despite a bad start, James King took his ex-Dan Gurney Brabham BT7 to victory that day and a bunch of GoPro cameras onboard for the ride. Lucky us.

Alex along with Matt Barlow made fantastic movies in the last two editions of the Monaco classic. Selfishly, we hope they go for a trilogy!

Deutschland Drift

Usually not a big fan of drift videos but I do have a soft spot when it's done with a BMW rather than with the usual Japanese tool. Markus and Olli from M3-Drift.de having some fun at the Nürburgring GP track. Well done!

More videos after the jump... Hesse James? How can you resist?

Recommend full screen viewing in 1080P...amazing the quality you can get from tiny cameras now! Check out our 2010 in car camera roundup


(m3-Drift.de)

Recording your passion: in-car camera roundup

What a great time for tracktard photo and videographers, there have never been better or more affordable tools to capture our passion. Check out this great clip shot with a still camera, a Canon 5D MkII. Creative possibilities have hugely expanded even in just the last year or so and after the jump we'll look at some of the best tools available to you.



Cool video right? It comes from Chean's Weblog via this other great page : Bulgogibrothers.com. Make sure you watch it full screen in HD to really see how good in car video can now be.



While some tracktards out there only want an onboard camera to have a record any incidents which might happen, the boundaries of what's possible, practical and affordable in terms of image quality have been radically shifted in the past year or so.

For a long time now the the gold standard for in-car video has been the ChaseCam system and for good reason. Compact, rugged, simple to use, the system was designed by car people for motorsport applications. But ChaseCam has an inherent flaw: it was designed for watching videos on a 4:3 televisions which means interlaced video. I don't think I'd be too off the mark if I said that 95% of all chase cam videos are watched on 16:9 computers screens today. Interlaced videos on computer screens simply don't look as good as progressive scan pictures from even a first generation GoPro camera, with all it's flaws.

The advent of inexpensive HD video has effectively rendered the first Chase Cam system obsolete in terms of image quality. Chase Cam has announced a new HD based recorder will be on the market this year and it will likely become the new standard. But there are a number of other solutions with great image quality available for al you "Motographers" out there.

GoPro updated their camera with impressive specs and some cool features: 1080P, 30 fps with a maximum 15Mbit/s data rate, the ability to do time lapse stills so, for example, you could make a video like this:



Personally I find the GoPro's ergonomics and the need for it to be in it's bulky case a bit frustrating and it does suffer from a bit of that dreaded "Rolling Shutter" artifact which makes it impossible to use so many CMOS based camcorders for in car footage (CCD camcorders don't have this problem but ...you can't find any now, HERE is an extreme example of the problem).

Here is a clip filmed with a GoPro HD


An alternative to the GoPro is a camera which has wide popularity with the extreme sports crowd, skiers, mountain bikers, base jumpers but for some reason not as popular yet with the four wheel motorsport set, the ContourHD1080p. Specs for the new ContourHD 1080p are comparable to the GoProHD but the ergonomics are in my opinion vastly superior. The design philosophy is to make a camera as simple to operate as possible. There is a power on/off button and a large record switch and you aim it with the aid of two built in lasers. All housed in a sleek metal water resistant housing...Done.

There is one hidden switch that allows the choice of two resolutions, preset via computer software. Via software you can also set the mic gain and the exposure as well a choice of three exposure metering modes, spot, center weighted and average. The ContourHD 1080P does a very good job in tricky lighting conditions (though it does get grainy in very low light), The video below was shot in the late afternoon with the sun low, you can see what a great job the camera does not only at picking a balanced exposure but also not freaking out with the changing lighting. (try fullscreen)




Another alternative is to use the video feature of many point and shoot cameras, results can be pretty good but these cameras are generally delicate and most don't have a wide enough field of view... this one was shot with a Canon PowerShot SD780IS




For the ultimate in quality and image control you can use a Canon SLR (Nikons have the wobbly rolling shutter issue) with its wide choice of lenses but of course, SLR's are expensive, heavy and relatively delicate and for a similar cost you might have a look at something like a Sony HXR-MC1 but frankly I think it's not worth the money, the Sony lacks crucial "pro" features such as external mic inputs for example while not providing a drastically better picture.

Of course both the Contour and the GoPro lack a remote start feature but they are $300. You could buy a SmartyCam for about $1000 it features a live data overlay and connection to AIM systems but the image quality is just OK and the data overlay has some sync problems. Convenient, especially if you already have AIM but Traqmate's TraqstudioHD produces a cleaner overlay and final result. (example HERE)



So, while we wait to see ChaseCam's second act, a number of simpler, lower priced alternatives have raised the bar very high. Best time ever for tracktardographers!.

Please share your thoughts, expertise and setup as reference.