The broadcast of the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway this weekend (24/25 January 2015) will include analysis of driver vital signs collected using Yellowcog’s Pilot™ system.
We were at the ROAR Before the 24 at the speedway a week ago where we kitted out a car for the Rolex 24. We monitored drivers in two teams: Spirit of Daytona AKA VisitFlorida.com Racing and also Mantella Autosport. Spirit of Daytona compete in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship with drivers Richard Westbrook (UK), Michael Valiante (Canada) and Mike Rockenfeller (Germany). Mantella Autosport compete in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge with drivers Martin Barkey (Canada) and Kyle Marcelli (Canada). We recorded a lot of useful driver data over the three days. It was great to be in the pit lane and see how their vital signs reacted corner by corner to the changing loads. These guys, being true athletes, also showed impressive recovery times. The system will now be used for the upcoming Rolex 24 at Daytona. As the name implies, this is a full 24-hour race under the blue skies then floodlights of the Daytona Speedway.
The TUDOR series features a range of incredible cars: Aston Martin Vantage, BMW Z4, Chevrolet Corvette, Dodge Viper, DeltaWing, Ferrari 458 and Porsche 911. Spirit of Daytona run a V8 Chevrolet Corvette Daytona Prototype, which as the photos here show is a beautiful machine. It is well worth clicking on some of the videos as the noise is more than half of its appeal.
The Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge series features cars including the Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R (as driven by Martin and Kyle) as well as the Ford Mustang Boss 302R, Porsche 911, Nissan 370Z, Subaru WRX STI (which we have a soft spot for after our time on the Isle of Man) and more Aston Martin Vantages.
The technical integration was straightforward; we kitted out the Spirit of Daytona car with yellowcog’s Pilot™ system, integrating it with the on-board MoTeC data logging and telemetry. The MoTeC software made it simple to bring up the driver vital signs at the pit wall. We then relayed the information to an additional laptop so that driver vital signs could be viewed by those not on the pit wall. Vital signs include heart rate, breathing rate, core temperature and g-forces.