Any track day GoPro tips?
Discussion
I recently attended my first track day and managed to record 1 session by cable tying my phone to a mount and then cable tying the mount to my passenger headrest posts. It worked quite well (considering) but it was annoying to setup, I tried a couple of times to record a session only to come back in and discover I had stopped recording whilst trying to set the phone up under the headrest. I was also a little concerned the marshals would stop me as it looked a little sketchy despite being rock solid.
With my next track day already booked I bought myself a used gopro hero 7 black and a gopro bar/post clamp (attaching to a headrest post.) I've been testing it on public roads and the field of view is much nicer than my phone but the audio quality is not great and I'm not sure whether to use stabilisation or not. I've noticed the view wanders quite a bit left to right with stabilisation turned on at normal road speeds and vibration looks quite bad with it off.
Has anyone tried using a gopro with and without stabilisation on track and which do you think worked better? I'm worried the view will be wandering left and right like crazy with it turned on.
Also wondering if anyone has any tips for audio other than buying an external mic? I'm using the waterproof case with an open back and so far I have tried stuffing a bit of cotton wool inside the case and removing the case capture button as I thought that might be what was rattling. Something I have yet to try is to set the gopro up under the headrest and push the headrest down onto it to see if that can stabilise the camera and maybe stop some of the rattling, after that I'm out of ideas!
Here's a short clip testing the gopro first without and then with stabilisation and audio processing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWTIqBlg2Aw
A few laps from the previous track day using my phone, other than some wind noise and no view of the steering wheel it worked okay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7u3QBXPP4w
With my next track day already booked I bought myself a used gopro hero 7 black and a gopro bar/post clamp (attaching to a headrest post.) I've been testing it on public roads and the field of view is much nicer than my phone but the audio quality is not great and I'm not sure whether to use stabilisation or not. I've noticed the view wanders quite a bit left to right with stabilisation turned on at normal road speeds and vibration looks quite bad with it off.
Has anyone tried using a gopro with and without stabilisation on track and which do you think worked better? I'm worried the view will be wandering left and right like crazy with it turned on.
Also wondering if anyone has any tips for audio other than buying an external mic? I'm using the waterproof case with an open back and so far I have tried stuffing a bit of cotton wool inside the case and removing the case capture button as I thought that might be what was rattling. Something I have yet to try is to set the gopro up under the headrest and push the headrest down onto it to see if that can stabilise the camera and maybe stop some of the rattling, after that I'm out of ideas!
Here's a short clip testing the gopro first without and then with stabilisation and audio processing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWTIqBlg2Aw
A few laps from the previous track day using my phone, other than some wind noise and no view of the steering wheel it worked okay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7u3QBXPP4w
I've done a fair few videos now, and I always have stabilisation turned off. I absolutely hate the 'side to side' effect that it gives. Yes, you can get some vibration but this will obviously be very car dependent. I find that a little bit of vibration can add to the sense of speed. (Track day videos always look slower than real life)
Another tip is to be aware of 'wash out' of the outside image. On a sunny day, the view outside can look far too bright as the camera adjust itself to the overall view it 'sees'. So if a lot if the image is dark car interior, outside looks incorrect. To resolve this, you can set an EV Compensation value to lower the exposure.
This is an old video where I'd forgotten to set the exposure compensation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wk2-1RQAlE
Compared to my now normal setup with EV compensation on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNCTWijHdCQ
Edit: For sound in my more recent videos, I use the audio from my rear camera which is mounted at the rear number plate location. It's protected from wind noise and obviously captures the exhaust note. In your case maybe an external microphone on a long lead trailed out of the boot lid and clipped onto your rear number plate could achieve the same effect?
Another tip is to be aware of 'wash out' of the outside image. On a sunny day, the view outside can look far too bright as the camera adjust itself to the overall view it 'sees'. So if a lot if the image is dark car interior, outside looks incorrect. To resolve this, you can set an EV Compensation value to lower the exposure.
This is an old video where I'd forgotten to set the exposure compensation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wk2-1RQAlE
Compared to my now normal setup with EV compensation on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNCTWijHdCQ
Edit: For sound in my more recent videos, I use the audio from my rear camera which is mounted at the rear number plate location. It's protected from wind noise and obviously captures the exhaust note. In your case maybe an external microphone on a long lead trailed out of the boot lid and clipped onto your rear number plate could achieve the same effect?
Edited by Paul_M3 on Thursday 10th April 12:30
Edited by Paul_M3 on Thursday 10th April 12:30
Thanks for the tips!
I watched a couple of videos on GoPro settings when the camera turned up and I think I currently have EV set to -1.5 and white balance to 5000k which they said would be good for natural sunlight.
Do you have any footage from when you had stabilisation turned on? I'm curious how bad it gets on track. My phone was wiggling around a little bit but at a level I don't find too jarring. I wouldn't want it much worse though. It sounds like my efforts before the next track day might be best spent trying to minimise vibration through the mount and gopro so I can keep stabilisation turned off. Hopefully clamping it a bit with the headrest will help.
I don't really want to shell out for an external mic if I can help it, I could use my phone but I would run into the same issues as the first track day where I would need to mess around trying to hard mount the thing somewhere. My car doesn't sound that nice anyway so if I can just reduce the rattling a bit I will be happy! Talking of sound your Lotus sounds amazing by the way!
I watched a couple of videos on GoPro settings when the camera turned up and I think I currently have EV set to -1.5 and white balance to 5000k which they said would be good for natural sunlight.
Do you have any footage from when you had stabilisation turned on? I'm curious how bad it gets on track. My phone was wiggling around a little bit but at a level I don't find too jarring. I wouldn't want it much worse though. It sounds like my efforts before the next track day might be best spent trying to minimise vibration through the mount and gopro so I can keep stabilisation turned off. Hopefully clamping it a bit with the headrest will help.
I don't really want to shell out for an external mic if I can help it, I could use my phone but I would run into the same issues as the first track day where I would need to mess around trying to hard mount the thing somewhere. My car doesn't sound that nice anyway so if I can just reduce the rattling a bit I will be happy! Talking of sound your Lotus sounds amazing by the way!
Andyr2525 said:
Do you have any footage from when you had stabilisation turned on? I'm curious how bad it gets on track. My phone was wiggling around a little bit but at a level I don't find too jarring. I wouldn't want it much worse though. It sounds like my efforts before the next track day might be best spent trying to minimise vibration through the mount and gopro so I can keep stabilisation turned off. Hopefully clamping it a bit with the headrest will help.
Managed to find one for you (I think it's the only time I had it with that setting on)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HkmOoGULQ4
prominent racer cum youtuber Daniel DC2 has a few tips for you
https://youtu.be/3nu3HiENtls?si=L2MNPfZMKFXMLZ0x
https://youtu.be/3nu3HiENtls?si=L2MNPfZMKFXMLZ0x
Andyr2525 said:
Thank you! That is a bit extreme! Stabilisation off for sure then. I appreciate you finding and posting, that is very useful.
I think the level of effect you get can depend not only on the stabilisation but also the resolution / field of view. Maybe I had the worst possible combination? Stabilisation off! Also use spot exposure so it doesn't washout the background. Just hold the screen and it will turn on. I recorded my laps at the Nurburgring with my GoPro at the weekend and totally forgot to turnoff stabilisation and it makes it look too smooth...this was wide not superview hero 9
https://youtu.be/1Ixs6nmLzaE?feature=shared
https://youtu.be/1Ixs6nmLzaE?feature=shared
Dynion Araf Uchaf said:
prominent racer cum youtuber Daniel DC2 has a few tips for you
https://youtu.be/3nu3HiENtls?si=L2MNPfZMKFXMLZ0x
Thanks, from what he is saying I need to look at my mount rather than a setting in the GoPro. The only thing he said that didn't line up with the GoPro settings video I had previously watched is aout 4k making the camera work harder. The other video suggested 4k is easier on the camera because it is the native res and it has to do some form of processing to record at 1080. I've no idea which is correct.https://youtu.be/3nu3HiENtls?si=L2MNPfZMKFXMLZ0x
2pad said:
Stabilisation off! Also use spot exposure so it doesn't washout the background. Just hold the screen and it will turn on. I recorded my laps at the Nurburgring with my GoPro at the weekend and totally forgot to turnoff stabilisation and it makes it look too smooth...this was wide not superview hero 9
https://youtu.be/1Ixs6nmLzaE?feature=shared
It doesn't look so bad with it on in your video, without the A-pillars in shot it isn't so obvious. Maybe just a bit too smooth like you said. https://youtu.be/1Ixs6nmLzaE?feature=shared
Your passenger
I know how he feels, me and my brother split the track day down the middle both driving my car. I let him do the sighting laps as he hadn't driven the car before and I was sitting next to him thinking I probably can't even drive at this speed let alone faster. My left arm was stiff the next day from holding the door handle so hard. It's a very different experience in the passenger seat!
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