Mount for GoPro or other action camera

[Boro]

Just had some of these turn up today...



I'm wondering whether they would be any good for track days? I was thinking it might make a bit of a different POV from the usual screen or helmet mounts.

It's made up of two suction cup mounts with an adjustable aluminium bar in between, which collapsed is 39" and extended it's 49.5", so in theory, it could sit behind the front seats and suction against the rear windows giving an over the shoulder POV.

What do you think?

[mmm-five]

Would be useful for me for a 'between the seats' view as the rear glass on the coupe is so far back that you just end up with the view filled 80% by the seats/roof.

Will have to check out how high/low I can get this and see if it will offer a decent view, as it's only got tiny rear windows to stick it to.

Edited by mmm-five on Tuesday 18th March 19:10

[smiles1]

Looks good, only downside is that a lot of tracks appear to be stipulating no suction mounts

[Camera man]

Doesn't look as if it will be that stable.

I take it you have no roll cage?

If not, might be better using a decent clamp with solid extension bar mounted on the passenger of rear headrest

[Boro]

Camera man said:

Doesn't look as if it will be that stable.

I take it you have no roll cage?

If not, might be better using a decent clamp with solid extension bar mounted on the passenger of rear headrest

It's a solid bit of kit so I would imagine it should be pretty stable.

[spyderman8]

It's the "suction cups" that will be your undoing at track days.

[Boro]

True, I think some tracks are better than others, some allow them and some allow them with tethering.

[drakart]

If you have "normal" seats in your car, headrestmount.co.uk might be of interest to you. New to the market and a pretty good idea I think. I saw it on twitter, but all of the cars I could track have race seats so no use to me!

[LukeSi]

lol £120 ^

Make your own. Bit of thin metal pipe. Some U-Bolts and a few wing nuts. Also a screw in the middle to mount the camera on unless you have a roll bar mount. No vibration at all.

[GreigM]

The problem with these headrest/rollbar mounts is the stty viewing position they give you - 90% of the screen is the non-moving insides of the car and only a little sliver of the track outside is visible.

It would be better if these bars had some sort of extension which pushed the camera forward by about 18inches to alongside the drivers head - then you'd still see the steering wheel and far far more of the outside world.

[Masher964]

It is a good view from this mounting position. I have a roll cage with harness bar which puts the Gopro in that position and it is good for seeing the road ahead and some of what the driver is doing. With this mount you need to be really sure it cannot come lose and fly around the car. Don't forget cars flex under heavy cornering on track.

[BrotherMouzone]

GreigM said:

The problem with these headrest/rollbar mounts is the stty viewing position they give you - 90% of the screen is the non-moving insides of the car and only a little sliver of the track outside is visible.

It would be better if these bars had some sort of extension which pushed the camera forward by about 18inches to alongside the drivers head - then you'd still see the steering wheel and far far more of the outside world.

I disagree.

Shot with GoPro Hero 2, 1080p - 127° FOV, cold and dull day at Donington.

[Boro]

I think that's a great POV!

You really get to see what's going on in front of you and the steering input too.

[Masher964]

A video from the same POV - Donington again as it happens...

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PFUqPnx1U9k

[Masher964]

A video from the same POV - Donington again as it happens...

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PFUqPnx1U9k

[GreigM]

Both those examples are better than most, but how many times do you see this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JqOoi5iL0Y

Throw a passenger into the mix in any of these videos and what you see of the track is very limited, moving it forward a bit would make a huge difference.

[Masher964]

I think that view has less to do with the mounting and more to do with either the camera type or the field of view setting. Looks like a very wide field of view to me.

The other good mounting point is to use a clamp on the sunroof opening (if you have a sunroof!) which puts the camera in a similar position or slightly forward of the bar behind the seats.

[BrotherMouzone]

GreigM said:

Both those examples are better than most, but how many times do you see this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JqOoi5iL0Y

I agree that's not very good.

GreigM said:

Throw a passenger into the mix in any of these videos and what you see of the track is very limited, moving it forward a bit would make a huge difference.

Not necessarily.

Mid summer, around 7pm at Donington pitlane, facing the sun.


Same session, sun behind me.

[Paul_M3]

I made a DIY headrest mount, like this:





And this is an example of the view it gave:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8h4ugO3sho

As has been said, the FOV of the camera is far more important than where the camera is mounted.

[mcpiston]

Simple, just buy an MR2 or any other two seater. You can then just stick the GoPro on the back window .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH0OOT4UctI