Use Mychron4 With GPS to Improve Your Lap Times

The Mychron4 with the GPS module is a cheap yet extremely powerful data acquisition tool for your kart. Learn how to use it to significantly reduce your lap times in places you never thought possible

Steps

  1. After an initial shakedown session complete a practice session covering at least ten laps. Try to drive consistently, but also throw in a few laps where you attack the course also
  2. Download your session from your Mychron4 onto Race Studio 2 and display your second fastest lap along with your fastest (Race Studio should automatically select the fastest)
  3. Select GPS speed channel and make sure that you are in distance mode, by clicking the time/distance button. You will know you are in distance mode because the time compare graph will be displayed
  4. Study the time compare graph for areas where there is a downward slope, showing where the kart was quicker on the second fastest lap compared to the fastest.
  5. Locate the point on the speed trace that corresponds to the very beginning of the downward slope of the second fastest lap.
  6. Use the speed trace to see where on the track you were quicker. This would normally be either an entry, apex point or exit of the corner
  7. Click on the GPS icon to show the GPS map showing your racing lines revealing whether a change in line created the improvement.
  8. Try to recreate the conditions your study of Race Studio 2 revealed and go out on track and do it for real

Tips

  • Always work in distance mode. To toggle between time and distance mode use the button that looks like a clock.
  • Use other laps to look for anomalies. You will often find very fast sectors in laps that were slow overall. Then go through the same process
  • When you get used to working with the speed trace branch out into using the G-long and G-lat channels to figure out why you were faster on different occasions
  • Plan to brake later or earlier for corners to see what comes up from studying your time compare graph

Warnings

  • It is easy to be fooled by a sudden gain in time that was due to very late braking, that eventually became a net loss in time. Time gains need to be sustained to make them worth trying to recreate.
  • Make sure you frequently change the batteries in your Mychron4. When they run low they can drop your GPS trace
  • Don't do too many laps in a session, make your practice sessions race distance

Things You'll Need

  • Mychron4
  • AiM GPS Module
  • Mychron 4 Data Key

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References

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