Sandown Track Day: E30 325i Bumper Cam

Post Mon Nov 17, 2008 10:47 am

I had a track day today at Sandown. I'll put up a few pics tomorrow with any luck but here is a snippet of the recording I did with the GoPro Motorsports camera mounted under the front bumper.

http://www.veoh.com/videos/v16646310R8sXSFq4

Given that the camera costs next to nothing, I quite like the "bumper cam" approach. I reckon the footage is OK.

Image Grab:

Post Mon Nov 17, 2008 1:13 pm

That's not bad at all! Which camera are you using exactly?

Post Mon Nov 17, 2008 5:38 pm

http://www.goprocamera.com/index5.htm

The sound is pretty awful but for the money it is actually pretty good.

I think they have a new, uprated one due out at any time, too. 170 degree angle lens, improved sound and just, well, better.

I had mine mounted under the front bumper, between the spoiler duct and the oil cooler opening on the right hand side of the car.

I'll get a pic up tomorrow if I can find a good one that shows it.

Post Mon Nov 17, 2008 8:27 pm

why does it say "wireless camera"??? Cos it has inbuild batteries??

Post Mon Nov 17, 2008 9:18 pm

Pretty much. You don't have to hook it up to any other device like this, for instance:

Whack in a pair of batteries and off you go.

This is the camera. The whole thing.

Post Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:47 am

A kind fellow there on the day posted this on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZz5p5xUSx0

Post Wed Nov 19, 2008 8:03 pm

Nice!! I like "bumper cam"..

Must try it myself one day.

I notice there's hardly anyone else on the track - if only UK trackdays were like that!

Post Wed Nov 19, 2008 10:15 pm

It was held on a Monday. There would have been 20-25 cars, split into two groups. Weekend runs find 40-50 odd cars booked for the day. I don't think many Australian days are allowed to get as "populated" as some of the English days, judging by some of the footage I've seen.

Glad you liked the vid, man. Cheers!

Post Thu Nov 20, 2008 1:06 am

Elmo SUV-Cam FTMFW!

Post Thu Nov 20, 2008 6:51 am

I am actually thinking of getting a second camera now.

It's a toss up between the Elmo and the POV.

Where did you buy your Elmo from, Dave?

Do you have any links to vids that you feel represent the camera well? Were those hillclimb clips of yours done on the Elmo?

Post Thu Nov 20, 2008 6:52 am

Here's another clip that gives an overview of the day. Posted by a guy I met there. Nice fellow.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=JRft8T_cORQ

Post Sun Nov 23, 2008 9:57 am

Hill Climb Clips were on Elmo, but massively reduced for space considerations. Still a fairly good indication of performance.

The Elmo is not the highest quality Personal DVR that you can buy, but it is so easy to use/setup/install, that it sh*ts all over the POV Sport Cam.

Very high quality, purchased from www.digitalcamerawarehouse.com.au - they are in Northcote. Make sure you buy HIGH SPEED SD Cards, up to 32GB is ok with SUV-Cam II. I use a SanDisk Ultra II 2.0GB SD Card, as my SUV-Cam originally only let you use SD, not SDHC cards. SanDisk is the recommended brand for use with Elmo products.

Post Fri Nov 28, 2008 8:27 am

Thanks for the link, man.

So you got the Elmo SUV-Cam Professional Recorder Unit? or did you get the Elmo SUV-Cam II with 150cm Camera Head Cable?

They're priced way better than the POVs. What is wrong with the POV sport cam? Difficult to use? I quite liked the quality but I can't see any substantial difference to the Elmo. And both seem to have pretty good sound, too.

EDIT: ah, I think you're using the original Elmo, judging by what I'm reading on the site.

EDIT: So the "DJS325 E30 Racing Car @ 2008 Leyburn Sprints" clip on Youtube was on the Elmo?

I clicked the "watch in high quality" tab and it looks very good indeed. Youtube compresses the crap out of stuff so that sort of quality would suit me fine. Can you fiddle with the audio at all, ie. levels, wind/noise settings?