Cartek / Porsche 996/986 configuration from Gorman Motorsports on Vimeo.

We are super pleased to announce that we now carry the Rumblestrip Racing product line of excellent predictive lap timers. Rumblestrip Racing has been quietly taking over the lap timing market with very very good predictive algorithms at a very reasonable price point.

In particular the DLT3-GPS is a fantastic example of listening to driver feedback. This unit offers the fantastic predictive timing features that Rumblestrip is known for. The GPS functionality adds beacon-less operation, which is the killer feature of the kit.

The entire line of the Rumblestrip Racing product line is now available in our store.

1) The large starter wire running from the starter to the distribution block needs to be removed and run into the engine compartment to the battery positive directly. It’s actually long enough to run through a hole near the battery compartment w/o altering it’s length. Remember to re-tighten the bolt that previously held it on because that keeps the connection solid to the power distribution block.

2) Run a second cable from battery positive to the cartek positive input terminal.

3) Run the ground from battery negative to the cartek negative

4) Run the positive output from the cartek to the back side of the power distribution panel. This is the lug inside the engine compartment.

5) Ensure the cartek is mounted securely to the chassis to it has ground, if not simply run a ground strap to one of it’s mounting bolts.

6) Run the buttons to the places you want them.

The little orange light on the cartek should glow when it’s all hooked up properly.

Here is a basic schematic:

Designed specifically for use in conjunction with Power Distribution Modules (PDMs), the SF1 offers all the usual benefits expected from Cartek’s Isolators including exceptional reliability, very small size and ease of installation but has a dedicated open-collector output signal wire to trigger PDMs into a shutdown state.

PDMs are becoming increasingly popular, especially in the GT and touring car arenas, due to their flexibility and the ability to replace many conventional electrical components with a single module. However, to meet motorsport safety requirements, including those set by the FIA, any racecar still requires a main battery isolator to disconnect power not only from electrical systems such as engine and fuel systems but also from the alternator and starter motor. Most PDMs do not have the capability to handle the high current associated with starter motor motors and is usually installed ‘upstream’ of the alternator leaving these two circuits live even when the ignition is switched off. This not only contravenes FIA and MSA regulations but also poses a major fire risk in the event of a severe crash.

As soon as we have pricing, you can expect this product to join our power distribution products in our store.

Gorman Motorsports congratulates the Rich and the rest of the Mercer Motorsports team. Nicely done guys!

The event will be Broadcast 1:00 AM on 6/20 on SPEED so set your DVR’s!

Some pics from the event are here:

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After some thought, we decided to run an AiM MXL dash in place of any gauges. We fabricated a custom dash panel to mount the dash. Since we removed all of the stock gauges we needed to replace all the same functionality with just the AiM dash. An oil pressure sensor, water temp sensor, and ECU connections have been plumbed. Speed is gathered via GPS and RPM comes from the ECU. The entire wiring loom was removed and has been trimmed back and any wiring not needed has been removed. The stock ECU has been retained per the SE30 rules. We utilized the new GPS05 sensor for GPS signal to provide both a speed and heading signal, but also to provide beacon-less operation.

The car also has Chasecam PDR100 plus SS1000 for a two camera video setup. Custom power delivery fusing and cables were used for both the PDR100 but also radio and AiM MXL dash.

Communications is done via a Motorola PM400 Mobile radio, steering wheel mounted PTT button, whip antenna, and IMSA style driver connections.

We plan a whole host of new data oriented upgrades including sensors to measure diff lockup, brake pressure, steering angle, throttle position, and whatever else we can come up with.

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The dash was mounted up using a in-house designed custom bracket to mate with the existing mounting flanges on the steering column. The MXL was mounted to the plate and is perfectly situated for ease of driver view. The system used the new GPS05 module that now comes with the SmartyCam. In this configuration, the GPS can me connected to the dash or the camera directly. The camera was mounted on the passenger side using a roll-bar mount.

A number of sensors for both driver improvement and car/motor monitoring were installed. The car is equipped with a Tilton master cylinder that allows adjustable brake bias, so we installed dual brake pressure sensors and stainless hardware to measure both front and rear brake pressure. Custom aluminum brackets were fabricated to hold the brake pressure sensors in place. The system was also augmented with oil temperature and oil pressure sensors in the engine bay using our Gorman Motorsports adapter kit. RPM and throttle position were picked up from the ECU via a custom Mil-spec ECU cable using binder connectors to seamlessly mate with the AiM harness.

The dash was configured to show various alarms for oil pressure and temp. The sensors were setup and calibrated. The RPM level was calibrated and the shift lights set.

The camera was setup with a basic gauge package and the channels from the MXL were configured to show on the video by default. One of the nice features of the SmartyCam is the gauges are overlaid in real time, and thus no post processing of the video is needed. This install is no exception.

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