Autosport Labs

I'm building a car to race in NASA ST2 and WERC. Race Capture Pro looks like an awesome product with much more capabilities than much more expensive digital dash systems from companies like motec. There is a possible hangup to using RCP because it has wireless communication. NASA does not allow any device capable of wireless communications to be connected to the ECU. They don't want someone to be able to retune their car remotely while it is in impound after the race. Is there a version without wireless capabilities?

Hey DanielsDM,

The cellular module in MK2 is an optional component, and thus you can get one without it. The Bluetooth dongle is an external module as well, but without it you would not be able to use the android dash effectively.

We had customers running RaceCapture devices at the Thunder Hill 25 hours event with telemetry, so there has to be some kind of exception to the rules on this. What is the exact wording on the rules? Is there perhaps a CAN box that is NASA certified that serves as an "air gap" between the ECU and RCP. The idea there is that this certified device would not allow ECU flashing instructions to occur, thus meeting the requirement yet allowing you to run RaceCapture.

Lets see what we can figure out. I'm sure there is some way to get this to be kosher.

Stieg,
Here is the exact wording of the 2016 rules:
Section 7.3.1
6) From the start of qualifying through the end of post-race inspection, vehicles may
not have any adjustments or modifications made to systems that could alter chassis
dynamometer readings by changing horsepower levels (without the direct approval
of the Race Director.) Any hardware that allows a competitor or crew member to
wirelessly or directly connect to the ECU (or alter ECU maps) at any time
during competition or post-competition impound is strictly prohibited,
regardless of whether such hardware is external or internal to the ECU, and
regardless of the direction of data flow

I believe having an android tablet or phone would violate this rule even if it was hardwired to the RCP, because the phone/tablet can communicate wirelessly and is connected to the ECU. I was thinking of running a microPC that has no wireless capabilities. Connecting to the RCP through the USB port to get around wireless issue. Is the windows version of the app compatible with Win 7,8,10?[/i]

DanielsDM wrote:I was thinking of running a microPC that has no wireless capabilities. Connecting to the RCP through the USB port to get around wireless issue.

Daniel,

Read the rules again:

Any hardware that allows a competitor or crew member to
wirelessly or directly connect to the ECU (or alter ECU maps) at any time
during competition or post-competition impound is strictly prohibited,
regardless of whether such hardware is external or internal to the ECU, and
regardless of the direction of data flow

I've complained to Greg about this rule before. It basically says any device that connects to the ECU and allows data to be received from or sent to the ECU by the driver or crew is illegal.

This makes hardwired devices illegal as well. In fact even a tach that uses the RPM signal output from the ECU is illegal because it is a directly connected device that relays data from the ECU to the driver.

This is a terribly written rule and one that is never enforced. I've seen videos from ST cars at Nationals that have data overlays. I'm quite certain many of the data channels displayed come directly from the ECU. I would not worry about it, but if you want to make sure I'd talk to your regional director. I can't imagine it would be an issue, especially if you already had the series director's approval.

-bj