01 - Pit Lane Timer Introduction

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The Pit Lane Timer acts as an automatic timing system for pit stops. It ensures that you can minimise the time spent in the pits without incurring a penalty. It prompts you when to leave your pit box, and warns in advance if you are going to cross the line too early.

GPS Antenna Placement

Placement of the GPS antenna is crucial to the quality of the data recorded by Pit Lane Timer. Any metal close to a GPS antenna can disturb the signal in an unpredictable way due to interference from reflections of weak GPS signals.

For the best results, use the antenna in the centre of a metal roof at least 5 cm away from any metal objects such as roof bars or radio antennas. Do not mount the antenna close to the edge of the roof as reflections from the ground may interfere with the signals. Avoid the edges as reflections from the A-pillars will cause problems.

Mount the antenna as high up as possible and keep above any roll bars. Pieces of metal close to and above an antenna will badly disrupt the GPS signal.

If the vehicle being used does not have a metal roof, then place the GPS antenna on a flat piece of metal at least 10 cm in diameter. If this is not possible, copper or aluminium foil can be used to create a shaped ground plane underneath the antenna. For example, on a fibreglass roof, mount the antenna on top of the roof, and place some adhesive backed metal foil underneath, on the inside of the roof.

IMPORTANT

Interference of the GPS signal can result in abnormal unit behavior, ensure that the antenna is located in a suitable position as far away as possible from any metal objects such as roof bars or radio antennas.

Acquiring Satellite Lock

Tall buildings or trees can block GPS signals, causing a reduction in the number and quality of satellites being tracked, leading to inaccurate position measurements and a noisy velocity signal.

GPS works best in open areas/ Avoid tree lined roads

GPS Coldstart

If Pit Lane Timer is struggling to acquire satellite lock, a GPS coldstart may be required. This may be necessary when the unit hasn’t been used for a number of days or has dramatically moved location since its last use. To perform a cold-start, select MENU > GPS OPTIONS > COLDSTART.

Recording Media

Compatible media

Racelogic's Pit Lane Timer can record to MMC, SD, SDHC and SDXC media cards that are formatted in a FAT or FAT32 format.

SDXC cards will be formatted as exFAT by default, a format type not supported by Pit Lane Timer. They can still be used, as long as they have been reformatted to FAT32. Various free third party applications are available online to format SDXC cards. Click here for more information on how to do this.

Memory usage

If the SD card used has less than 10 MB of space remaining a warning symbol flashes periodically to indicate the amount of memory remaining.

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LED Operations

Pit Lane Countdown

Using the configured minimum pit lane time, and the pit to exit time, the Pit Lane Timer will trigger an internal countdown either as soon as the pit entrance line is crossed (entrance to exit mode) or when your vehicle speed reaches 0 (stationary in pit mode).

When this time reaches 0.00 - the LEDs will light GREEN.

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Pit Lane Speed

After the counter has reached 0.00 and the vehicle moves out of the pit box, the LEDs will either be OFF, GREEN or RED.

Entrance to exit timing mode works off the pit to exit time to calculate the predicted pit exit time, while also monitoring the pit lane speed limit.

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Stationary in pit timing mode will show a live speed value. Using the 'pit lane speed limit' and 'speed limit warning' values, the display will indicate if the driver needs to slow down, or speed up.

When the LEDs are RED, the Pit Lane Timer will also sound a continuous beep.