I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the data this year, but being a lazy sort, it struck me that I should be able to visualise the data using Gephi (using in particular the geo layout that lets you specify which node attributes should be used as x and y co-ordinates when placing the nodes.

Taking a race worth of data, and visualising each node as follows (size as throttle value, colour as brake) we get something like this:

(Note that the resolution of the data is 1Hz, which explains the gaps…)

It’s possible to filter the data to show only a lap’s worth:

We could also filter out the data to only show points where the throttle value is above a certain value, or the lateral acceleration (“G-force”) and so on… or a combination of things (points where throttle and brake are applied, for example). I’ll maybe post examples of these using data from this year’s races…. err..?;-)

For now though, here’s a little video tour of Gephi in action on the data:

What I’d like to be able to do is animate this so I could look at each lap in turn, or maybe even animate an onion skin of the “current” point and a couple of previous ones) but that’s a bit beyond me… (for now….?!;-) If you know how, maybe we should talk?!:-)

[Thanks to McLaren F1 for streaming this data. Data was captured from the McLaren F1 website in 2010. I believe the speed, throttle and brake data were sponsored by Vodafone.]

PS If McLaren would like to give me some slightly higher resolution data, maybe from an old car on a test circuit, I’ll see what I can do with it… Similarly, any other motor racing teams in any other formula who have data they’d like to share, I’m happy to have a play… I’m hoping to go to a few of the BTCC races this year, so I’d particularly like to hear from anyone from any of those teams, or teams in the supporting races:-) If a Ginetta Junior team is up for it, we might even be able to get an education/outreach thing going into school maths, science, design and engineering clubs…;-)