In the August issue of SportsCar magazine (that just came out this week), yours truly wrote an article on the best practices of data acquisition.  You can find the story on page 36.

Yes, it is about data acquisition, but Don't Panic, it is really very easy and simple. This article covers tips and tricks on how to make data acquisition user friendly and more effective.

Your feedback would be appreciated.  Please let me know what you think of the article.

Go to SportsCar to see more info.

Most everyone is familiar with the concept of chasing gremlins in a race car.  Actually, there are no real gremlins, just maintenance issues that have eluded detection.

To prevent a handling gremlin, a simple piece of racer's tape should be wrapped around a spring coil.  Check it between every run.  If the spring has been coil bound at any time the adjacent coils will cut the tape.

If the tape is cut, a quick trip across the scales will confirm if the spring is damaged.  If scales are not available, quickly remove the spring and check the free height to the recorded free height.  Finally, don't forget to count the turns required to remove the spring so you can put it back exactly as it was prior to removing for checking.