Article Information

• Published By : Davin Sturdivant
• Published On : May 08, 2016
• Views : 4901
• Likes : 1
• Category : Technical Articles
• Description : Understand how the Per Lap Color function works on Race Studio 2, in order to make your data easier to understand.

Overview

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  One of the most common challenges that happens to people when encountering race data for the first time, is that they try to look at “Too much, too soon”. They are looking for a magic bullet to solve all of their handling problems and decrease laptime all at the same time. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that, and they end up with a mess of confusing traces. However, there are simple ways to make all of those squiggly lines much easier to understand

  
  

  Data analysis is largely about making comparisons in two separate points in time to determine 1) what’s happening, 2) where did it happen and 3) why it happened. Once you understand these things, you can begin to determine what steps you need to take to improve.  In order to do that, you need to feel comfortable with the software that you are using in order to invest the time in understanding your data. Fortunately, there are some quick tricks that you can learn, that will help make working with data easier.

  
  

  In the next few articles, I’m going to write about five easy setting changes that you can make to using Race Studio 2, which will help make working with data much more managable!

  
  

  Part 1: Setting ‘Per Lap Color’

  As mentioned earlier, one of the most common challenges that people run into when working with data is that they try to look at “Too much, Too Soon” and they overload their brain. What we want to try to do is simplify the amount of data that we’re looking at, so that it’s easier to understand what is going on.

  Out the box, Race Studio 2 provides the user with the ability to set different color settings for a various combination of data traces. For example, I could have one set of colors for GPS lap speed traces, and a different set of colors for Lateral G traces.
  
  However, wouldn’t it be easier if we could just set a particular color to represent all of the data channels for that one lap? Fortunately, you can do that with the “Per Lap Color’ setting. I've highlighted the section on the screenshot below:
  
  

   

  Now, for example, you can set all of your data traces on your fastest lap will show a red line as a base color, second fastest will be green, third fastest will be blue, etc for all of your data channels related to that lap. It doesn’t matter what color combination that you pick, but you need a color legend that’s simple for you to understand and easy to manipulate. 
  
  

  If you want to look at data at a glance, start by only using two colors to make comparisons. Make your fastest lap red and then leave all your other laps another single color like blue. That way, you can see that your fast lap trace at a glance before you start digging into things. You can always change the colors, but using two colors for a quick comparison is easy for the brain to understand.

  
  Quick Tip- Try to compare only two laps at a time, so that you’re able to make a clear understanding of what’s going on at that point on the track.

  
  
  Now that you know how to set ‘Per Lap Color’, go give a try! If video is more your thing, AIMSports has a training video on how to configure Per Lap color, which I'll embed here below.
  
  

  
  
  Interested in other articles about data analysis? See the links here on Kartpulse below:
  
  - Looking at Karting Data: Approaching Your Information
  - Looking at Karting Data: Understanding the Speed Trace - Part 1
  - Looking at Karting Data: Understanding the Speed Trace - Part 2