Suspension Setup Tracking Software

[dualdj1]

I've been tracking suspension changes and effects on our Late Model with a spreadsheet over the past year, and finally decided to build a program to make tracking from race to race, night to night easier. It is in the very early stages, but my intent is to provide it to the racing community free of charge as a means to help low budget teams better track their changes to help improve on track performance.

Currently the software is a very early version, but I have it available for download at:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/setuptracker/

Right now it's based on swingarm, but I will be making a 4 bar version soon as well. It is also primarily rear suspension, though I can also add front if there's enough desire.

I look forward to having others try it out, and letting me know what they'd like to see added. I currently plan to have either a reporting setup or some way to view data based on track conditions, as well as just previous nights/races.

Feel free to message here or PM me with any questions/comments.

[rubbinsracin]

I would be very interested in this if you created a 4bar version!

[mab18]

In the weights/springs/tires area I would add a place for tire circumfrence for each corner of the car.

[dualdj1]

I'm hoping to get either a separate 4 bar version, or have 4 bar incorporated into this version by mid next week.

mab thanks for the suggestion, I'll go that route instead of a stagger field and have a calculated stagger in there for display instead.

[basscatcher89]

glad to know im not the only one working on this. Mine has been stalled for the last couple months though with work getting in the way. Very handy tool to have. What language are you building yours in?

[dualdj1]

It's in C#, as that's what I've got the most experience in lately. The source is available on the project page if you want to check it out and see if it's something you can use/add to. I'm always open for suggestions!

[dualdj1]

Updated today. Now has settings that can be used for either 4 bar or swingarm, along with a few other additions. You may have to start fresh with the new data (xml) file if you are using the first version, but can try with your old file first if you'd like.

[jdpower]

After extracting the Zip file, I get windows error message when trying to open the .exe

[joedoozer]

Yup me too. I get an error message.

[dualdj1]

Thanks for letting me know, I have to do a few things this morning, then will get the issue fixed.

[dualdj1]

the problem was in the formatting of the xml data file, and has been fixed. the current zip posted has the correct xml file. let me know if there are any other issues that come up. I plan to keep revising this week and updating with new/revamped features.

Let me know if you like the radio button setup for the bars, or if you would prefer a drop down box (like selecting panhard type) with 1,2,3, etc. I kinda prefer the visual location style with the radio buttons, but that's just me.

[5m Racing]

I just downloaded the software and like it a lot. Had a few questions tho. I started a night and put in qualifying data. Then changed to heat race data and made changes and save the set up changes and the race info and it save the track condition changes but did not save the bar changes and my qualifying bar data and my heat bar data were the same. Also is there anyway of putting a spot that i can record all my shop scaling data w/ ride hieghts, lf %, rear % and total wieghts and bite. I think your software is gonna be a great help to my racing operation as keeping notes is the hardest think to do for us. Thanks a lot.

Mike Fryer
Performance Automotive Racing
5M - Dirt Late Model

[dualdj1]

Mike,
Thanks for the feedback. I'm sure as we go there will be more and more things to put in, so we have to figure out the best way to do so. This will be a work in progress, until probably after the season is started. I hopefully can come up with a way so data doesn't need to be reentered when I do version updates, but at this point as I add fields I've been having to reenter data.

I think I already have a spot for weights, though I could have it display the calculated %'s/total weight/etc. Is this something that we need to have for every race, or would it be something on the night as a whole? (ie before going out, this is what we scaled/set the car to, then maybe have place to note changes made during the night)

Right now all the settings you have for the last selected race will carry over, so you only have to enter your changes.

I think I will change the update buttons to just a single one, that updates both the selected race condition, and the chassis settings at the same time, rather than have 2 separate buttons.

[5m Racing]

yes there is a place for weights but no %'s etc. I think that is just something just for the night as a whole just like you said. That sounds like a great idea. The combining the save buttons sound like a good idea too. I see how the changes carry over which is great but the problem i encountered was that when i changed the bar settings for the heat race it changed my bar settings for the qualifying session as well. I think when i changed bar selections on the feature, amain and bmain it changed them all the way up to the qualifying bar settings. I dont know if i am making sense or not.

Thanks,
I look forward to continuing to work with you on this.

[joedoozer]

yes there is a place for weights but no %'s etc. I think that is just something just for the night as a whole just like you said. That sounds like a great idea. The combining the save buttons sound like a good idea too. I see how the changes carry over which is great but the problem i encountered was that when i changed the bar settings for the heat race it changed my bar settings for the qualifying session as well. I think when i changed bar selections on the feature, amain and bmain it changed them all the way up to the qualifying bar settings. I dont know if i am making sense or not.

Thanks,
I look forward to continuing to work with you on this.

When you want to update your set up, make sure you click the race first. In the upper left menu. Make sure qualifying (for example) is highlighted Blue. Then click update setup. It will save the changes.

[joedoozer]

I really like this. This is going to clean things up in my setup book.

I know you could add 100 different things to this. How hard would it be to have more locations for panhard/J-bar? I have 7 locations on the frame and 8 on the pinion. Or would it be easier to just add a manual height for both locations? Then I could just put the heights in. 5th coil shock? Ride heights? Gear? Caster, Camber and Toe for the front end.

Just throwing out some ideas. This is really good stuff. Thanks for doing this.

[dualdj1]

Adding stuff is simply having the space to do so on the form. At this point I'm thinking I may have to change to combo boxes (drop down list, click the little arrow at the side to see all the numbers and pick which one you want) for the bar settings, as I don't think there's going to be enough room to add more holes. I like the visual aspect of the radio buttons to be able to "see" where your bars are set, but if it's not gonna fit, it's not gonna fit. I will also put a measured height box in there for manually typing it if you so choose. I want to make this as universal as possible to fit the largest variety of cars.

Gear is something I just forgot, and would've caught, so that'll be in. I see no problem adding all the rest of that stuff as well. Let me see if I get time today, but should be able to get it going.

[5m Racing]

Thanks JoeDozer. I agree with you. This is gonna make my notes and set up a lot more organized and easier to deal with. I cant wait to use it at the track and be able to look up previous changes on similar track conditions at a click of a button instead of looking through pages of unfinished notes and finding nothing.

[joedoozer]

Adding stuff is simply having the space to do so on the form. At this point I'm thinking I may have to change to combo boxes (drop down list, click the little arrow at the side to see all the numbers and pick which one you want) for the bar settings, as I don't think there's going to be enough room to add more holes. I like the visual aspect of the radio buttons to be able to "see" where your bars are set, but if it's not gonna fit, it's not gonna fit. I will also put a measured height box in there for manually typing it if you so choose. I want to make this as universal as possible to fit the largest variety of cars.

Gear is something I just forgot, and would've caught, so that'll be in. I see no problem adding all the rest of that stuff as well. Let me see if I get time today, but should be able to get it going.

I like the idea of the drop down boxes, is it possible the "default" selection in the box is blank?

This is what I am doing now . Not sure if it will help anyone else. Or if OP even thought of anyone doing this.

I take a screenshot of the program. Open up MS Paint and paste the screenshot. Then I cut out the section I want, and paste it in Excel. I do this for all the sections (Bars, Weights, and Shocks). I move stuff around so I get a printable version for my notebook, so I can take it in paper form to the track.

If the drop down boxes had a default blank setting. I could print out a "blank" form, and then write in everything at the track. I could print out the completed one (with all my car settings), because that is the way the car is going to the track. Then print out a bunch of "blanks" so when changes are made to the car, I can write them in without scribbling things out.

It would be nice to have a print button in the program. Something with a clean format that was similar to the layout in the program. Here is a link to the "blank" form I created.
http://www.speedyshare.com/files/280...eet_Blank.xlsx

[dualdj1]

You're gettin ahead of me man :P Yeah I have a lot of that stuff planned, this is just early on. I did a revamp of the bars page and hope to have it posted later today, but came into work to a ton of stuff broken/down, so I don't know if it'll go up today or not. Will keep ya posted. I did plan to make a setup sheet to go with it, but if you get one that works good that saves me the trouble