IEEE 1394 Helps NASCAR Teams Shave Precious Seconds from Every Race

RPM-Richard Petty Motorsports’ Crews Use FireWire to Move Videos of Pit Stops to Rugged New SIMATIC® Panel PC from Siemens

FireWire is a popular interface in plenty of vital instrumentation, computer and consumer applications that need fast speeds and high bandwidth.  But there are few places where urgency and precision become as intense as during a NASCAR event.  And now, with its implementation in a new Panel PC developed by Siemens, FireWire’s found a place in the pit.

NASCAR crews typically use VHS video or DVDs to record, replay and evaluate car performance and potential problems during pit stops, but the time required to cue videos for replay – and the time needed to find the important part of the video – is tedious and time consuming.  So, RPM-Richard Petty Motorsports has moved to a new system, using sophisticated touch screen computer technology from Siemens Energy & Automation.  Siemens’ compact, 19.1-inch SIMATIC® Panel PC touch screen color displays are mounted on each team’s pit cart located just outside the wall of the pit box. Enclosed in a durable metal housing, the panel PCs can withstand the intense vibration produced when 800 HP cars pit within feet of the cart numerous times during a race.

Every part of each pit stop is scrutinized following a stop. Each corner of the pit box and the activity behind the wall is captured by two video cameras mounted on the pit cart. The video is converted to a digital signal. Then FireWire sends the video to the touch screen panel PC, where it can be replayed immediately.  An indexing device simplifies rewinding, zooming, fast-forwarding, pause and slow motion.

Using FireWire to transfer data in real time eliminates the time and work required to cue the videos. This ensures that crews can quickly analyze vehicle and crew performance issues, such as handling air hoses and tires behind the wall. Videos can be viewed in just seconds, instead of waiting for them to be converted to a digital signal requiring a tedious process of hitting stop, play and fast-forward while looking at a stopwatch. Helmet cameras that use 1394 to move images quickly also have now become part of the NASCAR broadcast.

The SIMATIC Panel PC is a rugged box, designed to hold up well under the stress of being shipped to race tracks for 36 races throughout North America, where they have operated in heat, cold, rain, snow and sleet, and can boot up quickly every time. The highly accurate playback capabilities of the Siemens touch screen panel PCs combined with the DB software lets Petty Motorsports time the crew to one-thousandth of a second. The system also provides high memory capacity and a resolution of 1280 x 1024 pixels, allowing the crew to use the full screen to measure their performance.

RPM-Richard Petty Motorsports was formed in early 2009, when Gillett Evernham Motorsports signed a new agreement with Richard Petty and Petty Holdings to form a new NASCAR Sprint Cup team co-owned by Petty Holdings, with majority shareholder Boston Ventures, and Gillett Evernham Motorsports. The team has fielded four Dodge entries during the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

FireWire has found an exciting new home in the NASCAR pit.