Had a trackday today at goodwood, had made up a bracket which was clamped to the rollbar, all very nice and tight, ready for some nice footage.

After the end of the day and the camera running out of tape I took the camera off the rollbar and tried to look at it on the way home.

The camcorder (panasonic mini-dv thing) wouldn't play the tape on the display; the tape would respond to the play, fast forward etc as i could hear the tape moving inside, but the screen showed blank and the counter didn't move (but the remaining time on the tape did change which proves the motors etc work)

I tried recording some new footage to see if it had misrecorded, it would no longer record.

I got back to my friends house who happens to also have a min-dv based camcorder - a sony unit.

I swapped the tapes and all the footage of the day was there. I say it was there - the footage when the car was static was fine, but as soon as the car was moving the picture broke up and most of what you could see was what was previously on the tape with bits of what i was trying to record scambed over the top.

It seems odd that the machine recorded all day on three seperate occassions even though the picture was scrambled but after i unbolted it from the car it ceased to either record new footage or play back previous stuff.

The long and the short of it is, is it worth trying to get it repaired or just buy a new unit, a similar new model can be had for under £300 these days...

My money would be on the playback recording heads in the unit as the motors etc obviously work, but it doesn't seem to be able to record to or play from a tape. the tape is fine as it worked in another machine and i also tried a tape from the other machine in the now broken camera. When recording the screen is onand works, and the tape sounds like its moving, but again the couter doesn't register anything and having tried it in the other machine it hasn't recorded anything.

Lastly, how have other mounted camera's to rollbars. I protected the rollbar with a bit of gaffa tape and the camera was then bolted on, and cable tied as a safety measure. I can akin the vibrations to the scrambled footage, but thought this was how other had mounted their cameras with good results.

any response appreciated...

Ned.

I know it doesnt help much but we killed one at knockhill. I borrowed it from a friend who claimed on his insurance.
Some of them dont like the high g forces and the loadings we subject them to. Others are ok Scotlads has had knockhill in a seven and a rally car trip no trouble.....

Ned,

I think that the key to longivity is to use decent anti vibration mounts.

These isolate the camera from the higher frequencies that will cause the damage rather than the g's from accel & cornering.

The technology has came a long way from the vibrated footage and high pitch voice when a camera was strapped along with Frank Bough in George O'Dells sidecar - anyone remember that?

i wouldnt have thought the G forces (what? about 3g? max?) would do much. A lot of electrical gear lists resistance to forces, and 3 isnt much.

I would suspect that it was the vibration. Could even be something like the vibration causing cracking of solder joints on surface mount components. Some kinda buffered (rubberised) mounting would give better pics and isolate the camera

atb

steve

I tried mounting one to my bike just before I flogged it .

It worked fine when static but when moving it soon died due to a combination of vibration and condesation

And again id only borrowed it for the weekend...doh

Oh yeh pointless trying to repair it, as the components are very fragile and most places wont touch it with out the correct jig.
Id say if you have insurance Ned you actually dropped it at the race track didnt you

[Edited on 25/8/05 by big_wasa]

dear oh dear ned....i was looking forward to those vids. I would think it's the vibration that killed it, its a bugger. Does your dad know yet?!
Well here's a picture to make up for it....

...there would be if the file type was supported by the site...!

Did the vids and pictures come out from your digi camera. Sort of makes up for it.
Good luck fixing it.

Andy

Andy,

Thanks for your help yesterday, just getting a couple of pics and the vid of the digital camera up now..

Ned.

[Edited on 26/8/05 by ned]

http://www.homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~uctland/driveby.avi - drive by at goodwood overtakinga 911


http://www.homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~uctland/run_engine.wmv running the engine in the workshop - see the camera bracket i made!

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/upload/IMG_1375b.jpg
http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/upload/IMG_1374b.jpg
http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/upload/IMG_1367b.jpg

[Edited on 26/8/05 by ned]

I love proper genuine racing cars

here are the rest of the pics, most of them courtesy of Andy Lancaster:

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/photos.php?action=gal&user=ned&folder=goodwood%20trackday

the solidly mounted camera mount which caused the camera to die (TAKE NOTE!)

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/upload/cameramount.jpg

and the excess on the insurance is £100