2008 October | Ali Allage (SPT) - Online Marketer, Serial Entrepreneur, Writer, Automotive Enthusiast, Web Developer

Oct 31st, 08

Review: ChaseCam – A Camera System That Works

“Which camera is best to use on track?” A common question asked by many track junkies looking for a flexible solution to capture their track experiences to watch, not only for entertainment purposes, but as an effective learning tool to improve the driver. Not many solutions are available that allow for easy mounting anywhere on the car, external microphone support, and the ability to plug into external data feeds (like hooking up to a AIM Sport Dash), until we found a company called ChaseCam.

Who is ChaseCam? ChaseCam has been around since 1981 serving as a product engineering company for military, telecom, and biomed technology companies. Using their extensive experience, they came up with a camera system that has been effective for many forms of racing (Baja 1000, Darkar Rally, Formula 1, IRL, Grand Am, and many more). With a resume like that there is no doubt that amateur racers like us shouldn’t be a problem to support.

Our basic need was this: Have the ability to mount 2 cameras on our car with the flexibility of choosing if we wanted to have individual full screen views or the ability to integrate two views together to create a split screen view of action. Next step, call a ChaseCam rep to recommend a package for us. After a pleasant one-hour conversation, here’s the break down of our package:

2 – PDR100 Recording Boxes with mounting plates
2 – Lipstick cameras
2 – 4 gig Flash Memory Cards
1 – Suction Cup Mount
1 – Roll Bar Mount
8 – Rechargeable Batteries With Charging Kit

Now we got the list, it’s time to explain how this all works. ChaseCam systems are not set up like your traditional handheld camcorder. First you have what they call a Recording Box (PDR100), a box that has a digital readout display that shows mic levels, recorder settings, flash memory card, and recording functions (basically the brains of the operation). The recording box has a built-in mic that works pretty well, but we suggest getting an external mic. The lipstick cameras are separate units that can be placed anywhere on the car where you can easily mount it (we do mean anywhere!) and it supports widescreen modes. 4 gigs of memory supports about an hour and a half worth of recording time under high quality video settings, which is plenty (if you want more recording time it’s as simple as getting a larger capacity flash memory card). It all sounds complicated, but we assure you, it’s not.

After a few days our packaged arrived. What stood out the most was the quality of the products. The recording boxes felt like it would be able to take a bullet (not literally) as well as the lipstick camera being able to get hit with almost anything. ChaseCam really has very well built equipment, which is something of a rarity with electronics these days. Any doubts as to whether or not this cam set-up will be able to hold up on track is basically diminished. With all the positives, there was bound to be one draw back. Fortunately it had nothing to do with the actual system itself, but with the camera mounting. The suction cup mount is a 3 suction cup mount that is held in place once the unit is pushed down. We prefer a push pump type suction system to make sure the unit will never move (a push pump is available at ChaseCam).

With the ChaseCam system we wanted to really take our time to test it out and put it through any condition we could. We mounted the cams on different cars, under different conditions (track and street). On track this system is awesome: Completely stable under all conditions thrown at it (hopping candy stripes, etc), superb video quality with various lighting conditions, and decent sound from the internal mic (could have been much better with a external mic). On the street the ChaseCam system performs the same as it did on track. One issue we did experience on both, a short battery life (special note: this may have been due to a bad batch of rechargeable batteries. Easy fix would be to contact ChaseCam to get it sorted out). Our recommendations to solve the issue are to bring back up batteries, plug the unit via the car adapter, or hardwire it. Overall a wonderful camera system that could handle anything we put it under and able to record very high quality video. What more could you ask for?

Conclusion
Make no mistake, this system isn’t cheap if compared to a standard handheld camcorder. The system is ideal for those serious about a camera set-up that works on track. For the money, this system offers a feature packed list that rivals anything like it. Flexibility, durability, and high quality are the best way to describe what this unit has to offer. See the difference for yourself:

Standard Camcorder

ChaseCam:

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Oct 20th, 08

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Block wins LSPR, Subaru Rally Team USA takes top spots in 2008 championship

(Houghton, MI) – Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block took a decisive win in the final event of the 2008 Rally America season this weekend in Michigan’s upper peninsula to join teammate Travis Pastrana atop the championship standings.

“I’m glad to end the season with the win,” said Block. “Now I’ve got some momentum going into next year, so I’m happy.”

The victory this weekend at the Lake Superior Performance Rally brought Block into second place in the championship, while strong performances all-season long meant Pastrana had already secured the title before this final contest even began.

Motocross superstar Pastrana has made an incredible transition from two wheels to four over the past few years and was the season standout this year, taking podium finishes at all but two events. He also scored his second X Games Rally Car Racing gold medal this summer.

“Consistency was on my side this year,” said Pastrana. “There are a lot of great drivers in the series, but budgets run out for a lot of guys before the end of the season and that’s too bad.”

Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino had a strong start to the season, winning a pair of events early in the year. But a string of DNFs dropped the duo back in the standings and they entered the Lake Superior Performance Rally in third place in the series.

The early stages on Friday saw Kyle Sarasin and his co-driver Mikael Johansson in a tight fight with Block and Gelsomino for the rally lead, but electrical trouble and heavy dust late in the evening saw the team fall behind and they couldn’t make up for lost time. Sarasin and Johansson finished second place at this event to wind up third overall in the 2008 Rally America championship.

“It’s good to finish on the podium,” said Sarasin. “But it’s a little frustrating to have three second-place finishes in a row – it’s hard to catch those guys.”

With the driver’s title already sewn up before this event, Pastrana changed up his team. He asked legendary driver and longtime advisor John Buffum to join him this weekend in the co-driver’s seat. The duo were aiming for a strong finish, but said their objective was to enjoy a fun weekend together in the car. Mission accomplished: Pastrana and Buffum finished the event third overall with wide smiles on their faces.

“My biggest plan for next year is to come back and reclaim this championship,” said Pastrana. “I’m looking forward to an amazing battle next year.”

Andi Mancin and co-driver Maciej Wislawski earned fourth place in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. Mancin, who is a Polish championship contender, made his debut competition appearance in the Rally America championship at this event.

Fifth place in the event went to rally veteran Doug Shepherd and co-driver Karen Wagner in their Group 5 Dodge Neon SRT-4. The team were by far the fastest two-wheel drive competitors this weekend, finishing over five minutes ahead of their closest two-wheel drive rivals.

Patrick Moro and co-driver Mike Rossey took the Production GT class win in their Subaru WRX and secured the 2008 Production GT title.

The Group 2 class win went to Michel Hoche-Mong and co-driver Jimmy Brandt in their Volkswagen GTI. Their victory here also earned them the 2008 Group 2 title.

Tough luck put Andrew “ACP” Comrie-Picard and co-driver Marc Goldfarb out of the contest early on Friday. The duo had been among the contenders for the championship runner-up position, but a spark plug failure left them down on power and they rolled their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX while trying to make up time. They finished the season fourth overall, ahead of Rockstar Energy’s Andy Pinker and Hankook-Rallispec driver Matt Johnson – who tied for fifth in the points.

The 2008 Rally America Production class championship went to brothers Jan and Jody Zedril, who were absent from competition this weekend due to a scheduling conflict with an event at home in Canada. The 2008 Group 5 driver’s title went to John Conley, while the top Group 5 co-driver was Karen Wagner. Chris Duplessis earned top driver’s points in the two-wheel drive category.

All results and titles are considered provisional pending official reviews.

Rally car racing is considered the extreme sport of automobile racing and is often described simply as “real cars, real roads, real fast.” This all-season motorsport sees drivers and their co-drivers take modified road cars to the limit as they achieve blistering speeds over courses that cover more than 100 miles of gravel, dirt or snow-covered roads.

The 2008 Rally America National Championship series consists of nine exciting events throughout the country in many different weather and road conditions. Throughout the year, teams take on everything from snow-covered trails of Michigan, forest-logging roads in Minnesota, coastal paths of the Pacific Northwest, fast but rocky challenges of New England, to the high-altitude roads of Northwest Colorado, and finally to its conclusion in the fall splendor of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The series returns to Michigan for the season-opener in January.

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