Recently, the Professional Awesome racing team competed at Motivicity’s Speed Ring event at the M1 Concourse in Detroit, MI. They had a nearly flawless showing and while they didn’t walk away with the fastest lap of the event, they did win the Touge Battle (more on this below!). The team is using our Battery Eliminator for HERO4 cameras and USB Cigarette Lighter Power Supply with a HERO4 camera to capture their race footage. Check out their fastest lap of the event at 1:04.863 from Dan O’Donnell:
The Professional Awesome was kind enough to answer a few questions about the event and how they’re capturing their footage.
Could you tell me a little bit about the race event?
The Speed Ring is a combination of events, the first day was time attack and the second day was a touge battle. Time attack is basically a time trial, meaning we have to set one fast lap and the fastest lap you get in the event wins. All the times counted from the entire weekend for that and we got about 20 laps to try and get that fastest time. Sadly, we ended up just short, by a little more than a second.
A touge battle is a bracket race, where the top 13 cars in each class go head-to-head in a best 2 out of 3 elimination. The fastest car leads the first lap, then they switch positions and go again. Each car gets one lap to beat the other car, so consistency and speed are the keys to victory. We ended up winning the entire unlimited bracket!
What were the settings used for the video?
We use a GoPro HERO4 Silver at 1080P at 60 frames per second. 60 frames gives much more of a feel for the speed of the car vs. lower frame rates. We use spot exposure as the outside of the car is so much brighter than the inside, that way viewers can see the outside of the car, rather than it being overexposed. We also use the Protune settings as we do color correction in Final Cut Pro X.
How did you land on using our solution?
We are using a GoPro HERO4 with the H4 Battery Elimination Kit along with USB hub. That way we don’t have to worry about batteries dying as the car sits in between sessions. Sometimes it can be hours from one session to another and if we aren’t careful, the battery dies at the worst time possible. The Elimination Kit solves all those problems!
What are some of your other upcoming races?
Our next race, November 9th-10th, is arguably our most important, Global Time Attack’s Super Lap Battle at Buttonwillow Raceway. We currently hold the fastest lap ever in Limited Class, but think this year we can set the fastest lap ever for a production based car! This is the most important time attack track in North America.
Anything else you'd like to add?
I would like to thank CamDo for all the support and their products have worked flawlessly for us. 10/10 would highly recommend!
For another great power option for automobile footage, check out Dash, to turn your GoPro into a dashcam!
About Professional Awesome:
Professional Awesome Racing is a team of four individuals dedicated to building the fastest time attack car in the USA. Competing since 2009, they currently have the fastest time trial Mitsubishi Evo in the country. They have class records at Sebring, Infineon, Buttonwillow Raceway, New Jersey Motorsports Park among others. They compete in the Global Time Attack and Gridlife Time Attack series at events throughout the country. Follow them onFacebook,Instagram andTwitter.
