Technical Note: Construction of race circuit geometry from on-car measurements

Abstract

Forward speed and lateral acceleration data obtained from a Formula One car under semi-competitive conditions are employed to reconstruct the planar geometry of the circuit traversed. Methods devised depend on first smoothing the data by low pass filtering and cubic spline interp-olation and then using numerical integration on combined speed and acceleration signals. Two methods for the integration parts are designed and discussed. They involve different methods for error correction, which, uncorrected, lead to the circuit analysed not closing up without discontinuities at the start-finish line. Results from each of the two methods for the Barcelona and Suzuka Formula One circuits are given. Comparisons are made between the known geometry for each of these circuits and that reconstructed from the recorded data. Conclusions are drawn relating to method and accu-racy. Suggestions are made on how the currently exposed processing may be improved by further work.