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Automotive Consumer
TECH:  Track Commander From R.L.C. Racing
Vintage Motorsport Staff  | http://www.vintagemotorsport.com  |  Posted February 14, 2009   Charlotte, North Carolina


Do you ever get the feeling that your “high-tech” data logging system is a little outdated and not so “high-tech”? You’re not alone. The dash display and data logging companies have been getting away with murder the past decade. They charge an arm and a leg for old technology and force customers to attend paying-seminars just to learn how to use their equipment. If you’re lucky enough to figure out how to use the darned thing you’ll find out that you’re left with a bunch of inaccurate and unusable data. Enter R.L.C. Enterprises, a 30-year-old computer company with the technology and passion for racing.

R.L.C.’s most affordable unit, the Track Commander, will have you questioning whether to first call R.L.C. or smash your current system with a sledge hammer. For just $695 you get the Track Commander unit, 5 Hz GPS module, suction cup mount, and USB memory stick. For under $700 you will have the most complete, accurate track mapping and lap timing driving tool available on the market. If that wasn’t enough, the Track Commander directly interfaces to ChaseCam camera systems to give you truly synchronized video.

The Track Commander, like all R.L.C. systems, has a color graphics touchscreen display, 2 gigabytes of onboard memory, 2 USB ports, and a built-in 3-axis G-Force sensor. This powerhouse is 4”x3”x0.6” and is easily readable in all weather conditions thanks to R.L.C.’s utilization of transflective technology. If you look up transflective in a racing dictionary, you will read something like this: “[trans-flek-tiv] The coolest thing to hit racing in decades. Transflective displays reflect the sun’s light back at you, making color displays brighter in the sun.” So not only are you going to be able to actually see your dash, even in the direct sunlight, it will be in bright and useful COLOR graphics. The Track Command er can store a lifetime worth of races on its SD card, although all files can be easily transferred to a standard USB memory stick using one of the USB ports.

This simple unit suction-cups to your windshield and is powered through your cigarette lighter. Plug the 5Hz GPS module (included free with the purchase of any system) into the cable coming out of the Track Commander and you are ready to go! After setting your “virtual” start/finish line by pressing a button on the touchscreen, you will instantly be getting accurate and useful predictive lap times. New to predictive timing? The Track Commander will split the track up into 20 sections with virtual markers.

Every time you cross one of those virtual markers it will tell you whether you are faster or slower than your fastest lap at that exact point on the track. This instant feedback is the type of thing we need on the track; knowing whether our mechanical tweaks or new race lines are doing us any good. R.L.C.’s predictive timing is incredibly addictive and very accurate, all thanks to GPS technology which now gives your location to within a foot, sometimes an inch. The Track Commander also has split timing and an autocross mode (different start/finish line).

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