Construction of race circuit geometry from on-car measurements

Forward speed and lateral acceleration data obtained from a Formula One car under semi-competitive conditions are employed to reconstruct the planar g eometry of the circuit traversed. Methods devised depend on first smoothing the data by low pass filtering and cubic spline interpolation and then usi ng numerical integration on combined speed and acceleration signals. Two me thods for the integration parts are designed and discussed. They involve di fferent methods for error correction, which, uncorrected, lead to the circu it 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 fo r each of these circuits and that reconstructed from the recorded data. Con clusions are drawn relating to method and accuracy. Suggestions are made on how the currently exposed processing may be improved by further work.