Velocity is one of the defining characteristics of Big Data, and there are few situations in which speed is more imperative than motorsports. From NASCAR to Formula One and grassroots karting, teams and race organizers are employing ever more sophisticated data-driven strategies to shave split-seconds off lap times and provide a more thrilling spectacle for audiences.
In F1, telemetry has been in use since the 1980s to stream live data from the car to engineers in the pit lane. Thomas Mayer, COO of the Lotus F1 team told me “We are collecting and analyzing a lot of data – we’re not talking gigabytes or terabytes but petabytes.”
“Formula One has always been on the cutting edge of technological development so it was natural that data analysis would become a big thing for us. It saves us time and money … More