Stella III what do you guys think?

[WALSHMOTORSPORTS]

https://youtu.be/QFRGqQMBZTs
This is a link to the Stella tracker that I have used during the last 2 SCORE races. At first we were thinking well here comes another “fee” for what? Who knows.....well let me tell you. Stella I’m my teams eyes as well as who ever we talk with think it’s pretty darn cool. Watch the YouTube video, this thing warns a slower car when you are approaching and he presses a button to notify you he will move over at the first available place.
It will give u a warning if there is a stopped car on course. If you stop to help they honor the time you were down. Also gives u I think it’s 100 meters notice of speed zones too. I’m sure I’ve missed some of its other features but I like it. I’ve been able to move over for faster cars so far during the 1000 and the SanFelipe 250 with no bumper damage front and rear.
I just think it’s nice to post something that is a great addition to our racing scene. I do believe BITD and Norra uses it as well.
What do others think?

 

[JDDurfey]

NORRA uses RacingTrax and I am 99.9% sure BITD does as well. NORRA used Stella in the past, but not anymore.

 

[jeff]

RacingTrax has some features that make it a better device for what we do. The ability to send text messages from your phone through the RacingTrax via Satellite to any phone number on earth is pretty fantastic. Having used both the Stella and RacingTrax units I think RacingTrax is currently in the lead. I can confirm that NORRA did use RacingTrax this year (2018) and for the most part it was a better system than the Stella system we used last year.

Aloha

 

[vegasloki]

BITD uses RacingTrax. This entire class of devices is great for desert racing regardless of the vendor.

 

[Oscaracing]

the new stella evo has many new things including satellite messages and much more we will see it from baja 500

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[BrentB]

Stella is night and day better than Racing Trax as device for a tracker/race organization. Stella’s ability to track and regulate infractions, speed/vcp/course cutting has been phenomenal. Racing trax has been a complete joke, at NORRA this year and at all BITD events, it on par with the last crap that BITD used. Such a bummer that NORRA switched to racing trax this year, hope they learned their lesson.

Racing trax or (AlertTrax) the same device for chase tracking and coms is a decent unit and price for what it does, nowhere near the level of EyeOnEarth of years ago but also fraction of the cost. Have used them all, been at the forefront of the development of some, for an every team device the TRAX units are very good, but they are incapable of being an enforcer/tracker for race organizations. That is where Stella comes in. It is a great device for race organizations but isn’t made to be a multiple use device, ie. chase tracker/comms.

Flame away David but NORRA was the proof.

 

[BrentB]

RacingTrax has some features that make it a better device for what we do. The ability to send text messages from your phone through the RacingTrax via Satellite to any phone number on earth is pretty fantastic. Having used both the Stella and RacingTrax units I think RacingTrax is currently in the lead. I can confirm that NORRA did use RacingTrax this year (2018) and for the most part it was a better system than the Stella system we used last year.

Aloha

How was it better this year, what were the issues with Stella in 2017?

I have yet to have an issue with Stella in any Score or NORRA race.

 

[dhjeepgeek]

Racing Trax work mostley great at NORRA. Had some issues with the speed zone speed showing up on some units, they swapped mine out in San Felipe and it worked great otherwise, I did see alot of broke down cars not showing up on the alert. Some indicated their unit wasnt working. The request to pass is nice. unless the car is so far back I couldn't see them. Most of the time it work for me to pass, only had one guy rabbit. eventually caught him. They had their own issues with Mexican customs at the border. I can bet they will work that out in the future. The guy from Race Trax who gave the little speach was a little tightly wound. Right on with his statements, If your caught get out of the way, Dont be a d-ick. Just didnt expect to hear it from the nurdy looking computer guy.

 

[Aflac]

Racing Trax at NORRA sucked balls...I hope they go back to Stella for 2019

 

[swiftracing5]

From the first SCORE race with Stella to San Felipe this year it has gotten a lot better. Obviously there will always be people who do not use it, but for us who run in mixed traffic all day it is nice when people use it and obey it.

I don't have experience with RacingTrax but figure it is right up there.

 

[jeff]

I know that for the 2018 NORRA 1000 RacingTrax claimed to have an issue with Mexico Customs. A bunch of their primary units never made it to Ensenada like they had planned and some of the units racers were using were the older "backup" devices. That may (or may not) have been the reason for the lower reliability for this race. One thing that didn't make sense about that excuse is why would RacingTrax ship the units to Mexico when they could haul them across the border themselves?

I did talk to more than one 2018 NORRA team that said their RacingTrax unit wasn't operating properly. The worst damage I saw was a Bronco team I talked to in La Paz after they had been punted while stopped. The extensive damage to their vehicle was caused by a racer with a unit that wasn't operating correctly but I attribute that more to human error than the tracker. If you can't see the front of your own car maybe it's time slow down a little? This isn't a SCORE race, it's a NORRA Rally.

My experience last near (2017 NORRA 1000) with the Stella wasn't so good. I talked to 10+ teams last year that had Stella devices that malfunctioned at some point during the race. I had extremely bad luck and on the 3rd unit we finally got one that mostly worked. We went 2 days with no Stella warnings or pass notifications but the device did keep track of our route for scoring purposes.

Neither system is perfect but given the features of one over the other I prefer the RacingTrax. The ability to send and receive text messages from anywhere with a clear view of the sky is amazing. If you haven't used that feature you need to figure it out and take advantage of it next time. The RacingTrax tracking website also worked great and let our team and everyone at home see where both cars were on the race course at all times. The Stella web tracking system did not work as well last year (2017) but I imagine with time Stella will improve that aspect of their service as well.

Aloha

 

[rboyer]

Stella is great used it all last year, they made a couple changes, I think as all things will even get more improved. We never missed a thing 1134 miles in the 1000. Hell it even gave me credit time, I stopped for a person got ran over by a motorcycle., we directed the first aid to the down person. But would still like to go back to the stub can ticket container. Ha Joke for you old-timers.

 

[Zambo]

I know that for the 2018 NORRA 1000 RacingTrax claimed to have an issue with Mexico Customs. A bunch of their primary units never made it to Ensenada like they had planned and some of the units racers were using were the older "backup" devices. That may (or may not) have been the reason for the lower reliability for this race. One thing that didn't make sense about that excuse is why would RacingTrax ship the units to Mexico when they could haul them across the border themselves?


Aloha

I think that the customs problem was at the Canadian/US border up north. The units are made in Canada I believe. The were being shipped to the states for ground transport into Mexico.

 

[vegasloki]

I think that the customs problem was at the Canadian/US border up north. The units are made in Canada I believe. The were being shipped to the states for ground transport into Mexico.

It's a Canadian company, ROM Communications in Kelowna, BC. ROM Communications Inc. They have several industrial tracking applications/packages. Fleet management, trucking, maritime. They know their shirt from Shinola. Racing is a small part of what they do. David Clay and the bunch from St George are the US race operations. It's likely they could have a Canuk or two down as well for deeper tech support. They did that when they launched the AlertTrax for cars and trucks at V2R last year. The Canukians I met were very sharp, they could speak in zeros and ones...

 

[RedRide]

Stella is night and day better than Racing Trax as device for a tracker/race organization. Stella’s ability to track and regulate infractions, speed/vcp/course cutting has been phenomenal. Racing trax has been a complete joke, at NORRA this year and at all BITD events, it on par with the last crap that BITD used. Such a bummer that NORRA switched to racing trax this year, hope they learned their lesson.

Racing trax or (AlertTrax) the same device for chase tracking and coms is a decent unit and price for what it does, nowhere near the level of EyeOnEarth of years ago but also fraction of the cost. Have used them all, been at the forefront of the development of some, for an every team device the TRAX units are very good, but they are incapable of being an enforcer/tracker for race organizations. That is where Stella comes in. It is a great device for race organizations but isn’t made to be a multiple use device, ie. chase tracker/comms.

Flame away David but NORRA was the proof.

I agree. Stella is legit with many more in car racing features (trip, speed zones, etc) Racing trax had very in car feedback. Not sure about the we tracking features though.


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[Zambo]

There are two parts to the racing trax system, the racing trax gray box which does the tracking, and the alert trax which is the car to car device with the LEDs. WITHOUT QUESTION, the AlertTrax did a better job than the Stella of warning us of stuck and broken down cars. Plenty of advanced warning compared to the Stella, which would constantly tell us last year that we had just passed a stopped car 4 seconds ago. We had zero issues with the AlertTrax push-to-pass feature. The only issue we had was that some of the speed zones were off. Oh, and BTW I didn't have to buy a $200 bracket and antenna for it.

 

[Chainguide]

as a moto racer I have only had experience with the Stella since it was first introduced at SCORE. I feel it works fairly well if you remember to watch and learn the video first. My main complaint comes from the way it is constructed. It appears that the case was made from a 3D printer and I have seen several of them starting to come apart. That is why we criss cross several heavy duty zip ties to the mount.

 

[johndjmix]

Have used both, both seem to have their advantages. The messaging on the racing trax unit is awesome. The info display on the Stella is awesome.

Wish we had a unit that had both of those features.

The push to pass works well when people actually use / listen to it!

That all said I know David seriously wants to make the best unit out there so instead of saying “this unit sucks” etc, give the guy suggestions! We have someone that will do exactly what we all want, let’s take advantage of that!

I started to discuss (but got busy) last year of getting racingtrax to talk to leadnav so that the location data could be exchanged between them allowing you to track your vehicle in leadnav remotely without having to pay for a sat modem on the race vehicle. If those 2 guys could work together we would have a great system!

—John


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