Weather Station
 

What is the best. what do like and dislike.

Thanks

Re: Weather Station
 

They are all good but here are my recommendations:

For Trailer Stations it depends on what you need. Altalab is used by every top fuel and funny car team, the Performaire and Computech are popular with sportsman racers. I like a display unit for ease of use, the Peformaire has one as does the Altalab. Prices start at around $1600.

If contingency is important then it will be impossible to beat the Performaire weather stations with huge payouts for NHRA wins and runner ups.

For Hand Held then there is no clear winner, it depends on what you need. Computech and Performaire Eclipse all work well and are accurate. Altronics just announced that the Eclipse has a pop up Wind Meter that will tell you the wind speed and gusts as an option! The Performaire Eclipse has rechargable batteries, and 120 volt power supply, and a better outside but it is $130 more than the rest. A neat little handheld we sell is the Kestrel 4000 and 4250 models. These even have an integrated wind meter for under $249.

I have them all in stock, call if you have specific questions.

Don Higgins
309-208-1486

Re: Weather Station
 

For weather stations, my recommendations are as follows:

1. Nielsen-Kellerman Company - Kestrel 4000 Pocket Weather Tracker - it can be also connected to your PC or laptop
http://www.ambientweather.com/ke40hawestgr.html
http://www.ambientweather.com/ke40coin.html

2. Davis Instruments - Perception II - great weather station and widely used by many racers.
http://www.davisnet.com/weather/prod...asp?pnum=07400
http://www.davisnet.com/product_docu.../apnote_14.pdf

For software, I use Patrick Hale's Density program.
http://www.quarterjr.com/density.htm

Re: Weather Station
 

I think the computech is the best. Call Jay at Computech and tell him Nitro Joe sent you. He has the best deal and thats all you need just that program.

Computech Hot line: 1-800-870-8383

www.computechracing.com
"Official Weather Station of NJDRS"

Re: Weather Station
 

In 15 years I have never commented on a forum to try to promote or argue about any of my products and I am not going to start now.

But I feel that it is important to bring something to the attention of the racers so they can make a more educated decision. Certain cheaper priced handheld devices are not licensed by my patent and calculate a standard aviation "textbook" Density Altitude. These units are made for various uses such as hiking, mountain climbing, biking, etc and work great for that. Internal combustion engines do not care about the true density of the air. Racers are not trying to calculate how much lift can be generated on the wing of an airplane, they are trying to determine the effect the available atmosphere will have on the performance of a motor. Engines burn OXYGEN with fuel. The "density altitude" and correction factors calculated in a racing weather stations measure available OXYGEN and WATER content. Water content contributes to the air's density or weight, but does not add to the performance, and can adversely effect performance. These differences may be subtle, especially when the atmosphere changes slightly, but then again, how many times have you lost by less then 0.01?

So before purchasing something that is not designed for you application you might more wisely spend a little more and get something that will work for you.

Fred Bartoli

Re: Weather Station
 

Next time you are at a National Event, take a look and see what's on top of all the Pro rigs... 9 out of 10 is a Computech RaceAir.

Re: Weather Station
 

?

That's not what I normally see. Walk the entire Pro Pit area and count again. They build a great weather station but they are not the most prevelant weather station.

Now walk the Sportsman pit area and try that count.

Re: Weather Station
 

Let me clarify. Out of the top 15 in Pro Stock this year, 11 use Computech. I havent been in the Top Fool pits since I was 8 years old so I don't what's on their rigs.... But I do know Team Kalitta and Prudhomme also use Computech.
I would say most people on this board are going to look and see what the Pro Stock boys are using long before (if ever) they check to see what John Force uses.

Re: Weather Station
 

Wrong.

I write software for Prudhomme and they have ALWAYS used Altalab, same with Kalitta.

Force also uses Altalab.

I have sold Pro Stock teams weather stations for years, and they are split between both of those weather stations. They love Computech's graphing program and ease of use, they just wish they interfaced with RacePak like Altalab does.


All the Top Fuel and Funny Car Teams, as well as most Pro Mods, Alcohol Dragster and Funny Cars, and Comp Eliminator racers use Altalab.

Most sportsman racers use Performaire, Altalab, Computech and Tag systems, split about evenly on hand helds. Trailer Stations are Performaire, Altalab, and Computech.

All the weather station companies build great weather stations, and since Biondo and I sell most of the weather equipment we have a pretty good idea what works.

Re: Weather Station
 

[QUOTE=crewchiefpro;50593]Wrong.

I write software for Prudhomme and they have ALWAYS used Altalab, same with Kalitta.

I have sold Pro Stock teams weather stations for years, and they are split between both of those weather stations.

All the Top Fuel and Funny Car Teams, as well as most Pro Mods, Alcohol Dragster and Funny Cars, and Comp Eliminator racers use Altalab.

Chief,

you might want to check this again. I spend alot of time in the fuel pits. love nitro.

Fred

Re: Weather Station
 

[QUOTE=fredjohnston;50595]
Check it again? I spend time in the Nitro pits also, since several use my Nitro Tune Up Software which interfaces with all Trailer Stations ( except Tag ). I also sell most of them their weather stations. I have not seen one top fuel or funny car team with anything other than the Altalab if they have a trailer station. Most teams have 2 of them.

Take a walk at the Winternats and do a count.

I spend 90% of my time with sportsman racers, because that is what I am. Sportsman racers who have trailer stations use Peformaire, Altalab then Computech. There is no wrong answer here folks, they all make great weather stations.

I spend the rest in the Top Fuel and Funny Car pits because they are also my customers. Hot Rod Fuller, Larry Dixon, Mike Ashley, Morgan Lucas and more all use my stuff.

Re: Weather Station
 

They're all good.... make sure you know how to use it properly

Merry Christmas

Re: Weather Station
 

Just want to say that I have had a Performaire 2 for several years and I have just purchased a Performaire Trailer System from Fred at Altronics, Inc. I was most happy with the price that Fred quoted me, he also gave me a previous customer discount that was an added incentive. I couldn't ask for better service.

I am sure all the major brand weather stations will do the job, and agree that the number one priority is learning how to use and download correct data.

Being comfortable with your merchant is another big plus too me.

R J Sledge

Re: Weather Station
 

- arguing over who's got what is kinda pointless.
- Mr. Bartoli is a smart man. He wrote a Weather Station piece for my Guide to Bracket Racing many, many years ago. Still much appreciated, Fred!
- I use a Computech RaceAir Pro which I bought through Biondo Racing Products.

That being said, I may catch some grief over what I'm about to say for a number of reasons...
Any weather station will do pretty well by you. They are, however, what I would refer to as 'coarse adjustment'. No matter how good the weather station or predictor, there are still going to be variables uncounted for. Use your weather station to put you in the ballpark (and when I say ballpark, I don't mean a big ballpark... weather stations DO do a great job!), and then most importantly, watch what is actually happening on the track before you run.

Real world example: One year at Norwalk, we're all hanging out in the staging lanes, comparing notes. A bunch of us all had different weather stations, which each agreed on predicting our Stockers to run .02 slow. I went to the head of the lanes to watch Hot Rod. Now, figuring that Joe Average Hot Rod racer is set up for an .88, you would expect to see a lot of numbers from .89 to .92, given a margin of error. Most of the runs were in the .94-.98 range! My opponent dialed up .03 from qualifying... and I knew I had won the round.

The thing is, racing has gotten to a level today where you can have the best predictor in the world. If you run dead-on with an 8... in some cases you've left the door open! Dial-in and finish line strategies and abilities are more important today. You'll need them, the weather station of your choice, (plus a few more tools in your bag that I won't get into here) to find your way to the winner's circle today.

We are lucky to have so many racer-based weather station companies. You probably can't go wrong in supporting any one of them.

Re: Weather Station
 

Exactly correct. Now you know why the iCard technology in our software is so important. We study what each class does each day, this tells us exactly what to expect for our class.

It is amazing to see what time of day the average reaction times change also.

Re: Weather Station
 

It seems that the two weather stations that we use handle ?normal?, everyday conditions well. The weather station that accurately predicts the night time, dewy, thick air would be the one to get. Why do those conditions cause the weather stations to become inaccurate? Late night at Columbus, Indy, etc. you add at least 5 to 15+ to the prediction.

Re: Weather Station
 

If contingency payments are a consideration in your choice of product, as they should be, read the fine print carefully before buying.
Not all weather stations are created equal in that area.
Don't make a big mistake.

Re: Weather Station
 

This is so true. This stuff is below my budget for the most part, but if i end up running more than a national or two a year I am definately buying one.

I was in the lanes in Seattle this year looking at Biondo's Camaro. He has a list of everyones name and number and what their 1000 foot times are on every pass.

He writes them down in real time from the back of the lanes. So he knows how much everyones cars are changing, what all of your runs are, and he can probably dial your car about as good as you can.

You notice how it seems like ALL the hitters are always in the back of the lanes? Just another example of that.

Re: Weather Station
 

"He writes them down in real time from the back of the lanes. So he knows how much everyones cars are changing, what all of your runs are, and he can probably dial your car about as good as you can.
You notice how it seems like ALL the hitters are always in the back of the lanes? Just another example of that."

Peter once told me that if your not racing, you should be in the lanes watching racing.

Gary Federico
S/St #11