Track day windscreen phone mount recommendation needed

[green george]

I use my iPhone (5C) to control my Go Pro and the mount I currently use attaches to the windscreen with an adjustable arm which is quite long.  

I would like to us Harry's Laptimer App and need a mount which will allow a good view forwards.  

I have tried my existing mount and it set the phone too far away from the windscreen to get a good picture and I am struggling to allow of the angle of the windscreen.  The sucker is too large to fit to the scuttle top.  So all in all my existing mount is not suitable for using the camera to record forwards.

Can anyone recommend a suitable mount (as it is difficult to decide what will work relying on picture of the mounts in adverts)?

[Jonathan Kay]

One recommendation in this thread.

Jonathan

[Wrightpayne]

One of the Warks guys recommended an Arkon mount which stayed firmly attached to his carbon dash. It basically has 2 fingers top and bottom to clamp the phone.

Quite a lot of choice on ebay

Ian

[green george]

Thanks guys. Unfortunately a lot of the links in the attached thread were broken and there are so many Arkon and Herbert Richter mounts it is difficult to know which will work, without a specific model recommendation..

[Jonathan Kay]

You can probably find those links at 213-04.com.

Jonathan

[Mankee]

Check with your TDO/circuit that they'll be happy with a windscreen suction mount, as some won't.

[essIII]

I use the following Arkon one, stuck to my carbon dash. I don't use it on track days though - don't most TDOs insist on a more secure mounting mechanism than suction? 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Arkon-MG279-Windscreen-Dashboard-Suction/dp/B00I58VAZS?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

[green george]

Thanks Joanthan

[green george]

Thanks Mankee, will do.

[green george]

Hi esslll, where do you place it on the dash?  Do you have a picture? Looking at my dash it is pretty busy other than on the far left hand side.  

[essIII]

Erm, I have possibly the worst photo ever of it - you can just see about a quarter of the mount in the far left of this pic. It's angled toward the driver.

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll16/rich8778/20151217_183213_zpszyrs6yog.jpg

[green george]

That is perfect and answers my question, thank you.  I have a classic dashboard so don't have the luxury of space!  Also I want a mount I can use to film footage whilst using Harrys Lap Timer so unfortunately my search continues.  Very nice car though.

[DJ.]

I just wanted to add my experience. Goodwood definitely will only allow camera mounts that "bolt on", so other places may well not allow suction fittings.

Also, no lap timing is allowed on most track days, so if they catch you using an app for this, you might be asked to leave.

Duncan

[Mucus72]

Was talking about sat nav / phone mounts the other night with an engineering family member. He asked to see pictures of Caterham dashboards. After a cup of tea, which is all it ever takes, he had the solution. He asked what the poppers were for on top of the scuttle. I explained and he told me that these held the answer. Imagine a plinth and some duradot fasteners, the plinth over the top of the scuttle and then 90 degrees down parallel to the dash and there you have it. Mount sat nav on this.  Working on a prototype now. 

[Jonathan Kay]

Is that better than clamping on the bottom of the dash and working up? (But I have no interest in filming forwards.)

Jonathan

[Mucus72]

It's probably more sensible to start there for filming forwards. I'm not aware of any robust, simple, successful mounts from the bottom up. The lower day hoop rail doesn't, from memory, make it possible to clamp a bracket on does it?

[DJ.]

On my metric chassis, there is a spare steering column support on the tube and I made a bracket that locates in the tube and bolts through a small hole in the side of it. The mount then projects forward under the dash edge with a mount for satnav sticking up.

[Jonathan Kay]

The lower day hoop rail doesn't, from memory, make it possible to clamp a bracket on does it?

May not be the best starting point for filming forwards. But there has been some previous interest in clamping there to allow a 'phone to be used as a satnav, music box etc. Possibly in front of the gear lever in the dry. And a great 3D printing project.

Photos, please DJ.?

Jonathan

[Mucus72]

And whilst we wait for photos from DJ, I have been playing around with blatting nav software. I use Waze for day to day tin top nav and love it, but it's both online only and doesn't cater for itinerary planning. I guess this is a topic well worn out over the years, but I have had 100% joy with www.myrouteapp.com, the successor to Tyre, and Sygic, for sat nav. In addition to myrouteapp being web based (and google map overlay), and therefore ace to plan on Mac, PC or iPad, it also comes with a companion iOS app that in a single button press transfers web based saved routes directly over to the sygic app. It's genuinely impressive imho. 

[DJ.]

myrouteapp sounds interesting, I'll check that out . I've been using routeconverter which is java based on my Linux system.

Here are some pictures of the bracket I made:

Initially I had a 12V socket attached, but I have subsequently removed that one and put a double one on the bulkhead behind the battery. As it was angled down, the charger tended to drop out

The first photo shows the tube that fits into the column support tube. The threaded hole on the left takes a short bolt that secures it into the tube. The plate at the bottom has two threaded holes to fix the satnav bracket.

Below is the aluminium satnav bracket with cheap ebay tomtom mount bolted on.

This is a view of the satnav mount in situ:

And here is a view up under the dash, the round hole on the left goes through the LH Drive column mount.

I hope this is clear

 

Duncan

[Jonathan Kay]

Thank you very much.

Jonathan

[Mucus72]

This is great, thanks DJ.