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Porsche Cayman GT4 Driver Installs Thermal Camera, Monitors Tire Temperature

A machine like the Porsche Cayman GT4 has plenty of performance menus that allow a driver to enjoy real-time data when at the track. But there's one thing it can't do, simply because it lacks the hardware and that's monitoring tire temperature. Well, a GT4 driver decided to take the matter into his own hands and installed a thermal camera on the car, aiming this at one of the front tires.
Porsche Cayman GT4 Driver Installs Thermal Camera 5 photos
Photo: Addicted To Track/YouTube
Porsche Cayman GT4 Driver Installs Therma CameraPorsche Cayman GT4 Driver Installs Therma CameraPorsche Cayman GT4 Driver Installs Therma CameraPorsche Cayman GT4 Driver Installs Therma Camera
The aficionado took the 385 hp Porscha to the Nurburgring (the GP track, not the Nordschleife) and started drawing conclusions based on the setup. For instance, he didn't have to wait for tire wear to tell him a different camber setup was required for circuit hooning

"The visualization of the temperatures give a good view on the camber setting. The tire wears out much more on the outside (so I'd need more camber for track driving), so it was interesting and partly surprising to see the temperature distribution," the aficioando explains.

While the car lover claims mounting the camera on the sportscar was the greatest challenge, he did have a few other tasks to handle, such as drop a few line codes into the whole setup.

"The cam is a MLX90640 (32x24 pixel, -40 to 300 degrees Celsius, 1 degree accuracy), connected to an Arduino ESP32 board. The temperature data is recorded to a micro SD card at 3 Hz. The software on the microcontroller is self-written on top of the cam library. On a PC, a self-written Python software converts the temperature data into pictures. The temperature color mapping is from the web. Then I use VirtualDub to make a video out of the pictures," we are being told.

As for the telemetry data talking about the Cayman GT4's lap, this is recorded through the vehicle's OBD port using an app (the Torque App on an Android phone) and then displayed using DashWare.

The man explains that the total cost of the said setup sits at under $100, with the camera obviously bringing most of the project's weight.

And you can check out the result in the clip below. Spoiler alert: be prepared for some spicy passing action.

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About the author: Andrei Tutu
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In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist.
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