The "Perfect Lap Project" was an idea I began tinkering with months ago and it didn't start with a race track. Originally I was just playing around with a datalogger system in my car. I would drive through canyon roads while my car's ECU data was tagged with GPS coordinates and an accelerometer. Afterwards the data was spit out in a .CSV file which I could bring into GIS to create some decent little maps. The first map I created you can see here:

It was a good first small step. From there I made more elaborate maps of the data and began to wonder if I could use GIS to predetermine the maximum speed through the turns of the canyon road. It seemed pretty easy to do and eventually it came down to knowing a turns radius. From there I figured it could be expanded with braking distances, acceleration and some standard car attributes to create a perfect lap around a track (or still a canyon if need be). 

That is where this project begins. I will be calculating turn radii, cornering speed, braking, acceleration, and many other aspects into a hypothetical perfect lap for my 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart. From there I will test them in the car to see just how accurate they are.

I will be starting out small scale, with a go-kart track in Riverside, CA. Twice a week they have track nights where regular cars use the track. Its small, relatively slow and will be a good first test. From there I will move to Willow Springs Raceway near Mojave, CA. And from there I plan to try the test out at Laguna Seca near Monterey, CA. Check back often for updates!