Hi all,

From time to time I go driving with other guys in a group of exotic car owners (mainly Lambos and Astons). For a while I've been looking for the best way to capture video of our drives. At first I tried a conventional handheld camcorder with a suction cup camera mount. That didn't work too well because the camera is not designed for the vibration of a car dash and, as a result, the video was really choppy.

Over the holidays I received a Swann Freestyle HD camera, which was developed to compete with the GoPro line. One thing I really like about the Swann Freestyle is that it has a threaded opening at the bottom of the camera and therefore can also be directly mounted on a suction cup camera mount. Unfortunately, I got really bad audio feedback whenever I used the Swann camera in the form of a high-pitched scratching noise. After doing some research, it appears that this is a common problem, at least when the Swann camera is used as a dash cam.

I recently purchased the GoPro Hero 2, Motorsports edition and it looks like the third time's the charm. Attached are images of the set up. As you can see from the first pic, the camera fits perfectly on the facia above the sat nav door. The camera is secured in a clear plastic housing (open in the back to be able to capture audio). I tried this configuration with the suction cup mount that came with the camera but it turned out to be too tall for the rakish windshield. Next, I tried a low-profile suction cup camera mount ("Fat Gecko Stealth Mount") and a small camera mount adapter from GoPro. That set up worked perfectly and is shown in the first pic.

The GoPro camera seems to work really well in this application. While the audio is still not perfect (a bit of a high-pitched ringing can be heard as the rpms increase), it's a lot better than the Swann Freestyle. I also purchased the GoPro LCD BacPac, which attaches to the back of the camera. I used the LCD to line up the camera before shooting. Specifically, I attached the LCD to the camera, put the camera inside its housing, aligned the housing so the camera is capturing what I want, removed the camera from the housing, removed the LCD from the camera, and replaced the camera in the housing. Although you can leave the LCD attached to the camera when in use (there is a housing adapter for this), it adds both size and weight to the unit and also burns more battery power.

So, to summarize, the GoPro Hero 2 with a suction cup mount seems like a good way to go if you want to capture video in an Aston, at least when you have the glossy piano black facia. In case anyone is wondering, I have no affiliation with GoPro. I just wanted to share my experience in case anyone else would like to capture video in their Aston.

 

How is the sound quality ( exhaust note) I tried one before and the sound was really low.

Maybe mine is diferent since yours is the HD one, mine is the early one.

 

The exhaust sound is not bad. Next time I go for a spirited drive I'll remove the rear shelf cover to bring the sound of the exhaust into the cabin.

 

ChaseCam DIVA for me have one for track use and it fits well on the piano fascia as above.

 

I had bad sound quality too, but I left the closed case on it.

I found the nav cover would flip up on me under braking etc. on the window I could see all the wires in the glass.

Am I the only person that finds the controls on the GoPro ponderous? I hate coming off the track to find it was not on.

I have started using my iPhone on a suction cup cradle.

 

Yes the go pro is 0 user friendly.

 

Surprised to hear that you guys find the camera hard to use. I think it's pretty straightforward once you know what the two buttons do.

What I didn't mention is that the camera can also be mounted to the windshield or rear glass upside down and you can capture video in an inverted mode so there is no need to invert the video with an editing program.

 

I also purchased a Hero2 Motorsports and mounted it on on the rear glass upside down and operate in the inverted mode. The video quality is great even at night.

Racer_X, did you purchase another casing with open in the back for sound capturing? The waterproof casing came with the package is great but almost sound proof too.

 

Mine came with a waterproof rear door and one with large openingd in it to let sound in. You can see the rectangular openings in my first pic.

 

Found the cover in the box. Thanks! :P

 

GoPro's are good.
If you want something a bit smaller and less expensive, a lot of my M/C buddies use Countour lipstick cams.
http://contour.com/products