Hi guys! What you think about this idea?

[alex.from.spec]

Hi everyone!

 

I want to share with you an ideal my friend and I had and get your opinions. We are building a web base application where people can create a profiles for their cars and keep track of the modifications done on it. It will be a detailed and technical profile aim towards more advance level car enthusiasts.

 

This idea occurred when my friend was working on his engine and ran into trouble. He needed his car to drive to work the next day but couldn't find any solutions immediately. He wished he could find someone with the same engine (who probably experienced same issue before) and ask for help. Has this happened to anyone here?

 

By building this app we want to:

 

1. Better sharing/interaction between users. Since they have a standardized profile, they can search specifically for other users that has the same parts/modifications.

2. Help users better keep track of their modifications, (e.g parts, dates, price, etc)

3. Simply to just show off your cars!

 

Since this product's aim is to help car enthusiasts, I want to know what you guys think of it? Your feedback will help us build a better product! We want to improve your experience when working on your cars. Thank you so much for your time and have a good day!

 

Cheers,

 

Alex

[MHKflyer52]

Hello Alex,

Seems to be a good idea if it is simple and easy but a lot of people when prepping their car keep a log as to what they do so they have a base point to reset to if necessary.

Most racers will help someone to a certain point with setup and what parts work and don't work but will usually only suggest certain setting as a base line and tend to keep their setups to themselves as a competitive edge especially in cars that tend to have class limits as to what can be modified or changed to improve the performance of the vehicle.

As an example I have always kept a note book with information such as tire pressures and spring rates and shock settings and roll bar settings for different tracks and courses on each of the cars that I have and have had over the years. I also find that these note books (now electronic) also come in handy for tracking expenses even for my daily drivers and even have an app on my phone which lets me input all sorts of information from parts to settings to what type of fuel and where I have purchased those items for later reference.

The app I use on my phone for tracking general things is call ACAR and can be downloaded from http://www.zonewalker.com/acar. It is actually fairly simple and very easy to use and even provides charts and statistics and predictions. The electronic note books that I have are basically an Excel Spread sheet setup for each car that I have and have the basic settings inputted so that when I am tinkering with anything like timing or fuel settings I know where to set it back if I need to because something I tried did not work or did not help in the performance of the vehicle. Main thing one has to remember is to make sure that you input the changes into the spread sheet or on note paper so the setting are know and can be set back to the original or a know working setting when things go wrong or just don't work and yes I have forgotten to write down what I adjusted and have had to go back and set settings back to the last known good setting and due over what I was doing or what adjustments I have made so that I know the settings.

Good luck with your project.

:driving:

[alex.from.spec]

Hi Martin!

 

Thank you so much for your reply, it's one of the more in depth and useful responds we've received so far and we really appreciate your input.

 

You brought up two very good points: Keeping track of your car's settings for track days and keeping that information private.

 

Actually, our site will let you keep track of your modifications, as well as a record of your settings as well so you can save these information for reference in the future. Regarding privacy, we understand that's a big concern among racers to keep that information secret. So we will have a flexible privacy setting to let you choose what to share and what not to share.

 

Our site is more of an tracking tool for your mods and settings and not so much a performance analysis app. For example I saw in your profile's "visitor message" section:

 

I'm interested to get more info on your car. I like the workmanship shown in your photos, and like the choice of motor. I'm curious to know a little bit about the current condition.

 

in this case, you can simply send him a link to your profile on our site, and he will able to see all the works, info, pictures of your car. It makes sharing much more simpler and easier.

 

I've attached some screenshots of our site (still work in progress) to give you a better picture and hope you like them. Let me know what you think : ) We are also doing a survey to gather more information. It's a short survey and all information will be kept confidential. Your help and time is greatly appreciated.

 

Survey --> http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/382B9H9

 

Thank you again Martin and look forward to hearing from you!

 

Cheers,

 

Alex

 

 

 

[MHKflyer52]

Hi Alex,

First as I said in the previous post seems to be a good idea if it is simple and easy which it looks like it might be from the screen shots you posted.

 

On a side note I like the Miata in the back round photos and would like to have the hard top for my 96 as it matches the color.

 

Would the end user have the ability to set the back round photo to one of their chose or would that not be an option as I would think that would make it more personalized for the end user and type of vehicle if it is available.

Also what is the projected price point of the program if an end user wishes to use what your developing?

Would there be a pro version available say for a business?

Would the information be stored on your site or on the users hard drive or both and what security for that information would be afforded to the end user?

These are just some of the things that come to mind for me and would most likely also be of similar questions for others who might like to use your program once it is available.

Again I think it seems to be a good idea and I would even consider it from what I have seen.

:driving:

[alex.from.spec]

Hi Martin!

 

Good questions!

 

Yes, the users can set pictures of their cars as background. In fact that was the original idea, their car pictures will play as a sideshow in the background (hopefully that won't be too distracting )

 

So far we are absolutely focused on making the best experience possible for the users. So we are still in discussion of the charging plan. We will probably have free accounts for up to three car profiles, and a small charge on pro accounts.

 

The information will be stored online, user can download them (i.e. pdf, spreadsheet) if they choose. This feature will appear on a later version.

 

Regarding security, we are still working on it so I don't really have an specific answer for you now. In terms of security, other than personal information, do you consider the car parts information a security threat? (Not the location, license plate etc, but the parts details)

 

Hopefully that answers your questions. I send you an email with my contact info, feel free to contact me.

 

**Side note: The miata is actually own by Ken from Garagestar.com. It's one of the best miatas in the region....feel free to drop by if you are in North California and mention SPEC!

[MHKflyer52]

Hi Alex,

Will do and I will check out your site.

:driving: