Toyota Racing Teams Rev Up with Surface Pro
RAB Racing with Brack Maggard driver Alex Bowman checks results on TRD’s Windows 8 Trackside app.
So why Surface Pro?
The fast pace and practice time constraints on the track make TRD’s hardware choice just as important to the success of the Trackside app as the development of the app itself. TRD had to consider the many different factors that come into play when using devices on the track, like durability, performance, outdoor visibility, and easy portability, and found that Surface Pro delivers everything they required plus the fast and fluid interface that the racing teams needed.
TRD Trackside app on Windows 8 with Surface Pro.
With Surface Pro, the driver simply taps data into the Trackside app and passes it to the crew chief, who can quickly click in one of the Surface keyboard covers, push out the kickstand and use it like a laptop on the toolbox or team hauler. Veteran race car driver Kenny Wallace, who is closing in on 900 career NASCAR starts, shares his firsthand experience, “I’ve just come off a 200-mile-an-hour run. I’m strapped in, my adrenalin is pumping, and the car is being jacked up and down. I can’t be fumbling with a mouse and keyboard to tell my crew chief that we have to figure out why I’m losing a couple hundredths of a second in turn three.”
Wallace sees other teams at the track writing notes on paper and thinks it’s obsolete, “With Windows 8 and the TRD Trackside app, I have an advantage. I just tap on the Surface to tell my crew chief where I’m having performance issues – it only takes a second. Then view my timing and scoring against my competitors to see where I have to improve to get faster lap times on the track.”
We are so glad that Surface Pro has the durability and performance TRD needs on the race track!