So the above improvement to our video came on a third visit to Pole Position in Syracuse (for reference, here is the earlier version we did).

Logan and I learned a little bit from our mistakes. Our biggest mistake was thinking that we could go full speed on a go-kart capable of 45 mph and think we'd get stable footage. That resulted in the mess you saw in the draft version of the project. Sorry for anyone that vomited watching that.

This time around, we asked the folks at the place to keep the speed limiters on (where they remotely slow down the go-karts when people are pulling in and out) and we drove an entire lap that way, speeding it up in software to achieve the effect of speed. It seems to have more or less solved the problem, at least for the two of us.

We also wanted to work a bit of natural sound in - for the shots along the track you can hear that from the cameras. Unfortunately, it's not so much there for the driving shots. The draft version had too much wind noise, and so on a recommendation from the wonderful Doug Quin, we strapped a Tascam recorder behind the seat where rushing wind would be less of an issue. However, pilot error meant that when I thought I was recording, I actually wasn't and unfortunately didn't get the audio. Twice. If you look down during the driving segments, you'll see a recorder covered in gaffer's tape strapped onto the vehicle, though.

We added some titles to let people know where they were, but unfortunately it looks like the Mettle software to straighten those out aren't in the Innovation Lab computers (soon maybe?) - the titles are short, though, so it's not too "bendy" as you'd expect.

We also learned the importance of backups. On each visit, something went wrong, from not hitting the right button to start recording, to the 3D printed GoPro rigs not ever lining up / synching properly for us, to a GoPro Omni rig simply failing on us for no apparent reason (Rig #1, if anyone's thinking about using it). Luckily going three times, and having a Samsung Gear 360 as backup for some footage saved the day and allowed us to compensate for these problems.

Certainly it seems to be better than the draft version, but lesson learned here - capturing motion in 360 is very, very, very hard. Hope y'all enjoy the video.