Attempting to video a backcountry drive in an old 911

I've been trying to capture the sound and view of driving my '85 Carrera around back-country roads here in central Texas. These clips came our better than expected, but I had to use the wide angle (.5:1) lens on my iphone rather than the 1:1 lens due to image stabilization problems with the latter. The sound includes too much airflow as I had a window open (but why wouldn't I on days like this!), but does capture the exhaust note suprisingly well. I'm running a test pipe and Dansk sport muffler. Phone on a RAM windshield mount. Processed with Adobe Rush. Critique or ideas for improvement appreciated.

Cool I like it!  The wide angel lens really adds to the sensation of speed  usually dash cam footage appears to be going slower than it bc actually is.

Nice job. Always amazed at what consumer electronics can do now. 

What generation iphone?

CrustyRedXpress said:

What generation iphone?

iPhone 11. 

Only thing I noticed missing was two or three unnecessary throttle blips as you went under the overpass....

Nice video otherwise.  Wish you had more hills, but then the wide angle lens flattens them out anyway.

Angle looks good, sound is good.  I would like to see either a bit more dash, or a bit less (just hood).

A view of some of the wheel is nice if you get into any oversteer / drift situations(!)

Needs more winding mountain roads... oh ... Texas  

In reply to travellering :

Yes, the transmission proves stubborn at times. I try to be extremely easy on it, so if it doesn't 'snick' right into gear, I wait a second, re-blip, and try again. At 120k miles, this 'old 915 tranny needs a gentle touch.

In reply to aircooled :

Sadly, I can do nothing about the mountain roads short of a career and geography change. Great points on dash and hood. I may try moving the camera mount to the rear or side glass to get more perspective. As for drifting, it's a ~200lb-ft engine sitting directly on top of fresh 280tw tires... so it's not much of a drift machine. My previous S2000 was much easier to get sideways.

I liked it but would like to hear more of the engine. I find it difficult and generally forget to turn the radio off. I have a great canyon run in CA, er down in MX, but forgot to turn the Kyuss off and did not want to get sued or whatever so I had to use crappy generic youtube music.

I have a gopro mount between the Cayman's seats and one just on the pass side of the rearview. Sound sucks on both if there was not music playing. At the time it was stock exhaust and very quiet.

My ideal, since the new exhaust, is to mount a cheaper/older gopro or even my old iphone 5s just above the tailpipes and sinc the audio over the windshield video. Maybe even a side of the rear bumper so you'd get the exhaust and see the front tire move.

ridgerunner914 if you car to take a look. I am no pro at the gopro.

Aircooled flat sixes winding out is the soundtrack to my dreams...

TheRev said:

In reply to aircooled :

.... As for drifting, it's a ~200lb-ft engine sitting directly on top of fresh 280tw tires... so it's not much of a drift machine. My previous S2000 was much easier to get sideways.

Let me introduce you to Trailing Throttle Oversteer (the original drift).  Get that thing in a nice corner with some power on and let off a bit.... it will slide!

You have inspired me to try and capture the sound of my engine though.  I put some headers and Dynomax mufflers on as a "summer exhaust" many years ago.   I could not bring myself to remove them.  A rather nice sound if I do say so myself.  I have some high quality mics at home from work I can use. I am thinking rolling down just the rear might be a good way to get engine but no wind (I don't think you have that option though)

Try turning off the motion stabilization of the camera.  I instantly knew you were filming on an iPhone from that video.  With it on you get the fake floaty feel to the video. You loose the feel of the cars handling. It can actually cause a bit of motion sickness for some people. It also masks how the car is driving and taking to the road.  
 

The problem is with it turned off you will need to deal with vibration of the camera as the car passes in and out of specific resonant frequencies. This is where a really good mount comes in. 

OK, yeah I see that now.  It looks like the camera is floating.  Nothing wrong with a bit of jiggle (snicker).   Here is a bit of a test video I shot with a GoPro mounted just below the rearview mirror.   Not high performance driving, but it does give you an idea of some of the mountain roads around me (this is just off of Mulholland Road).  You can see the shaking and it's not bad.  Also the view is a bit higher than yours, giving a bit more of a hood view (may not be possible in a 911).  I also use a mount sometimes that sits between the seats that give a view of the dash and a bit of the wheel.

What the auto stabilization does it try and hold the horizon stable and by doing so the hood moves. This is the floating effect as the camera is effectively remaining fixed and the car is moving. You want the opposite. You want the camera to be fixed to the car and have the horizon move in frame.