Big Data Wins Big!!

Have just read a very interesting item on Red Bull racing – How an upstart came to dominate Formula 1 with superfast internet and tons of data
http://qz.com/131429

It seems, it takes 100 gigabytes of data to win a race – each car is fitted with around 100 sensors throughout the car. Data from each race arrives in “real time,” at the team’s computer centre in the UK during the race allowing instant decision making and adjustment.

It is interesting to contrast this with an item in the Herald today http://nzh.tw/11134945
about local lad Asim Khan who ran Oracle Racing’s database that fed “live” performance data to the crew and sent Team New Zealand home empty handed.

It seems the 300 odd sensors on the boat allowed the speed with which performance data was conveyed and analysed to be done in real time – 3000 variables running about 10 times a second – measuring everything from strain on the mast to angle sensors on the wing sail that monitor the effectiveness of each adjustment.

See the correlation?