Hi there!

My name is Tim, I’m a software developer and creator of things.

Recent Projects

Get In Touch

TCR Style Button Box

A Golf/Audi inspired steering wheel mounted button box.

PitToCar Mobile App

Send concise alerts to your driver from the pit wall.

CAN Bus IO Expander

A central hub for outputting buttons/switches/sensors to CAN.

CAN Bus Display

Full colour daylight readable 5″ CAN ready display.

Sim Button Plate

Fully featured BU0836A based button plate.

Starlet GT Track Car

The never ending project that mostly collects dust.

TCR Style Button Box

I’d previously put quite a lot of time into a button plate for my track car, but as my requirements shifted, I decided to update it. With a nod towards the button boxes you normally find in VAG TCR cars, I designed my own.

The button box is made up of the following:

8 Otto P9 Buttons
2 Grayhill 56DP 12 Position Switches
SLA 3D Printed Potting Backshells
Custom Resistor Ladder PCBs for the Rotary Switches
Custom Breakout PCB for the AS210-35PA connector
ABS FDM 3D Printed Enclosure
3MM Carbon Fibre Plate

All the IO is sent out over CAN via my CAN BUS IO Expander. I have future plans to implement native CAN, and RGB backlit controls.

PitToCar Mobile App

PitToCar and it’s sister app PitToCar Rx were born for use during the 2019 Race of Remembrance at Anglesey Circuit, and used in lieu of a traditional radio comms system.

The idea was simple, one device in the pit lane, the other securely mounted in our Citroen C1 Cup Car. Concise, sometimes comedic messages could then be relayed to the driver without needing expensive radio comms for the 4 driver team.

The app worked with success, and was extended to be made more user friendly and Play Store compatible.

From a technical perspective, it is a basic Java based Android application, which sends and receives messages to a Google Firestore. The main app produces a GUID based QR code, and once the sister app scans said QR code, they are paired and messages can be sent.

CAN Bus IO Expander

I’d been sitting on this idea for a while, I uploaded a proof of concept video to YouTube back in 2020. It now lives as a thing, and relays the majority of my car’s chassis based I/O to the relevant onboard controller (ECU, PMU, Dash).

It’s Teensy 3.2 based, and uses a SN65 CAN transceiver, Polulo Buck Converter, and an AS214-35PN connector. I designed the PCB it sits on using EasyEDA, and had JLCPCB produce/assemble it for me.

The enclosure is another self designed piece and was printed at home using ABS filament on my personal FDM printer. It also has a 3MM carbon lid, which I also designed, produced the CAM for, and cut at home on my CNC router.

It is programmed using the Arduino IDE, and is capable of up to 16 analog inputs, and/or up to 28 digital inputs/outputs. I currently use it for my steering wheel controls, a conventional switch panel, and the car’s fuel level. It also drives the RGB LEDs found on the aforementioned switch panel.

CAN BUS Display

This is/was my first motorsport inspired electronics project. I took inspiration from a sim racing project (SimHub), which used Nextion displays to output sim racing telemetry streams.

After I produced a proof of concept with a Nextion display, it was apparent it just wouldn’t be bright enough to use in direct sunlight, or any sunlight at all. I switched my project to a 4D systems display which at 820 cd/m2 has proven more than capable in direct sunlight.

I combined the display with a Teensy 3.2, SN65 CAN transceiver, MTK3339 GPS module, 16 x WS282B LEDs, and a Polulo Buck Converter. The PCB found in this project was my first, designed using Fritzing and produced by OSH Park. A proud moment 5 years ago, not pretty, but continues to work to this day.

The enclosure is another self designed piece and was printed at home using ABS filament on my personal FDM printer. It also has a 2MM carbon lid, which I also designed, produced the CAM for, and cut at home on my CNC router.

It is programmed using the Arduino IDE, and is currently configured to communicate with the DTA Fast family of ECUs. In it’s first iteration I added some I/O for buttons, and analogue inputs. But I/O is now handled by my IO expander, allowing the dash to be paged, and receive other analogue inputs via CAN.

Sim Racing Steering Wheel Button Plate

Like many, I picked up the hobby of sim racing during 2020. Back then I had some quite basic equipment including an old Logitech G25 steering wheel. I slowly improved my sim rig to include a direct drive wheel base, and decided I would make my own steering wheel for it.

I’ve used the wheel regularly since, completing ~ 5000 virtual ‘race’ laps, including numerous endurance races, and even the odd win. I suspect the true number of laps completed has to be in the tens of thousands, it has proven to be robust and very reliable.

The wheel features the following:

9 x NKK Switches
2 x CTS288 Encoders
2 x TURN Paddle Shifters
2 x Paddle Clutches with adjustable bite point
1 x Funky Switch
1 x Leo Bodnar BU0836A

The button plate is currently mounted to a SimCore rim, but is largely universal and was originally fitted to a Motomec D shaped wheel. The majority of parts are self designed, and either cut or printed in house. I am a member of the TURN Racing discord community where people share models for others to use, and I’ve remixed both sets of paddles to suit my needs.

Toyota Starlet GT Turbo Track Car

2023 marks ten years of ownership, and ten years of tinkering. Like many project cars it has spent more time in bits than it has being used. But I get just as much joy from creating, pretengineering, and tinkering than I do driving, so it not moving isn’t the end of the world.

The vast majority of projects you see on this page live in or on this car, along with countless others I’ve not shared. It’s an evolving project, and one that I’m immensely proud of. Of all the changes and modifications made to the car, the only one I didn’t do myself is the roll cage. I can’t weld.. yet!

I’ve re-wired the car using motorsport wiring techniques and connectors. Plumbed the cars fuel, coolant, oil, and hydraulic systems. Designed numerous brackets, panels, mounts, etc and either made them myself, or had them made for me.

I’ve driven around the Nordschleife in my others cars, but never this one. It’s my dream to do so.