The old Garmin Virb camera batteries are dying and replacements are difficult to get. Any recommendations for a mid-range cost for a formula car?
Timely post. I 've used many different cameras for racing over the years. The Goodwood Revival requires that all cars have a camera, so for racing my Formula Junior I borrowed my grandson’s GoPro13 Black, which I outfitted with a 128 Gb microSD card. That proved to be absolutely fantastic, with great image stabilization, ease of use, and capacity. I asked Santa for one, she complied, and it is sitting here on my desk right now. You’ll need the standard protective housing from GoPro, but forget the GoPro plastic mounting fittings; for about $20 you can get a billet aluminum rollbar mount on Amazon that is much better.
Larry –
There is an extensive discussion on Apex Speed about this very topic at –
I put in a comment (#26) about some special S/W for GoPro that I found online & have started to explore (just beginning). 2 different S/W sources I mention make use of GPS data captured by some GoPro models (GoPro Black 12 series do NOT capture GPS data if I recall correctly). I also notice that GoPro have a $150 holidays discount now active.
Lee
Correct. GoPro 12Black does not capture GPS, significantly extending battery life. GoPro 13Black does capture GPS. While it’s not relevant to RMVR, some FIA historic formula groups are not permitted to carry GPS-enabled devices (though I’ve never been checked).
Well this was a merry rabbit hole RIch. 
I did some searching and reading of regs and as you might expect they are all over the map. I’ll summarize some of what I read. For Historics, at least via FIA and Historic FF regs that I found; cameras that have GPS are allowed as long as they are not actively feeding information back to the driver. Matter of fact Cameras and recording are required in some series.
From FIA Regulations Governing Historic Formula Junior:
Prohibitions: 6.9.3. Data acquisition
6.9.3.a. No form of driver/chassis logging may be used whether to acquire technical information from the car or for other purposes at any time or in any part of an official Competition, in official practice, qualifying or racing.
6.9.3.b. No data acquisition systems which require any wired connection to any part of the car, or any wireless connection to any of the car’s systems are permitted.
6.9.3.c. No form of GPS and/or camera with built- in GPS may be used to record the above.
6.9.3.d. No form of in- car lap timing systems are permitted.
Maybe this is an isolated thing meant to preserve historical originality? In any case, as I said, not relevant to RMVR as FIA regs usually do not govern racing in the USA.
Rich, Any opinion on battery life in heat? Many YouTube creators have issues with the camera overheating. Knowing that summers are so warm my VIRB has trouble some days in its plastic case.
Thanks Lee, Am tracking that forum. The Aim is the best is seems, but more than I need. Too bad the Garman VIRB is discontinued as it had allot of data, GPS etc.
No battery problem so far, but racing in Europe and New Zealand never gets as hot as here. I ran the GoPro at Pueblo this past June, which was godawful hot, but my rear axle broke halfway through the weekend, so the camera really didn’t have a full test. Nevertheless, I normally recharge the camera every night.
I’ve yet to have heat issues with my gopro3 or gopro9. Battery life on the other hand has been an issue. I finally ran USB power to both and had no issues on 5+hr motorcycle rides. I’ve now upgraded to an insta360 X5 and it’s a world of difference being able to watch different perspectives. Battery life is amazing and we had no issues at HPR in Sept or COTA Texas heat in October.
-George