Assuming this is the same as the regional set ups, you can use whatever you want, as long as it is reasonably sized and you don’t mind leaving it in a high traffic area. A camcorder is probably the best thing to use.
That was what we did at LSR but this sounds like it is a video feed connection so you can directly connect to FIRST video feed. The locations are to the sides of the courses as well.
It is referenced on the Essential Information sheet and labeled in the PIT diagram pdf.
How exactly do you have your system setup if you do not mind sharing? By capture device, do you mean camera? and why the portable hard drive versus the computer itself.
By capture device, she proably means a USB TV capture device like THIS ONE availble from Best Buy (I personally don’t like the Pinnacle capture devices, i like hauppauge but this one is readily available at BB, perfect for picking up for use in Atlanta!) The capture device listed can accept input from RCA jacks (it has composite too, but they don;t provide that at the FRC recording stations ) The Pinnacle also has an IR Remote, so your drive team (or media person, remember you can a pass for that in your registration packet) could start it on their way to the field.
As for portable hard drive, Video files take up a lot of space (depends on what quality you record at) , most laptop hard drives just don’t have enough space, especially if you want to record the entire event. I would want at least a 500 GB external hard drive for that, and even if i was just recording my own matches, At least 200 GB.
Last year, I used by brothers cowon A2 (he used it as his mp3 player) using the included AV cable. It was great, since it was an all in one unit, so i could just bring it with me to the match and remove it afterwards. Unfortunately, the thing broke after the season, so I have no clue what I will be using (VCR perhaps?)