Derby Talk

Ok,so for us luddites, can someone give a short answer on why PN or PPN is limited to 6 lanes max.

Any such limitation is imposed by the schedule system you're using, because PPN can schedule races for any number of lanes, and there are known PN schedules for 7-10 lanes:
http://www.stanpope.net/genframe.html" target="_blank

Good catch, Darin!

In addition, there are the trivial cases for nCars = nLanes and nCars = nLanes+1. (I am saying the from very old memories, but I'm almost sure that it is true.) These charts are easily created manually for either PN or CPN configurations. And when nCars is less than nLanes, one or more spots in the chart can be a bye with only a small loss of accuracy.

As for searching out optimum PPN charts for 7 or more lanes, it was a matter of effort vs demand, i.e. a lot of work with no known demand. I just about overheated my PC searching out the cases covered in the PPN Chart Generation software!

Searching out PPN Charts (there is a separate optimum chart for each combination of nCars and nLanes) is akin to factoring the product of large prime numbers ... except that when factoring, you know you are done when you find the first one! (If there is a direct way of computing such charts, Cory and I couldn't find it. Maybe another application for quantum computers ... if they are ever invented?)

So, how would I go about with a PPN for an eight lane track?

So, how would I go about with a PPN for an eight lane track? Actually, it is 2 -4 lane track.

If you want a PPN schedule for 8 lanes, you need first to know how many cars you want each 8-lane chart to serve.

Then you learn the PPN criteria and write a computer program to search out an optimum chart for each car count.

If you are running times instead of points, then you can go with a chart that is not optimum, relaxing the requirement that each racer face each other racer almost the same number of times with the maximum difference of 1.

Ouch! As I mentioned I am a bit of a Luddite when it comes to this sort of thing. Definetely beyond my capability. I was hoping to find an easier way to run PPN races for our (2) 4 lane tracks. Obviously, numbers for entrants changes every year. Well, I guess I will write this off until I have too much time on my hands...

Why aren't you just creating two 4 lane schedules since you have 4 lane tracks?

Rfieldbuilds wrote:Ouch! As I mentioned I am a bit of a Luddite when it comes to this sort of thing. Definetely beyond my capability. I was hoping to find an easier way to run PPN races for our (2) 4 lane tracks. Obviously, numbers for entrants changes every year. Well, I guess I will write this off until I have too much time on my hands...

Sorry ... If it were not so difficult, we would probably have done it when we searched out the 3-6 lane varieties!

Consider asking a different question such as describe your resources, your population, and your competition goals and ask for suggestions.