New Track purchase

[Bobgreen]

Hello,

I have to say after coming out here as a novice in the PWD field, I am just as confused as i was before. The scary part is that I know more now than I did before. We just had our annual Awana Grand Prix and it was a huge success. We had to borrow a 4 lane wood track from another church at the last minute when we discovered that our old track was just too old to make it another year. I now have been tasked with presenting a quote to the Pastor on a new one. I told him it would cost us about $650 for a new Aluminum track (4 lanes) and $450 for an eletronic eye.
My question is what to buy and from who? I would like to hook the eye up to my laptop to help the race run smoothly. We currently run it on paper, double elimination. There is so much info out here, I just want to have to buy this once and live happily ever after.

Bob Green

[dave4him]

Hey Bob and "welcome to the forum"

We just had our best Grand Prix ever. (5th year)
We have a new 40' Piantedosi 'Freedom' aluminum track, using a MicroWizard K-2 'FastTrack' timer with Grand Prix Race Manager software on my laptop. Smoothest 'ride' yet. WARNING - This set-up did cost about $1200 But I see it as investment. A lot of kids will hear the Gospel
Please note that Piantedosi got behind a bit on orders due to a supplier problem, but I hope they catch back up soon.
I'm sure the other products out there are pretty good too, but after much reading and research we chose this set-up. (Did you get the link to pics of track I sent eariler?)
Hope to see ya at the regionals in Gainesville.

[Bobgreen]

Dave,

Thanks for the info. I have done alot of reading and I feel that the way to go is what you recomended. I did not recieve any pictures. My e-mail is FBFawana@aol.com Thanks for your help once again.

Bob Green

[campcrafter]

We bought the same set up only our track is just two lanes.

With the Microwizard the cost was right at $750.

Haven't used it yet - It is suppose to be delivered today!

Dave - any problems or hints you can tell me about setting up with the K2 ?

We are using finish line only - NO computer interface.

CC

[michael4262]

We also purchased a 4 lane Aliminum Freedom track ... took almost 3 months to get it, but it is awsome!

We purchased the Grand Prix Race Manager software after downloading and testing it.

The only change we made was in the timer, we originally purchased the Newbold Daytona product. After setting it up, the concern I had with the Newbold product was in the stability of the whole device. We sent it back for a full refund (no problems, good people). We then purchased the Microwizard K2 kit. I would highly recommend this product. Piantedosi even supplies parts specifically machined for the starting gate and the timer for the Microwizard.

Since we had originally ordered the Newbold timer, the track didn't come with those parts. However, I spoke with Gary at Piantedosi and he sent me the parts the next week. (Also good people there). Those extra parts make the whole setup work extremely well together. The timer we bought as a kit and I assembled it in a about an hour, with 3 little helpers of course

I beleive that our whole track/timer/software/storage case cost us around $1200. Worth every penny too. Our derby is on Saturday. Can't wait!

[Bobgreen]

Hey Mike,

Thanks for the info, I am going to present this to my Pastor and go from there.

Bob Green

[dave4him]

Hey Bob,

I just left a few tips at another thread, http://derbytalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=1449&start=15

Do a Piantedosi search, there are several useful threads at this great forum.

Here's a link to our online photos of new track - http://www.fbc.photosite.com/Awana/GrandPrix2006

campcrafter said

Dave - any problems or hints you can tell me about setting up with the K2 ?

We are using finish line only - NO computer interface.

No, it should work perfectly with or without computer.