GPRM v20, questions about - Awards / Audience Display / Modernize a track

[SilverEagle1979]

Our Cub Pack just ran our annual PWD races today, so I have a few questions that are fresh in my mind.

When it comes to the awards we do the following:

Overall 1st 2nd 3rd trophies
Certificates for 1st 2nd 3rd per Rank (Lion, Tiger, Wolf, Bear, Webelos, AOL, and Siblings) but NOT if you are an overall 1st 2nd 3rd (IE our grand champion wins overall 1st place but then the next fastest in the Den win's the Den 1st place) Finally we bring in a guest to pick some general cosmetic awards that we don't put into the software.

We have done is to just look at the standings for overall and per rank and manually figure out who's won what. But if there is a way to set up the software to do this automatically that would really make things easier on the volunteers trying to write out the Certificates while our MC is trying to keep a bunch of little kids' attention. That and being able to use the software's award OR standing reveal functions would greatly help with the presentations.

1) Is there a way to set the software to "throw out" a Rank level 1st place if that car won the Over-all 1st 2nd or 3rd place trophies?

During the running of the heats we thought it would be neat to try and display Track records now that we've got about 2-3 years worth of data files from races in there. But when we attempted this we got a strange looking version of Theodore Roosevelt where the text and picture were slimmed down to the space of about 1.5 characters in the middle of the bottom section where normally the next heat list is displayed. We tried a couple of times but same result. I thought maybe we were supposed to "clean out" any test data or the default data that comes for learning purposes but before I start messing with it I wanted to ask.

2) - Why did we get the "dummy data", and why was it incorrectly formatted in the Audience live view?

3) What are some other audience view tips and tricks that are out there for helping to keep a bunch of little kids entertained?

4) The volunteers and leaders are really looking at ways to keep things fresh for the kids. One thing that seems very popular lately is to get some backlights and do "glow in the dark" PWD, but on a more practical note, we'd also like to invest in some hardware to improve the experience both for the volunteers and for the audience. We have been discussing purchasing and installing a solenoid starter and light tree potentially, but we also had purchased the pack of software that gave us DerbyDMV and RaceFX as well. We were thinking that RaceReplay and a camera system might be a good investment, but the major concerns have all revolved around the hardware / best camera's , how to use the "The Champ" timer system which is by now probably 10 years old with a modern camera, etc. What tips and tricks does the group have for keeping up with the demand for more entertaining racing but still being able to make these things happen when you're group of volunteers only has 1 or 2 "IT Guys' in it.

[gpraceman]

1) Is there a way to set the software to "throw out" a Rank level 1st place if that car won the Over-all 1st 2nd or 3rd place trophies?

Yes. In the Standings tab of the Software Settings screen, you can opt to "Exclude Grand Finals Winners". The selected number of top racers will display in the Grand Finals standings, but not the standings for their original race group.

2) - Why did we get the "dummy data", and why was it incorrectly formatted in the Audience live view?

You can go to the Track Records Settings screen and either create a new track records file or clean out any data that you do not want. I suspect that you had it set to display the Overall Track Record on the racing screen as opposed to the record for the group currently running and Teddy happened to have a faster track record time than your racers.

As for the display issue, first check that you are running with the last update for Version 20, which is 20.0.1206.13. Secondly, check the Max Width and Height dimensions in the Software Settings screen, for the image size. For V20, you are limited to 200 x 200. But V21 and above increased that to 400 x 400. The other thing that affects that issue is your screen resolution. If you have it really high, the pictures will look smaller than with a lower screen resolution.

3) What are some other audience view tips and tricks that are out there for helping to keep a bunch of little kids entertained?

Not sure what to say on that. I think it is really the MC that sets the tone. The software is just a tool.

4) The volunteers and leaders are really looking at ways to keep things fresh for the kids. One thing that seems very popular lately is to get some backlights and do "glow in the dark" PWD

Sounds cool.

What tips and tricks does the group have for keeping up with the demand for more entertaining racing but still being able to make these things happen when you're group of volunteers only has 1 or 2 "IT Guys' in it.

Light trees, solenoid gates, instant replay, and so on are certainly nice to have things, but are not essential. You do have to keep in mind that the more complicated you make your setup, the more that can go wrong. I would recommend adding things in over time, instead of all at once.

Personally, I think that getting the kids involved as much as practical is what will make it more fun for them. Here's some possibilities:

• Whichever racer is in the first lane of a heat can come up and trip the start gate to start the heat. We usually do this with a crowd count-down (3 - 2 - 1 - GO!).
• Have the racers for a heat get their car from the staging table and load it to the designated lane on the track.
• Have the racers for a heat go to a reserved area at the end of the track to watch their cars race.
• Have the racers take their car from the finish line and return it to the staging table.

You can do one or more of these, time permitting and depending on how many racers you have. Each of these does slow the pace of the race and you don't want to make your race last for too long. I like to at least have the kids start the heats.

How the race goes also depends on the MC. A good MC can provide good commentary and excitement, without delaying the races. If there are delays in the racing, the MC can do interviews of the racers to tell about their cars or give their favorite speed tip. Tell some stupid dad jokes (or get the kids to do so). And so on.

[SilverEagle1979]

Thank you for the quick reply, I will make sure we update the software and then I will create a copy of this years data to "play around with" and try out a few things.

[FatSebastian]

...getting the kids involved as much as practical is what will make it more fun for them.

+1. At our last derby, we exercised all of these excellent "possibilities" gpraceman posed on his list. Allow me to throw out a few more ideas:

• Race each car competitively as many times as possible within your derby's allotted time frame

• Announce that there will be an opportunity at the end (after the allotted time and the winners are determined) for racers to challenge others (friendly "grudge matches", "sibling rivalries", "kids v. parent", "fastest backwards", "Trackmaster Challenge", etc.)

• Snack bar

In our last derby, each car ran in eight heats (twice on each of 4 lanes), so kids didn't have much time to get bored. And if there is an opportunity for unofficial heats to continue after the official competition, fast or slow, the audience pays better attention to how everyone else is doing rather than running around or sliding their cars down a vacant hallway after their official heats...

Each of these does slow the pace of the race...

Our heats cycle through surprisingly fast. IIRC, once things got moving I think we averaged about 40-45 seconds per heat last derby. Racers for the next heat lined up behind the racers for the current heat, so the cars were being removed from the braking section (by their owners) at the same time they were being staged (by their owners). Minor delays were a usually consequence of a car jumping a lane (incorrectly staged by the kid), or a really little kid (think pre-schooler) trying to stage their car for the first time ever, or, rarely, a car was scheduled to race twice in a row and the driver had to run the car back up to the starting line...

Whichever racer is in the first lane of a heat can come up and trip the start gate to start the heat. We usually do this with a crowd count-down...

Yes, I agree that this has the potential for slowdowns. The racer may not punch the start button when queued. Trying to get the crowd's attention and the extra time to do an organized count down might add 10 seconds per heat, which adds up. We forego any organized audience countdown, and use a light tree.

[SilverEagle1979]

These are all great suggestions, I think I will suggest to the committee we need to start with a servo/solenoid starter(to get the push button start). We also need to get a couple more of the parents involved in learning the software, hopefully, the youtube channel will help with that.

[Darin McGrew]

Overall 1st 2nd 3rd trophies
Certificates for 1st 2nd 3rd per Rank (Lion, Tiger, Wolf, Bear, Webelos, AOL, and Siblings) but NOT if you are an overall 1st 2nd 3rd (IE our grand champion wins overall 1st place but then the next fastest in the Den win's the Den 1st place) Finally we bring in a guest to pick some general cosmetic awards that we don't put into the software.

Just something to consider...

When I was running derbies, we would have awards for the various age groups, and then a single grand prize determined by a final round with the fastest cars in each age group. The fastest car in each age group earned a trophy, so the grand prize didn't need another trophy. The grand prize was a medal. A similar possibility would be a badge that could be affixed to the trophy.

But our general philosophy was that earning one award would not disqualify anyone from earning another award. That meant that we'd occasionally have a kid win both a speed award and a design award, and it meant that our grand prize winner (for speed) also won the age group speed award.

[SilverEagle1979]

Overall 1st 2nd 3rd trophies
Certificates for 1st 2nd 3rd per Rank (Lion, Tiger, Wolf, Bear, Webelos, AOL, and Siblings) but NOT if you are an overall 1st 2nd 3rd (IE our grand champion wins overall 1st place but then the next fastest in the Den win's the Den 1st place) Finally we bring in a guest to pick some general cosmetic awards that we don't put into the software.

Just something to consider...

When I was running derbies, we would have awards for the various age groups, and then a single grand prize determined by a final round with the fastest cars in each age group. The fastest car in each age group earned a trophy, so the grand prize didn't need another trophy. The grand prize was a medal. A similar possibility would be a badge that could be affixed to the trophy.

But our general philosophy was that earning one award would not disqualify anyone from earning another award. That meant that we'd occasionally have a kid win both a speed award and a design award, and it meant that our grand prize winner (for speed) also won the age group speed award.

I appreciate the feedback. We've changed the way we do awards year to year, the committee sets the awards each year, so every time we get new members things change a bit. We did awards pretty much the way you describe 4 or 5 years ago. This is actually one of the reasons I like GPRM, it's customizable and so far we've been able to make it work pretty much for every change the committee decides to make.