Software without Timers

[ciodude]

We're a small Cub Scout Pack, about 28 boys and last year I became co-Cub Master when we lost a lot of parent volunteers when their boys bridged. This year I also have the honor of being Derby Master. We 'borrow' an old wood track from another Pack in the area. The track has seen better days and has an old style win, place, show type of timer with lights with no computer interface.

Last year everything was done by hand.. who raced whom, visually checking the results of the timer and then recording the score, then adding up the score etc. to see who won. It was a loooong derby. Needless to say, if it wasn't for the actions of some very outgoing Webelos II's who started doing these funny commercial skits inbetween races, it would have gone very bad.

Those outgoing Webelos bridged and the new group isn't as outgoing or as comedic. So I thought I'd go buy race software to manage the race, even though we cant hook it up to the old track. My thought was that at least the car rotation, track selection and calculation of points for the winner would be automated and thus cut down a lot of the time between races.

First, can any of you long time race organizers find any flaws in that approach? We plan to buy our own track at some point, but it will most likely take 2 years of fund raising to do so. Second, any recommendations as to which software to invest in now? Something that might work with a track-yet-to-be-purchased? Last, but certainly not least, any hints or tips to help us smoothly run along?

Thanks all and have a great holiday weekend!

[gpraceman]

You'll be fine as long as the software you select supports manual entry of the results.

It is definitely much easier than the old pencil and paper scheduling and scoring!

[grizenko1]

Try this free program. It needs Microsoft Excel to work though.

http://northernlights.nsbsa.org/Pinewoo ... lderby.htm

[knavekid]

We have used RaceView for years with the stand-alone timer and manual entry. The software keeps track of the racers, lanes, and scoring and you simply enter the results of each race.

We recently upgraded our track and timer and will be using the same software for automatic scoring and elapsed time display.

[davem]

I can recommend Grand Prix Race Manager.
I was in a similar situation a few years ago...using a 20 year old track with antiquated place indicators.

I got so frustrated with the first race my son was in...double elimination with manual charting...that I volunteered to use a computer for the next year's race.

We used GPRM and manually entered the places. Cut the race time from 4.5 hours to 2 hours.

The next year, we used an old timer, and manually entered the times into GPRM.

The next year we bought a modern timer and interfaced directly to the software, resulting in a 1 hour and 20 minute race for 80 cars.