GPRM Questions

Discussions on race preparation, race management, sound effects, and other race related software. This is only for software provided by our sponsor, GrandPrix Software Central.
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SharkBait
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GPRM Questions

Post by SharkBait »

We had our derby last night and the software ran great! Before, we did everything manually. Everything ran so much smoother and FASTER with the software. I think we must have shaved off 45 minutes to our derby time. It was fantastic! What we really liked about it was that we had the current racers and on-deck racers projected onto a screen, so everyone knew who was racing and in what lane. The winning MPH was also cool because it gave us a relative sense of which cars were truly the fastest.

One problem that we had was that we had to disqualify one car for illegal wheels. Unfortunately, this was not caught at registration (I'm still not sure how it was not caught since it was so obvious to me). The guy at the start gate noticed the wheels when he put the car onto the track. So we had to disqualify him AFTER it passed inspection and right in the middle of the racing. We spoke to the dad during the preliminary heats and we decided to pull the car from the finals since it was clear from those races that his car was going to be one of the top 1 or 2 cars in the finals (We felt really bad about this since he did make it through inspection, but what else could we do?). Anyway, the problem came when we had to remove that car from the finals round and replace him with someone else. There must be an easy way to do this, but we couldn't figure it out. The computer guy spent about 10 minutes and finally figured something out by deleting the disqualified car and renumbering the 4th place car and putting him into the finals. If there's an easier way, I would like to know for next year.

Finally, in between heats, is there a way to flash the current standings? Our computer guy just showed the standings at the very end. I think it would have been exciting to see a real-time standings as they evolve after every heat.

Thanks!

Steve
ScoutAndDadTeam
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Re: GPRM Questions

Post by ScoutAndDadTeam »

I like the suggestion you made about current standing.....Randy..... Can you add something to GPRM that would show current standings. Maybe something like what the network TV's show during a NASCAR qualification. The slider thing on the bottom of the screen with car number(s) pointing to where they currently stand. That would be way cool !!!

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ScoutAndDadTeam
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Re: GPRM Questions

Post by ScoutAndDadTeam »

I don't think it is a software issue here.
If there's an easier way, I would like to know for next year.
I'm not trying to be overly critical but for next year please make sure the rules are clear and train the inspection team. This is how to avoid the same thing from happening next year.
The guy at the start gate noticed the wheels when he put the car onto the track.
Please let the boys stage the cars.
So we had to disqualify him AFTER it passed inspection and right in the middle of the racing
This topic has been covered elsewhere on this board. I think it is generally agreed that once a car passes inspection -- it passed. Don't change it later.
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gpraceman
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Re: GPRM Questions

Post by gpraceman »

SharkBait wrote:We had our derby last night and the software ran great! Before, we did everything manually. Everything ran so much smoother and FASTER with the software. I think we must have shaved off 45 minutes to our derby time. It was fantastic! What we really liked about it was that we had the current racers and on-deck racers projected onto a screen, so everyone knew who was racing and in what lane. The winning MPH was also cool because it gave us a relative sense of which cars were truly the fastest.
I am glad that your race went well and the software was a help.
SharkBait wrote:One problem that we had was that we had to disqualify one car for illegal wheels. Unfortunately, this was not caught at registration (I'm still not sure how it was not caught since it was so obvious to me). The guy at the start gate noticed the wheels when he put the car onto the track. So we had to disqualify him AFTER it passed inspection and right in the middle of the racing.
If you are running Version 8 and scoring by Times, you could have turned on the ability to exclude a racer from the standings in the Software Setup screen. Then in the Registration tab of the Main screen you can check the Exclude box for that racer. They can still race, if you wish, but they will not show in the standings.
SharkBait wrote:Anyway, the problem came when we had to remove that car from the finals round and replace him with someone else.
You can always let the software advance the racers automatically when you start a new round and then go to the Registration tab and uncheck the Finalist box for anyone you want to remove. You can also check the Finalist box for anyone you want to manually advance. Then generate your schedule. This is all covered in the help file under starting a new round.

IMO, if a car passes inspection, then it should be allowed to race. It wasn't the racer's fault that something was not caught at inspection, so why punish them for someone else's mistake?
SharkBait wrote:Finally, in between heats, is there a way to flash the current standings? Our computer guy just showed the standings at the very end. I think it would have been exciting to see a real-time standings as they evolve after every heat.
You can, using the Standings screen, but it is not something that I recommend. I think it is better to keep as many people invoved in the action until the last heat. Showing intermediate standings can cause some racers (and spectators) to loose interest, since they see they are out of the running for a trophy.
Randy Lisano
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Awana Grand Prix and Pinewood Derby racing - Where a child, an adult and a small block of wood combine for a lot of fun and memories.
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gpraceman
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Re: GPRM Questions

Post by gpraceman »

ScoutAndDadTeam wrote:I like the suggestion you made about current standing.....Randy..... Can you add something to GPRM that would show current standings. Maybe something like what the network TV's show during a NASCAR qualification. The slider thing on the bottom of the screen with car number(s) pointing to where they currently stand. That would be way cool !!!
See post above. The Standings screen will update itself if you have it open at the same time that the Racing screen is open.
Randy Lisano
Romans 5:8

Awana Grand Prix and Pinewood Derby racing - Where a child, an adult and a small block of wood combine for a lot of fun and memories.
SharkBait
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Re: GPRM Questions

Post by SharkBait »

ScoutAndDadTeam wrote:I'm not trying to be overly critical but for next year please make sure the rules are clear and train the inspection team. This is how to avoid the same thing from happening next year.
We did do this. The rules were taped to the box of every derby kit. We had a problem last year where the rules were posted on our website, but most parents did not bother to go to read them. That is why this year we taped the rules to the box of each kit. I also trained the registration people. The problem was that 2 of our 3 scales were late. The registration period was almost up and we still had a huge line to register. The person with the missing 2 scales finally showed up and she helped to register the cars. I learned later that even though she was an experienced registration person, all she did was make sure the cars were the legal weight.

I think what did it for us was that when we spoke to the dad during the racing, he was not truthful in his explanation. The rules say that they had to use official BSA wheels and could only be sanded and polished. The general size and shape could not be changed. The words "BSA" and "Pinewood Derby" had to remain on the wheels to prove that they were official and could not be sanded off. The dad said that he followed these rules and only sanded and polished the wheels. He said that he must have accidentally sanded the sides to remove the words. The wheels did not appear to be BSA wheels to me. They looked like normal wheels, but they had a very thin protrusion running down the middle of the wheel going around the entire circumference of the wheel. Only that part of the wheel touched the track. The end result was essentially having wheels that looked like normal wheels (at first glance) but had the effect of running like those thin wafer-like disc wheels. I think if the dad was just honest with us, we would have let it slide. But when he denied doing any modification other than sanding to make them smooth, we had to disqualify him because it was so clear that he was being dishonest. We had a meeting before the finals and told him our decision right before the finals. Fortunately, he had no problem with it and did not put up a big stink. I think he knew he broke the rules and was dishonest in trying to get away with it.
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