Help with GrandPrix software

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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Pack102PW
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Help with GrandPrix software

Post by Pack102PW »

We just upgraded from an old wooden track to a Best Track. We are using the Judge start gate and the Champ Timer. Our old track used SuperTimer II software.

I am really stuck with trying to understand the GrandPrix software. We used to run 4 full heats. The first heat ran all the cars in the order that the cars were registered. Subsequent heats grouped the cars so that the slowest cars raced against eachother and the final couple of races in each heat had the fastest cars. The software also ensured that each car raced in each lane to eliminate lane bias.

We would post results overall and by rank in between each heat (a heat ended when all cars had raced, total of 4 heats). We used this break for announcments, pictures, food, etc and to organize the race order of the next heat. We awarded top 5 prizes for fastest overall and top 3 by rank. We used fastest average time to determine place.

In fiddling with the GP software, I think the subgroup functionality will allow us to award places by rank, but I cannot figure out how to set up the software to run 4 distinct heats. I really liked the breaks in the action and the intermediate posting of results. It keeps people engaged and the kids all love racing multiple times. We do not want to do elimination or finals.

We're not adverse to changing up how the race runs, but do want some logical breaks and would like to post periodic results.

Can anyone offer any guidance on how to set this up?
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gpraceman
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Re: Help with GrandPrix software

Post by gpraceman »

With GPRM, the terminology is a bit different than you are using. A "heat" is a set of cars going down the track. A "round" would be a set of heats. Everyone will race the same number of times within a round. If you use one of the "static" schedulers (Perfect-N Type and Lane Rotation), everyone will race in each lane of the track and do so an equal number of times. With Dynamic scheduling, every racer will race an equal number of times but lane equity will not be guaranteed. The software will do its best to even it out, but if it comes down to two racers that haven't raced in a particular lane, one will get it and the other will not. Each scheduling method has it advantages and disadvantages. These are listed in the software's help file.

The software will let you stop at any time and display the current standings but that is something that I do not recommend. I think you start losing racer's interest when they see they are out of the running for a trophy. The slowest racers will already know it, but the middle of the road racers may not necessarily know it and you want to try to keep them involved in the race for as long as you can.

You mentioned subgroups. Keep in mind that subgroups have absolutely no bearing on who races who. That is controlled at the group level. So, if you are looking to run your age groups separately, then there should be a separate race group for each age group. If you are scoring by times, you can lump everyone into one group and use subgroups to help you determine your speed winners for each age group.

Lastly, if you are trying to replicate the way some other software does the race, then you may be disappointed. Each race management software package will do things differently. Rightfully so, since the software companies should not be looking to copycat someone else. So, you should do some playing around with GPRM and see how it might best be run for your organization. GPRM does allow a lot of flexibility, so it will not rope you into only one way of running your race. If you have any specific questions on scheduling methods or anything else, let me know.
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.
Rukkian
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Re: Help with GrandPrix software

Post by Rukkian »

GPgraceman obviously knows the software better, and I may have missed something when you were describing it, but what you descibed sounds almost like an exact match to the way that dynamic scheduling works inside GPRM. I was looking into it for our race but decided not to due to us going by points instead of times.

If you do a few test runs through, it should act like what you described - each racer getting one run down the track, then a quick break while it calculates the matchups for the next heat (one run down the track) and pairs the slowest cars (by wins and losses) against the slowest and the fastest against the fastest. Each new heat, it recaculates the matchups depending on their total points (even if you go by times to determine winners).
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