Considering adding an Open Division to our Pack Race

[birddog]

I'm the Pinewood Derby committe chair for our Pack this year (and for the next 4 years) and I'm looking to take our current race format and add some small improvements.

Background of our Pack:

We have about 60 kids in the pack. We run each Den as a group and offer 1st, 2nd and 3rd place trophies for each Den (Tigers, Wolfs, Bears, Web I and Web II). We then run a Grand Finals round where the top 3 from each Den participate in that race.

I'm purchasing GPRM for new software (our current software has some glitches and isn't as reliable as it should be). I may also purchase the "replay" software if I can find a camera that will work with our laptop. We already have a new 4 lane Bestrack and nice new bestrack timer.

We will run "lane rotation" algorithm so that each cub gets 4 runs down the track, once on each lane. We will use the average of all 4 times to determine places.

What I'm trying to decide is how adding an open division will impact the time to conduct the race as well as ensuring the focus stays on the scouts.

Last year, our race took about 2 1/2 hours to conduct (11am to 1:30pm) I think. That included a break for about 30 minutes for everyone to eat lunch together.

I'm thinking that after all the scouts have run and all the trophies are handed out, we would then race anybody in the Open division. My questions are:

- how do I predict how many open entries we might have? Should I enforce some type of pre-registering for open class? The main reason for this is that If I get 10 entries, I'll only order 1 trophy. If I get 30 entries, I'd probably order 1st, 2nd and 3rd place trophies.

- how do I limit the amount of time spent? If there are only 10 entries, I'll run them just as I do the Cubs (lane rotation, each car gets 4 runs). However, if I get 30 entries, I may want to limit the # of times down the track to keep the time spent to a reasonable limit. Suggestions for how to do this? Maybe it doesn't matter as if somebody is sticking around for the open division, they won't care how long it takes as those who are not running have already left with their scouts?

Any suggestions from folks who have done this in the past?

thanks,

Birddog

[Stan Pope]

We then run a Grand Finals round where the top 3 from each Den participate in that race.

You can help assure that the timed results make sense in terms of heat finish places by running Tigers against only Tigers, etc., for the grade competitions. Also, it defers the comparisons between cars in different grads.

Racing by age group also allows you to rotate parents of the current age group to prime viewing positions.

Taking 3 from each age group into a finals creates the possibility that a 2nd place grade trophy winner gets the 1st place overall. This creates some confusion about the accuracy of the proceedings, as well as adding duration to the event.

Maybe it doesn't matter as if somebody is sticking around for the open division, they won't care how long it takes as those who are not running have already left with their scouts?

You nailed it!

[gpraceman]

We will run "lane rotation" algorithm so that each cub gets 4 runs down the track, once on each lane.

Running a traditional Lane Rotation schedule can be quite slow, as you are always waiting on cars returning from the finish line to run again. They can also be quite boring as the number of opponents that each racer faces is quite small. I recommend using a Perfect-N Type or a Phase Shifted Lane Rotation schedule. Those scheduels can be run faster and give racers more opponents to go up against.

- how do I predict how many open entries we might have? Should I enforce some type of pre-registering for open class? The main reason for this is that If I get 10 entries, I'll only order 1 trophy. If I get 30 entries, I'd probably order 1st, 2nd and 3rd place trophies.

Doing a pre-registration is a good idea. You can still allow a few late entries, if you wish, but for deciding on the number of trophies, it would be good to get an approximate count.

- how do I limit the amount of time spent? If there are only 10 entries, I'll run them just as I do the Cubs (lane rotation, each car gets 4 runs). However, if I get 30 entries, I may want to limit the # of times down the track to keep the time spent to a reasonable limit. Suggestions for how to do this? Maybe it doesn't matter as if somebody is sticking around for the open division, they won't care how long it takes as those who are not running have already left with their scouts?

Time to run a schedule is dependent on how many runs you give racers down each lane of the track, which scheduling method you use and how organized your race crew is. If only giving racers once down each lane, then look at your scheduling method (minimize cars running in back to back heats) and what you can do to make sure your race crew can crank out the heats as fast as possible.