Verification of Cars in Correct Lanes

Discussions on race planning, preparations and how to run a "fair" and fun race.
Post Reply
User avatar
davem
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 196
Joined: Sat Jan 24, 2004 9:14 pm
Location: Wellington, Florida

Verification of Cars in Correct Lanes

Post by davem »

What is the best way to verify cars are placed in the correct lanes?
Have a person (not the stager) who verifies before the start of each heat?

Saw this happen at a regional race (caught after the heat with some "heated" discussion amongst dads).

And again when we were testing our new track (caught when I rean the T&F spreadsheet after the test race).


I used the "T&F" Spreadsheet posted in the "How to determine if you have a slow lane" post (Tacks Section). Data was for the test setup of our new track. Wanted to see if the one joint issue we had showed up statistically...it didn't.

However, what did show up was an error.
The starter raced the right 4 cars...but accidentally had 2 cars in the wrong lanes.

The statistical analysis showed a problem...digging into the data showed a 4.1960 time for a car that posted 7 other runs in the 3.82 to 3.85 range.
User avatar
ohiofitter
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 693
Joined: Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:30 am
Location: Uniontown,Ohio

Re: Verification of Cars in Correct Lanes

Post by ohiofitter »

we had that problem before at our track....We have a three lane track....but no one would mark the underneath of the track for what sensor goes to lane 1 and 3.. so it a bit chaotic for about the first half of the tigers races. Know the lanes are marked and the sensor wires are marked.
User avatar
Darin McGrew
Pine Head Legend
Pine Head Legend
Posts: 1825
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2003 1:23 pm
Location: Knoxville, TN
Contact:

Re: Verification of Cars in Correct Lanes

Post by Darin McGrew »

davem wrote:What is the best way to verify cars are placed in the correct lanes?
Get the cars' owners involved.

If the owners stage their own cars, then they won't make a mistake.

We have a volunteer stage the cars, but we have the owners sitting in designated chairs at the finish line. From there, they can look up the track at the starting gate and see their own car.

This year, we used new software that displayed photos of the cars that were racing. That made it easy to verify that all the cars were in the right lane as well.
User avatar
pack529holycross
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 555
Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2007 4:25 pm
Location: Dr. Phillips, Florida
Contact:

Re: Verification of Cars in Correct Lanes

Post by pack529holycross »

davem wrote:What is the best way to verify cars are placed in the correct lanes?
Have a person (not the stager) who verifies before the start of each heat?

Saw this happen at a regional race (caught after the heat with some "heated" discussion amongst dads).

And again when we were testing our new track (caught when I rean the T&F spreadsheet after the test race).


I used the "T&F" Spreadsheet posted in the "How to determine if you have a slow lane" post (Tacks Section). Data was for the test setup of our new track. Wanted to see if the one joint issue we had showed up statistically...it didn't.

However, what did show up was an error.
The starter raced the right 4 cars...but accidentally had 2 cars in the wrong lanes.

The statistical analysis showed a problem...digging into the data showed a 4.1960 time for a car that posted 7 other runs in the 3.82 to 3.85 range.
This comes down to labelling and communication.
First, I recommend that you use colors for your lanes. Once your cars are labeled with the entry number, you can call out the lane assiggments to verify the lane order - "654 Blue, 754 Green" and so on.. its a simple process of verifying the numbers quickly before the start. Having a projected Heat screen showing the cars to be staged for that heat is als oa good strong visual "doublecheck". Lastly, have several people involved in the "go - no-go " process of starting a Heat - the stager, the starter, the EmCee, and the Scorer should all agree that the heat is cleared for racing.
Nooby
Pine Head
Pine Head
Posts: 99
Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2005 8:55 am
Location: Southwest, MI

Re: Verification of Cars in Correct Lanes

Post by Nooby »

My kids actually participated in a race where the coordinator had
not set up the software to match his track. So, lane 1 on the computer
was really lane 4 in the software.

It became apparent after 2 rounds that the right cars were not being
matched against each other.

After about an hour of trying to fix the situation, and make some sense
of the race data already collected, the event was restarted and manually
scored on a whitebord.

Plan for the worst - it sometimes happens.
"Nooby"
User avatar
davem
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 196
Joined: Sat Jan 24, 2004 9:14 pm
Location: Wellington, Florida

Re: Verification of Cars in Correct Lanes

Post by davem »

Thanks for the input.

Especially the separation of stager and starter roles.
Most of the time, this is the same person.
I was thinking of a "checker", but having a dedicated starter to make sure gate, cars, lanes and software are a go makes more sense.

Our group does not allow the kids to stage cars (despite my pleas to let the kids race).

BTW Darin, the first time it happened - the kids actually made the mistake. One boy put his car on the wrong lane. The 4th person (4 lane track) did not bother to look at the lane color and staged their car on the open lane.

So even the kids need an independent verification!
tmbnorm
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 253
Joined: Wed Dec 20, 2006 11:42 am

Re: Verification of Cars in Correct Lanes

Post by tmbnorm »

We use a 3 lane track and Raceview software. I have the software setup to where it prints all of the lane assignments for that round.

The handlers of the cars can start to get them in order as the round progresses. Each race is displayed on a big screen by the laptop and projector. Accidents do happen, but the adults in the crowd are watching and caught the only 2 mess ups.


This allows us to move quickly. We averaged a race every 45 seconds during each round.
User avatar
PWD_addict
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 705
Joined: Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:35 am
Location: Middle River, Maryland

Re: Verification of Cars in Correct Lanes

Post by PWD_addict »

We print the assignments beforehand (using car number) and have a stager and another adult double-checking the stager with the assignment printout and the lane assignments shown on the projector screen.
User avatar
Go Bubba Go
Pine Head Legend
Pine Head Legend
Posts: 1190
Joined: Sat Nov 18, 2006 12:09 pm
Location: Northern, Illinois

Re: Verification of Cars in Correct Lanes

Post by Go Bubba Go »

Darin McGrew wrote:
davem wrote:What is the best way to verify cars are placed in the correct lanes?
Get the cars' owners involved.

If the owners stage their own cars, then they won't make a mistake.
Allowing that mistakes will occasionally happen, it is more likely that they will be caught when you have the owners staging their own cars.

When the owners have to stage their own cars, they pay more attention to the lane assignment annoucements because they are required to act on that information. It is more likely that mistakes in communicating lane assignments will be caught when you have more people paying attention to that communication.

The owners are also more likely to speak up about a mistake they think one of their peers has made as opposed to one that an "official" may have made. Esp. when they are young, it is much easier for them to ask the adult in charge to help them confirm whether little Johnny made a mistake and help them fix it than it is for them to "take on" an adult and challenge them about an adult mistake.

The adults in charge may also be multi-tasking and open to error through distractions, where the owners are pretty much focused in on just getting their own car in the correct lane. Even going to get the cars and staging them is a bit of a distraction for the adult starter. If the owners focus on staging their own car in the right lane, and the adult is supervising the boys to confirm the right car in the right lane, the chance of mistakes is reduced and the chances of catching mistakes is increased IMO.

Our 2 cents.

Bubba
"Who's Grandpa's neighbor?"... Phil Davis, Down and Derby
User avatar
CuriousGeorge
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 125
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2006 3:50 pm
Location: KY, USA

Re: Verification of Cars in Correct Lanes

Post by CuriousGeorge »

Our Lanes are marked with a number (Easy to see) at the top and bottom of the track. I call out the cars for the stager while the kids are at the end of the track. "Lane 1, car 64" and as another verification for the kids I use the name of their car and the childs name. "Purple Pinewood Eater, built by John Doe"

I have read that some people do not like to stripe an entire lane with colored tape b/c eventually you have to replace the tape. That means if you have 3 lanes you have to take the 100' of tape off and then clean the sticky off, another 100' of work.

We actually have one stager and one assistant stager. The assistant hands the cars to the stager one at a time. The stager always starts with lane 1.
CuriousGeorge
"They say you learn by your mistakes, in that case I must be a genius."
User avatar
Darin McGrew
Pine Head Legend
Pine Head Legend
Posts: 1825
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2003 1:23 pm
Location: Knoxville, TN
Contact:

Re: Verification of Cars in Correct Lanes

Post by Darin McGrew »

CuriousGeorge wrote:We actually have one stager and one assistant stager. The assistant hands the cars to the stager one at a time. The stager always starts with lane 1.
At our derby this year, we had one person staging cars on the track, two people returning cars to the impound racks as the kids brought them back from the finish line, and two people staging cars for upcoming races. That's pretty typical for our derbies. Sometimes, one of the people returning cars to the impound racks would help someone with emergency repairs.

This year, our software displayed a photo of each of the 4 cars racing in that heat. That was a nice enhancement!
User avatar
derbyspeed
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 158
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 8:35 am
Location: Hoopeston, IL
Contact:

Re: Verification of Cars in Correct Lanes

Post by derbyspeed »

CuriousGeorge wrote:Our Lanes are marked with a number (Easy to see) at the top and bottom of the track. I call out the cars for the stager while the kids are at the end of the track. "Lane 1, car 64" and as another verification for the kids I use the name of their car and the childs name. "Purple Pinewood Eater, built by John Doe"

I have read that some people do not like to stripe an entire lane with colored tape b/c eventually you have to replace the tape. That means if you have 3 lanes you have to take the 100' of tape off and then clean the sticky off, another 100' of work.

We actually have one stager and one assistant stager. The assistant hands the cars to the stager one at a time. The stager always starts with lane 1.
Wish I would have gotten this info earlier, we just got a new 4-lane Best Track and I taped the whole thing. I wasn't going to but after I did it, I liked the way it looked. Maybe I won't be the cubmaster when tape needs to be replaced! :D

I went ahead printed Lane numbers on address labels and put the labels at the beginning and the end of the track even though we have the colors. I wanted to cover every angle where a problem might arise.

We are letting the boys put their cars on this year also, last year had Boy Scouts handling the cars and of course, you guessed it, one of them dropped a car. Funny thing is he just picked it back up and they raced without question and the car got faster - must have raised one of the wheels in the process! Go Figure!

I reallly like your idea, Curious George, of announcing the boys name, car name or number, makes it sound official and makes the boys feel important, IMO.
Mike Webb

"Do or Do Not, There is No Try"
User avatar
Go Bubba Go
Pine Head Legend
Pine Head Legend
Posts: 1190
Joined: Sat Nov 18, 2006 12:09 pm
Location: Northern, Illinois

Re: Verification of Cars in Correct Lanes

Post by Go Bubba Go »

derbyspeed wrote:I really like your idea, Curious George, of announcing the boys name, car name or number, makes it sound official and makes the boys feel important, IMO.
At my discretion we changed from announcing just the boys name to announcing the car name this year, and the boys LOVED it. Car names hadn't been used in previous years, and it was a definite improvement in the fun category. As you would imagine, they were as creative with their car names as they were with the cars themselves. Names like "Mean Machine", "White Lightning", "Orange Fire", "The Batcar", "Burning Banana", "Dirt Machine", "Da Bears" and the "Ice Cream Crusher". :wink:

Bubba
"Who's Grandpa's neighbor?"... Phil Davis, Down and Derby
Post Reply