Well, yes. Ultimately, the results of any system depends on the time required by each car to cross the finish line. But I don't think that it is useful to ignore the distinction between timed systems (where the times are recorded and compared directly) and finish-order systems (where the finish order from each individual race is used).Speedster wrote:I think there is no such thing as a "non-time system". Whether you keep track of the time or not it will always be there.
Perhaps. With a timed system, finishing last is much worse if you finish 1.0 second behind the first car than if you finish 0.1 second behind the first car. With a finish-order system, it doesn't really matter whether a car is in last place by several inches, or whether a car is in last place by several feet.Speedster wrote:If a car throws a wheel, what happens? That particular car has recorded a nasty time.
I don't think so. A timed system directly compares the performance of cars in heat 1, with the performance of cars in heat 2, with the performance of cars in heat 3, and so on. That's fine if the performances in various heats are truly comparable. But how do you know they're truly comparable? And how do the parents and kids watching know they're truly comparable? How do you know that nothing significant changed in the race environment (say, adding 0.1 second to every car's time starting with heat 26)?Speedster wrote:Scoring with the point system is doing the same thing as recording the Elapsed Times only not as accurately.
A finish-order system directly compares only the performance of cars in a single heat. If something changes in the race environment (say, adding 0.1 second to every car's time starting with heat 26), then the results are still the same. In each heat, the same cars came in first, second, third, and fourth. And those watching can verify that the cars did indeed cross the finish line in that order.