21 replies to this topic

[Michael Jr.]

I’m planning to run a lap race, first to 200 wins. Trackmate has this in the menu but if anyone has ever actually used it, I would love a confirmation of my understanding before the guys are all lined up looking at me while I wonder why I can’t make it work.

I figure, they average 13 laps a minute on the track and in the class I’m going to run. So I will need 3 minute heats, 8 total to get them to 200. I’ll set it up for 3 min heats, chose lap race and then let Trackmate do the rest.

Is that how to set it up for a lap race?


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[glueside]

You can't select time and laps for the same race.  You will have to select one of the two.  If you want 200 laps, divide that by the number of lanes and that is what you make it.

[Michael Jr.]

What is the "it"?  So 200 divided by 8 is 25.  So I set it for a first to 25 and then change lanes?  I'm sure it'll make sense when it all starts but I like to have a good walk thru in my head before everyone is counting on me to get it right.  

 

I pull down the menu and select Lap Race. Round Robin Lap Heats or Rotation Lap Heats? Differences?

[NSwanberg]

For the most part round robin is for when you have more than 8 racers. I've found It works just as well with Lap Race.

[glueside]

Yes if you have 8 lanes and want to run 200 laps then the "it" is 25, Round Robin Lap Race.  Then when the first person hits 25 on a lane it will stop, move to the next lane and then run till someone hits 25.  This continues until the 25 laps are hit on each lane.  Now understand that the winner might not have 200 laps because it goes by who hits 25 first.

[Modelville Guy]

Sit down at the computer.

Set it up for a lap race of 10 laps.

Put in how many fake racers you want.

Tell it to start the race. 

Push a car thru the lap counter for different lanes.

Once one lane hits 10 the power shuts off and the drivers rotate.

See where they go and repeat untill every racer has run and see if that gives you what you think you want.

Tell your racers on race day this is a test race and go for it.

 

anybody can tell you what to do but until you see what really happens with your own eyes you will never be certain that it is what you wanted.

 

Good Luck.

[MSwiss]

I would do timed heats, adding another minute or so, to the time you think it would typically take to make 25 laps.

In the first heat when a racer hits 25 laps,do a track call, tell everybody to change lanes and then you turn the power back on to run out the rest of the heat.

In the second heat you would wait until a racer hits 50 laps and do the same thing.

On and on, each heat, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, and in the last heat, when someone hits 200, you just track call it, and the race is over.

As long as racers don't change lanes quickly, and get back to the panel, before the extra time is run off, you should be fine.

And it is also assuming there aren't heats where there is massive carnage, or something crazy like a bunch of the top guys breaking the last heat.

Regardless a little common sense could always finish the race.

[Michael Jr.]

I will be broadcasting this experiment on Facebook around.... 9:15ish if you want to see how this turns out or how it works out. Test and learn....make corrections and try again.

[Michael Jr.]

Held the race. Settings were Round Robin Lap race. Set the heats for 25 (200 total). The first heat seemed to operate perfectly. At 25 laps the computer cut the track off and rotated the lanes.  In fact the rotations at 25 laps worked great.  The problem came in lap counting.

 

For some reason, setting the laps at 25 didn't work out to be based on the first to reach 25 but instead, the leader ended the heat when he reached 25.  I observed racers that were trying to catch the leader hit 26 laps and then the lap counter dropped the laps back to 25 and the race continued until the leader hit 25. I suppose, if the leader had dropped out then the second place car would've become the leader and the heat would end when he reached 25.

 

So we all concluded that Trackmate decided that the race needed to end on 200 laps. Therefore no more than 25 laps can be attained in a heat....... and the total for the leader needs to be a factor of 25. So 25 for heat 1 and then 50 for heat 2, etc.

 

I have to admit, this was not very helpful by the time we discovered what was happening in the 6th or 7th heat.  I would like to hear from someone at trackmate as to what they had in mind when they programmed the lap heats.

 

The consensus was going back to timed heats with the same provisions we decided on for the lap race.  So a 4 minute heat with the race stopping at the first to reach 200 laps or if we run all 8 heats, the closest to 200.

 

I would still like to believe that there is a way to set up trackmate to run a total laps race that is automated. First to 25 in a heat should end the heat rather than first to the next factor of 25.

[Pappy]

When you switch lanes each heat do you need to start at the starting line each heat or do you start where the car stops each heat?

[Eddie Fleming]

First to the next factor of 25 (total race laps) sounds perfect to me for a true 200 lap race, but the dropping of laps over 25 is crazy.

 

Did the dropped laps show up in the heat laps and the total race laps?

[Michael Jr.]

When you switch lanes each heat do you need to start at the starting line each heat or do you start where the car stops each heat?

 

No, we just continued as in a normal heat race since it was a 200 lap total as our goal.

[Michael Jr.]

First to the next factor of 25 (total race laps) sounds perfect to me for a true 200 lap race, but the dropping of laps over 25 is crazy.

 

Did the dropped laps show up in the heat laps and the total race laps?

 

No they didn't show up. The car went across the sensor and it registered a *26 and then in about 2 seconds it rolled back to 25. And if the car passed another lap it rolled it back again. In the last heat, the leader held back since he had a substantial lead. We ended up with almost all racers showing 25 laps but until he crossed the line, the race continued without them adding any laps.

[Eddie Fleming]

my question is if say the second place racer had 195 laps total running in the last heat when he went across for lap 26 in that heat did the counter update and keep the total race laps at 196?

 

Or when it dropped from 26 back to 25 did the total race laps go back to 195?

 

If it keeps the 196 the race would probably end when any racer reaches 200.

 

in that way any racer could overtake the leader as long as the leader did not turn 200 laps.

 

I have no idea what the program is doing I am just thinking out loud and babbling. 

[Paul Lindewall]

If I recall correctly, you can have HEATS end by time or laps. But, you can't specify that the RACE be 200 laps. At least, not if you want to use lane rotation.
If you set the heats to 25 laps, it's possible that no one competitor will finish with 200 laps, unless he wins every heat race. 

[Pappy]

Michael, how many lanes did it take to get to 200 laps. Unless you have the same driver get to 25 laps on each lane it's going to take more than 8 lanes to do it. Then the guy who starts on the fastest lane has the advantage if it goes more than 8 lanes. 

 

Note: I was typing this when Paul posted post #15

[Pappy]

Maybe the way this works is, you have 8 lanes and you divide that into 200 laps (25 laps a lane). When someone gets to 25 laps it shuts off, then you rotate to your next lane but you start the next lane at the start/finish line. When someone gets to 25 laps again it shuts off. Keep doing this until you've run all 8 lanes and the person with the most laps wins. The only way anyone will have 200 laps is if they win all the heats.

[Michael Jr.]

I can roll up the replies to the last couple with this one.  After the first three heats the driver in first had a lead of several laps.  Once it started checking others at 25 and allowing him to continue to get his 25, there was no way to catch up.  In the last heat they all beat him to 25 laps (a group agreement to do that on purpose) but their total stopped until he made his 25 and won with 200 total laps.

[Paul Lindewall]

From the Trackmate manual:
 

Lap Race

The most popular race format for casual racing. Like real full scale racing, the

race ends after the leader completes all laps and remaining racers complete

their current lap. It will time out if one racer takes too long to complete his lap.

If you have the relay option. See options->track power you may want to try the

option-track power on before green light .

 

I think this is designed for a small home track like a figure 8. Two racers go until one of them makes X number of laps and is the winner. However, there is no lane rotation or round robin option available.

 

Rotation

Rotation lets every racer race the same amount of time in each lane.

There are two types of rotation. Rotation with lap heats and Rotation with timed

heats. If you have more racers then the number of lanes use Round Robin

format.

Rotation Race Lap Heats - Heat ends immediately and power is shut off when

one of the racers completes the number of laps per heat.

Rotation Race Timed Heats - Heat ends immediately and power is shut off

when time expires. This is the preferred method for most clubs.

If you have more racers then the number of lanes uses the Round Robin race

format. You can also have rotation completely automated to auto start next

heat. See Automation

 

 

 

Round Robin

Round Robin is identical to rotation races but used when they’re more racers

than number of lanes. You cannot change name by clicking on it as in Rotation

Races, you must change names using the Racers Menu

There are two types of Round Robin. Rotation with lap heats and Rotation with

timed heats. If you have more racers then the number of lanes use Round

Robin format.

 

Rotation and Round Robin will only allow you to set the number of laps per heat, but there is no option to end a RACE at the accumulation of total laps. 

I understand what you're trying to accomplish, but I don't think it can be done in any of the rotation or round robin formats. If power is not being cut to the track when the first driver in a heat hits 25 laps, the software is ignoring (rolling back) any additional laps. 
 

[MSwiss]

Sounds like you should have just went with what I suggested in post number 7.

What part of that wouldn't work?

[Michael Jr.]

Sounds like you should have just went with what I suggested in post number 7.

What part of that wouldn't work?

 

No idea. Probably will be tried on the next time around.  

The software gave the appearance of being able to be set up for this race.  I didn't anticipate it not counting laps for some racers. Still not exactly sure I understand why.

 

So your idea wasn't rejected. It is appreciated and will be tried.  Just wanted to see if the actual automation I paid for would do the job I need it to do.

[MSwiss]

I agree.

It didn't hurt to give it a try.

Maybe if you contact William "Bill" Dougherty, he can tell you how they do their yearly race.

They do a combination Indy 500 / World 600, on, or around, the 4th of July.