# Race Coordinator timing system



## Extreme Hobby (Jun 26, 2011)

Has anyone had experience with http://www.racecoordinator.net/ ?
I am looking into various timing system. I know Trackmate is supposed to be good, but this program looks pretty inclusive?
What do you guys think?


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

I haven't tried that one, but would like too. Looks full of features.

Is this the one SwamperGene was talking about?


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## Boosted-Z71 (Nov 26, 2007)

I may give this a shot, I am not overly happy with LapTimer 2000 at this point

Boosted


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Its worth a shot Boost. 

It's so close, I wish it had a drag racing option.


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## Tsooko (Oct 15, 2009)

Dave has spent a ton of time programming RC. It has features for the hard core racer and for guys that just want to keep track for fun.
It does have fuel management, supports usb and if you download it it has a demo mode, so you can run simulated races. I think he is setting it up so it will run a light tree on the track like the F1, 1-1 system not sure about drag racing timing.
Since it is free, you can try it out. If you like it, Dave asks for a donation to a charity. 
I have dealt with him alot. He's a pretty good guy. 
And yes Swampergene was involved in the programming.
Cheers Ted


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## Hornet (Dec 1, 2005)

Edited due to double post


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## Hornet (Dec 1, 2005)

Here's a link to Daves video's,look on the side there's lots of them:thumbsup: 
Well that didn't work quite right, if you punch in Race Cordinator on Youtube it should give a bunch of Daves video's about it's features


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## wheelszk (Jul 8, 2006)

SwamperGene did have a lot to do with this and it works great. I have both systems in my comp LT2000 and RC. I will be using RC all the time, just as soon as SwamperGene gets off his butt and stops using work as an excuse for not helping me finish my new track tables. LOL Just kiddidg, it works really good.


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## Hornet (Dec 1, 2005)

It's only a program,you still need hardware to run it:thumbsup:
Gene describes what you need to build in this post if you don't want to buy Trackmates hardware

http://routedtracks.yuku.com/topic/19/Relays?page=1


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## Boosted-Z71 (Nov 26, 2007)

I already have the solid state relay, and my LPT port should be configured & wired just like the Trakmate setup for the sensors, so it should be as simple as learning how to use the new software

Boosted


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## daufderh (Jul 30, 2010)

Hey guys just thought I'd drop in and introduce myself. I'm the author of Race Coordinator. There were/are many contributors for sure, but Gene needs to be specifically called out because with out him the initial version wouldn't have made it.

There is currently a new beta version available (v1.3.1.11) that has lots of new bells and whistles like fuel support and game port support (which in turn provides support for the Carlson USB Sensor Trak). I'll be officially releasing this beta soon. There's just so much in it I'm giving plenty of time for user feedback. I haven't touched the code for it in a week or two so it seems pretty solid now. I have to say that originally I wasn't a big fan of fuel races, but it does make for a fun change of pace. If you setup the fuel parameters right it also introduces a fair amount of strategy to the racing.

I'm always happy to answer questions, take suggestions, or whatever when it comes to RC. All you gots to do is say something (email is usually the best way to contact me but I try to patrol the forums as much as I can).

-Dave

PS: Anybody seen or heard from Gene lately? I haven't heard from him in forever. He's probably mad at me for putting fuel support into RC  

Sorry Gene it just slipped out!!!


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Dave, 

I look forward to downloading and trying out your program. From what I've heard from Gene,
it sounds like it has a lot of new features. Any add ons that would make drag racing possible?

PS, havent seen Gene on here in a while. His last appearance here was back in March.


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## daufderh (Jul 30, 2010)

What exactly do you need? 

If you had two sensors for each lane, one at the start and one at the end, you could configure a race in RC to end after 1 "lap". The start line would provide reaction time and the end line would provide the end "lap" time. The two sensors from RC's point of view would have to look like the same sensor (is that wiring them in parallel???). Basically they'd have to go to the same parallel port pin.

You could also probably use some of RC's advanced race options to create a step ladder type of format... I'm thinking that heats run in pairs of two, with the winner advancing and the loser out. Every time you run through the field half the drivers are eliminated until there are just two left then you have the finals and you're all done.

Hmmmm, thinking about it, it might be really interesting to see how far the current version of RC can get you. Once I better understand how you run your drag races I'd be willing to try and set it up for you.

-Dave


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

You are correct on the parallel wiring. These guys built a drag strip and use *Slot Race Manager* for their software.






You may have heard of SRM. It's absolutely the best DOS based race program I've seen
More info about that here... http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=251075&highlight=srm

You can run a tree with SRM, but DOS has its limitations.


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## daufderh (Jul 30, 2010)

Here's what I see in that video as drag racing requirements:

Christmas tree light bridge
Reaction time sensor at start
Finish time sensor at the end

Is there anything else?

RC can easily do what I've listed assuming what you already confirmed that the two sensors for each lane are wired to the same parallel port pin so from the RMS perspective the same sensor is tripped each time. The other possible issue in RC is the Christmas tree light sequence. My support for the start sequence lights is VERY specific to my personal setup. I've actually asked for input on how to make it more "standard" but haven't gotten any so I assume there is little to no need. I'd be happy to make changes as needed here.

What I want to do though is take this one step further. Let's take a simple case where you have 4 drivers in your drag race. D1 and D2 race with the winner moving on. D3 and D4 race again with the winner moving on. Then there's one last race with the two winners for an overall winner. RC can absolutely do this now. In fact, it should be able to do it for any number of racers. AND in RC you can even do a qualifier in which all the racers race alone to set a qualifying time which gives them their seeding... Basically all of this is in RC now. The only real question I haven't thought about for this extended example is if the driver pairings will work the way you'd want based on seeding (highest seed racing the lowest seed)...

If all of this sounds right I'll setup things and do a video of it running in demo mode if it would help. The only thing you won't see is the light bridge but like I said, we can talk about that as I have support in there for that now, but it may not be what you want...

-Dave


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## TEAM D.V.S. (Nov 11, 2007)

daufderh said:


> Here's what I see in that video as drag racing requirements:
> 
> The only thing you won't see is the light bridge but like I said, we can talk about that as I have support in there for that now, but it may not be what you want...
> 
> -Dave


Can you make a christmas tree start that works with the program come up on your computer monitor instead of a actual christmas tree on the track?

http://slotters.weebly.com/race-coordinator.html


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Hey Dave,

Yes, SRM and RC look great for heads up racing, with similar setups, but lets get more specific.
My race history has been in stock car and road racing, so I'm by no means an expert on drag racing.
Anyone whos more knowledgeable, feel free to chime in, here's my best shot.

Drag racing would require this kind of sensory...
A pre stage light
A stage light
A red light for false starts
A start line sensor
A 60ft trap sensor
A finish line sensor
A win light going to the lane that wins.

There are two types of starting lights - Pro Stock and Regular
Pro Stock has all three lights flash simultaneously and then the greens. .400 reaction time is perfect.
Regular has the yellow lights count down to green. .500 reaction time is perfect.

All of this can probably be worked out in some way or another with your current program.
Here's where there is a big difference, bracket racing and break out times.
One huge draw to drag racing is that you can take your street car, and race it against some guys gasser,
and have a fair race. This is done through presetting your 'dial in' time. So, in 1:1 times,
you can run a 14 second car against an 8 second car and meet at the finish line.
If either car runs faster than their preset 'dial in', then they 'break out' and lose the race.
In our little world, you could run a stock Tjet against a vastly superior Tyco 440x2.
This one option opens up a whole new world of possibilities.
The ability to preset a break out time also allows you to set classes, let's say a 1 second class, 
a 2 second class, a .5 second class, and then all the Tjets.
Then you could say, "Okay, we're gonna run a Tyco pro stock class, and we're gonna set the 
break out at .0825 ." So, you have to run over that dial in.

RC has a lot of usable features for drag racing, but only for heads up racing.
My thought is it may be better to use your current platform and modify it specifically for 
drag racing and release it as a separate program. It may be less confusing to the end user that way.
There is only a few drag race specific programs out there, and none that are free, as far as I know.

Just puttin that out on the table. I'm still glad to see a more modern road race program out.

Any thoughts?

Thanks, 
Rich


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Here's the AuotWorld Drag Race system.






No race brackets, no times, but it does have the lights set up.
Again, it's only good for heads up racing.


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## daufderh (Jul 30, 2010)

So I put together a 10 minute demo on how RC supports drag racing right now. The problem is that when I post it up on YouTube I'm not getting audio. Anytime I transcode the video myself I also lose the audio... I blame the mac I did the video on.

The video showed something a bit different than what you're talking about anyway. You are talking about the single drag race between two drivers which RC supports on a basic level but it sounds like for better slot car drag racing you need a few more options and cool guy things like different LED support.

What I showed was how you could have 8 drivers in a single drag race which runs as a 3 round ladder format. The winner being the winner of the finals round. Of course you could run it with any number of drivers for the ladder, but I demoed 8.

Hmmmm, if I added in the drag racing options it would almost certainly be another application altogether. Not only don't I want to muddy the current race options in RC with the drag racing stuff, I'd cut out of the drag racing program all the things that aren't needed...

I'll think about it. If you're willing to work with me on it that is. Once the v1.4 version goes official, and the commercial product I'm working on is finalized (almost there) a may have some spare time.

If there's interest, email me and let me know you're willing to answer questions and possibly test. I think something can be put together pretty fast once I get my head straight on it. No promises though.

-Dave


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Email sent.


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## daufderh (Jul 30, 2010)

FYI, I missed the question before but yes, RC is 99% customizable and you can make any start lamp setup you like. The only real limiation right now is that the lights turn on 1 second apart but you can add in a "randomizer" to the final green light. Odds are you don't want the randomizer but it will allow you to get away from the 1 second delay.

I actually have a 5 light vertical start lamp if you want it. I don't have different color lamps though (I'm no artist). So you're stuck with my dark red, red, then green lights unless you do your own artwork.


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## daufderh (Jul 30, 2010)

FYI, RC v1.4.0.0 has been officially released. This is the official analog fuel release (finally). Many thanks to those that helped me debug both by providing me cables and such as well as those trying out the betas and working with me through the issues.

There's a ton in this release (see the site for details), but the big ones are:

Analog fuel supported race formats
Gameport support which provides support for the Carlson USB Sensor Trak

Sorry, no drag racing support just yet. But with this release we're one step closer maybe.

I'll take this official release moment as another opportunity to first say thank you to all those who have generously donated to the charities I've setup. Through your donations and me making up the difference my wife and I were able to make a fairly large donation this month which happens to be right about my son's birthday.
http://www.firstcandle.org/grieving-families/memorials/national-tree-of-hope-monument/

For those that don't know what I'm talking about please check out my site for more information. Basically any money donated to me for Race Coordinator goes 100% to charity. 

Regardless, enjoy the new release and as always let me know if you have questions/problems.
-Dave
http://www.racecoordinator.net/index.html


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## daufderh (Jul 30, 2010)

v1.4.1.0 is up on the site. It has two fixes in it:

Drift support works as it did in the v1.3.x.x releases
Fixed the track manager to show the proper configuration if you need to make changes to your track interface

Sorry for the drift bug. It's an easy one to over look, but that's no excuse. Nice catch NEScales...

http://www.racecoordinator.net/index.html


-Dave


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## daufderh (Jul 30, 2010)

Heh... v1.4.1.2 is up. It has the following fixes:


Drifting works for end of the heat/race
Team support works as well as it ever has

Please note that as of v1.4.1.1 the leader boards show the drivers "seed" in "()" before their name. 

I'll give this one a bit more testing before I release it. Please let me know if drifting is now working 100% as it should be.

-Dave


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## daufderh (Jul 30, 2010)

v1.4.1.4 (beta) just got posted. This is a big build as it will hopefully be the last build before the official release of v1.4.2.0, but also because I've made two fairly significant changes:

First, you can no longer add or remove tracks. You can only update existing ones. Many new users were getting confused and adding a track, but not changing the races to use the new track. This solves this problem and 99% of users will only ever need/want one track anyway. If you have created new tracks already, they will still work, you just can't create more.

Second, I've changed how the Race Day Screen gets selected. The "Race Day XAML File" is now a prefix that RC appends onto to get the full file name. This is done so that RC an automatically pick the proper race day screen to use for 2, 3, 4, and 8 lane tracks. It also makes it a little clearer how to select if you want driver/car images displayed, or if you want the screen to sort based on heat standings. ***It's possible this change will mess up your custom file setup. If so, you will need to simply go into the Expert Race Setup and change it back. If you create custom files with the same naming convention the stock files use, you can take advantage of this same system for your files. You can also type in the full file name and force RC to use a specific file.

Both of these changes were meant to make RC easier to use for the new user. And for 99% of the users out there you shouldn't even notice any changes. If you do have issues or questions as always don't hesitate to ask.

Oh yes, this beta release doesn't have the updated Race Wizards reflecting the new changes. That will come soon (probably in the official release).

-Dave

http://www.racecoordinator.net/


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## daufderh (Jul 30, 2010)

v1.4.1.6 (Beta) is up on the site. 

***There's a crash bug when you modify heats during a race and remove a driver from a heat. VERY bad if you do this and are running a race you care about. I strongly recommend everybody update to this version which fixes the issue.

-Dave


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## daufderh (Jul 30, 2010)

FYI, I released the 1.4.2.0 version officially. It's got a couple feature changes in it from v1.4.1.0 but hopefully it's all for the better. Otherwise this release is an accumulation of all the bug fixes from v1.4.0.0 including finally getting drift support corrected, and a few crash bugs that most people wouldn't ever run into...

This is the version to get if you're running RC...
http://www.racecoordinator.net/
-Dave


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## daufderh (Jul 30, 2010)

v1.4.3.0 has been released. LOTS of fixes since the v1.4.0 release. Check the site for details but the two big ones are that drift support is 100% correct again (was fixed in v1.4.2.0) and I fixed the crash watch dog. There's only one reported crash at this point and I think the v1.4.3.0 version fixes it but it would be wise to get this build. If there is a crash, the RCCrash.txt files should now contain all the information I need to see what is going on.

Enjoy
-Dave


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