| LaneMaster Manual | Race Mode |
Manual Table of Contents | LaneMaster Home Page
To run an informal (single) race, select the "Race"
button, or Mode, Race and enter the names of the racers in their desired
lanes. You can use the Tab or Enter key to move from name to name, but it is easier to use
the listbox as described under Practice Mode (Method 3). If you don't enter a name for any
lane and just leave "NameX" in the window, LaneMaster will automatically blank
out that lane during the race. You must enter a name for each lane that actually will be
used, because lanes with no names don't get displayed!! When you have finished entering
names, select "Ok" to return to Data view. LaneMaster will turn off power to the
track (if you have wired in the power relay... see Section 4) until you either begin the
race or select "warm-up".
To show the lane rotation chart between entering names, click
on Show Rotation.
Selecting "warm-up" will allow racers to practice
and will display laps and lap times, but data generated will not be saved or used in the
race. There are three options when using "Warm Up" mode. "No time limit; no
elapsed" means that LaneMaster will remain in "Warm Up" mode until the Race
Director manually stops it and begins the race. "Elapsed Time - No Limit" means
that LaneMaster will display how much time has passed since Warm Ups started but will
still require the Race Director to end the Warm Ups and move to Race Mode. "Time
Limit: 'x' minutes" means that LaneMaster will automatically power off the track and
end Warm Ups after the desired number of minutes have elapsed. Just type the desired
number of minutes in and press enter. The default is 2 minute Warm Ups, but you can make
this as long or short as you want. In fact, if you want Warm Ups to last 90 seconds, you
can type "1.5" into the minutes field.
If you want to run a 4 heat race on an 8 lane track, select Edit,
Heats, 4 Heats. To change it back, select Edit, Heats, 8
Heats. On 4 lane and 6 lane tracks, this feature is not available, and races will only run
to 4 or 6 heats, respectively.
When you are ready to begin the race, the racers put their
cars on the track in the lane that they selected. Click on the "Countdown"
button or press "Enter". LaneMaster will then count down the number of seconds
that you selected for Countdown duration, displaying extremely large numbers on the screen
for easy viewing by all racers. When the countdown is over, track power will be turned on
automatically and laps and lap times will be displayed and recorded.
Please note: LaneMaster never shows a lap time
for the first lap recorded, since the first lap (from the starting line to the lap
detector) is not necessarily a full lap!
The Output screen (leader board) shows the current
heat number, the time remaining and current results for all racers in order. (LaneMaster
displays elapsed time rather than time remaining if you are racing to a lap goal rather
than time duration.) The racer with the most laps for the total race (not the
heat!) will be shown on the first line, and all other racers will be shown in descending
order below the first racer. As the race progresses, this leader board is updated once,
twice, or four times per second, depending on your hardware setup.
At the end of each heat, LaneMaster will turn off power and
display the results for that heat, total laps for the race so far, lap times and current
order of the racers. At the top of the screen, "Lane Rotation Time Remaining" is
displayed. The next heat starts when time expires.
If necessary, you can change results for the just-completed
heat. Changes should not be necessary unless one car jumped lanes and missed registering a
lap or laps on that racer's lane. To change the heat total for any lane, enter DATA view,
then press the number on the keyboard that corresponds to the desired lane. This will
bring up a small window showing the racer's name and lane and how many laps were recorded
during that heat. Type in the correct number of laps, then press "Enter".
At the bottom of the screen, the selected rotation scheme
chart is shown, so that racers will know which lane they will race on in the next heat.
The Rotation scheme is read from left to right and each racer moves from their present
lane to the next lane to the right. The racer in the last lane listed on the right moves
all the way back to the first lane listed on the left (except in Round Robin mode, which
will be described later). The lanes are listed as colored blocks or numbers, depending on
the setting you have chosen in Edit, Show/Hide Lane Numbers.
The racers should have their car on the track in their new
lane and be ready to race before the Lane Rotation period ends. If all racers are ready
before time has expired, you may start the next heat early: Press any key to bring up the
Data view screen, then select "FastFwd". The countdown will then start
immediately.
LaneMaster offers two rotation schemes, European (default)
and Straight. Using European rotation, the order is 1-3-4-2, 1-3-5-6-4-2, or
1-3-5-7-8-6-4-2 for four, six and eight lanes respectively. Using straight rotation, the
order is 1-2-3-4(-5-6(-7-8)) for four, six, or eight lanes. If you use Four Heats / Eight
Lanes, (also known as "4/8 mode") the rotations are 1-3-5-7 and 8-6-4-2 or
1-2-3-4 and 5-6-7-8 (separately).
At the end of the Rotation Period, cumulative data for all racers is moved to their new lanes, the results of the previous heat are stored as a file on your hard drive, and the next heat begins. Each race consists of as many heats as there are lanes (except in "4/8" mode (see above) or Round Robin, as detailed below). In other words, on a six lane track, there will be six heats. Racers continue to race and rotate until all heats are completed.
In Round Robin mode, the racer in the last lane in the
rotation sits out all heats until it is their turn to come back into the race. The name of
the next 'Robin' who will be entering the race is displayed on the lower line of the
rotation chart, as denoted by the word "IN:". The 'Robin' entering the race
always enters on the first (leftmost) lane in the rotation. The number of heats in the
race will be equal to the total number of racers in Round Robin mode. Note that you
cannot run a Round Robin event in "4/8" mode!!
Track Calls
If a Track Call occurs during the race, you can pause
LaneMaster by pressing the spacebar (or turning ON the Remote Track Call Switch). This
will automatically cut power to all lanes and stop the heat timer. An elapsed time counter
will appear on the screen to show you how long the Track Call has been going on. It is up
to you to end the track call (restarting the heat) when the problem is corrected (or if
you use a time limit and it has expired). When you end the Track Call, there will be a
countdown (for the number of seconds set for "Track Call Countdown" in Edit,
Timing) before the heat continues. Remember, if you start a Track Call from the
Remote Track Call Switch, you must also end it from there, and if you used the
spacebar to pause you must use the spacebar to restart!
After the last heat, LaneMaster will wait until the Coast
Time has expired (since there is no lane rotation period after the last heat!), and then
will display "Unofficial Results" on the screen. These results are unofficial
because the Race Director has not yet had the chance to fix any miscounts that may have
occurred in the last heat! You can either press a key to continue or let LaneMaster count
10 seconds, at which point it will automatically continue anyway.
LaneMaster then asks if you would like to edit the data for the final heat. If you select "Yes", a new window will open, showing racer names and the laps recorded in the final heat. Press the number of any lane to adjust that racer's results. Once any necessary changes have been made, select "OK". At that point (or if you answered "No" to corrections in the first place), the Official final results for the race will be displayed on the screen, showing racer names (in order of finish), their total laps for the race, and their laps for each heat of the race. Please note that while the displayed results may cut off the end of some racer's names or the data may look cramped on the screen, it will save all data correctly and reports will be printed in a much more readable format!
| This page was last edited on: 09/23/18 |