Plan B

[Stan Pope]

At our district races, our Race of Champions 4-lane 5-car PN race was short-circuited by inability to make the electronics work. After a few minutes we went to a hasitly prepared backup plan ... 2 round no-chart DE on 3 lanes. Managed totally without records of who won which heats. I called the heats by eye (being one of the few experienced people there who was unbiased toward any participant). There were several close calls ... in fact I don't think there was a 1/2" difference in any heat ... most were much closer. A gentleman whose ability and integrity I trust concurred in my calls, so I feel relieved that I didn't make any errors that would cost one of those boys that big trophy. Fortunately, there weren't many heats to call, or I'd have been a nervous wreck!

When the track's caretaker returned about 30 minutes later, he had no difficulty in making it work. Dunno what the problem was, but "us engineers" surely flopped!

[Jthompson]

Stan,


Great information on what can go wrong. In your opinion, what is the best race format to use IF the electronics go out?

Thanks

[Stan Pope]

If electronics go out, then heats judged by eye and reliably identifying finish place among more than 2 racers is problematic. So need to run based on "heat winner". (This reduces the accuracy of Stearns and PPN final standings (points) methods.)

I prefer multiple judges. Either majority rule or honor each judge's selection. The latter allows no rerun of a heat just because judge can't decide! For instance, I would accept a judge saying that 2 or 3 cars in the heat finished in a tie, and award a "win" to each!

Assuming at least a 3-lane track, I'd run no-chart multiple elimination. Works best if scouts stage their own cars, though. Much easier to manage the boys in groups. Manage by score group, Line 'em up, Mix 'em up, Draw for lane as they reach the front of the line.

For large groups run 3 lanes. For smaller groups run 2 lanes. I'd base the decision on how many rounds it takes to reduce the 0 loss group to a single member. (Three rounds on 2 lanes reduces a group of 8, assuming no multiple winner heats. Three rounds on 3 lanes reduces a group of 27.) Regardless, heat winner(s) stay, others drop a level.

Full write-up on my web site. If the materials are in your "trick bag", it is easy to run. Needs two people who know the system. Rest can "learn on the fly" without hurting accuracy or fairness. Also runs faster than most scheduled heat races, since there is considerable opportunity for overlap of function and, if the boys race the cars, they are automatically where they need to be when it is time for them to race.