Slot Cars Adelaide
Break Out Handicapping
Break out Handicapping:
We had tried a few ways of handicap.
There was the breakout system that gives a lap penalty if you break under a lap time set
for the whole field. This works reasonable but is better if all drivers & cars are of similar ability and speed. It usually means that drivers have to devise ways to stay under the breakout lap time. This can be a simple as selecting a car that is under or close to recording the breakout lap time. Also some form of voltage / current control on the controller or as a separate item.
Dave Aufderheide incorporates breakout-handicapping control within Race Coordinator soft ware.
Driver Grouping System
Driver Grouping System:
At FPR we have a wide range of driver ability and car preparation. They all compete in the same classes and races. It seemed that the winning was done by two or three driver s within a group. We have Group 1,2 & 3 drivers seeded by results rating.
I believe that most if not all drivers would like a race win from time to time.
I did find the driver grouping a reasonable system but it also did become “graded” with in the groups.
The FPR Median Lap Handicap System
The FPR Median Lap Handicap System.
With using the Median Lap calculated in Race Coordinator a lot of the work on race night by the handicapper has been almost eliminated. There is a bit of “home work” involved though for the handicappers.
John H. (Bear) and Bert E. of FPR have worked together to make up a spreadsheet for handicap recording.
This is necessary as we use the Median lap recorded at the completion of the whole race in Race Coordinator. The recording is done foe each class and also for each track we use.
The handicap start time if the median lap time is increased is only reset for the next race meeting and recorded on the spreadsheet. There is no change to the handicap time during the race meeting.
Also if the median lap time for the class for the race meeting is less than the previous time the handicap time is not reduced. So it is a bit like golf scoring – once you reach a median lap level handicap it only changes if you improve your median lap time.
The initial median time was taken from previous scratch races for the class and for each track.
This involved a reasonable amount of work by Bear & Bert. But they were enthusiastic about the system so it was a labour of “love” for them. I think they completed that task in two days.
Once the sheets are printed they all go into one folder that is maintained by the handicappers.
If a previous Median Time has not been set a qualifying is held to achieve the median time for the class and the driver,
I would like to thank Bert & Bear for their work & dedication in arranging & performing the handicapping.
Ok so some work setting up the system but all that is done from there is to adjust handicapping if the Median time is improved.
The Median Time is a bit sympathetic to some de-slots and also the occasional fast lap record attempts so it is not completely rigid like the best lap handicapping.
However consistent driving avoiding de- slots is the best policy with Median Handicapping.
It has been good in creating more even competition through the driver seeding. So the top guns can battle it out if seeded in the same heats. But also the Group 2’s & 3”s can also fight it out between them. The big difference is that ANYONE has the chance to win the race overall.
This has been proven now a few times with a group 3 driver winning overall by driving consistently to the Median Lap Handicap.
John V. of MotorSport132 has been very helpful by configuring the xaml race and audio files to do starting count down. He has replaced Average Lap columns on the race day screen with the Median Lap column. Also he has modified the Race Results screen to show eight drivers and the Median Lap instead of Average Lap time for the race.
John has offered to configure your own files with the above modifications if you contact him.
Email: john.vodopier@gmail.com Web site: www.132MotorSport.com
If you contact Bert E. or John H. he may be able to send a copy of the spreadsheet file for recording the Median Laps for each driver – the sheet also has the scales we used to allot the handicap times on each track- Email: Bert: geobert44@gmail.com or John (Bear): bear_1955@bigpond.com
The Development of the Median Handicap System
The Development of the Handicap System:
Because I wanted to see everybody competing at FPR have a chance of standing on the rostrum at any race night I searched for a better handicap system.
I notice the Race Coordinator Software included a calculated Average Lap time and also a Median Lap time.
On investigation I noticed the Median Lap seemed to be a closer indication of driver race performance than the Average Lap. Both calculations were available in the Excel File of the race results. The Average Lap was available in the results screen but not the Median Lap.
In early development of the handicap system we did the counting by someone watching the Race Coordinator clock and calling the seconds out. All drivers leave the start line on the go signal from Race coordinator audio & “lights”. They then immediately stop in the pit area a metre or so ahead of the start line. This is the waiting area for drivers until they hear there allotted handicap start second called.
With the help of John V. of 132 motorsport Melbourne we were able to get the start seconds announced via Race Coordinator audio using excellent John’s Voice call counting up to 25 seconds.
The initially system we used was based on the best lap time determining the amount of seconds handicap for each driver. There were two scales of handicap worked out for each of the FPR tracks. This was calculated for a 15 Lap race. There was a one second difference in lap times between each track so that was reflected in each track’s handicap scale.
While this system was reasonably successful in producing some vary close racing it did take a bit more time as a qualifying heat was held before each race consisting of four heats.
Qualifying was done for each class on each track.
Also we altered the handicap for each driver that improved the best lap in each heat. Two steps on the handicap scale were added to the driver’s handicap if the best time was improved from the qualifying time.
The system was accurate and successful in application. But the qualifying heat and the changing of Handicap start times due to improving best lap was time consuming. Also the drivers had to be aware of the new handicap start time if they had improved there qualifying or previous heat times.
Handicap Scales
Here are the scales for LP & FPR tracks for 15 lap races.
s = scratch start. Left of each track column is the lap time and on the right is the handicap start time.
I believe if you track lap times are similar to either scales below you could use these scales to set up your Median Handicap sheets.
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