PCA SDR

Thanks Gary and all for a great day, fun fast and well run once again....

Hopefully the Q will get some repaving done soon like I hear it might!

Robert

Yes, that was great fun! I'm still smiling. That was my first auto cross, and I would like to thank everyone involved in planning and running the event. Also, another big thank you to my instructor Carl Scrags (Sorry if the spelling isn't correct). I look forword to the next event.

Thanks, Gary,Curt, Chuck & the rest of the volunteers. That was soooo much fun! Can't wait until the 10th to do it again.

Yes, it was a great track! Can someone explain what the hell was wrong with the timing system? Some of us had their best time erased by what seemed like a larger than usual resulting "no time". We must have set a record for re-runs. Does the system not react well to coffee or is there something more?

WOHOO! I can't wait for the 10th!!!! I'm sitting here at work and all I can think of is late apexing!!!

Ah, I knew something was wrong with the timing just look at my times

Maybe the laptop didn't like the starbucks coffee

David J Marguglio wrote:Yes, it was a great track! Can someone explain what the hell was wrong with the timing system? Some of us had their best time erased by what seemed like a larger than usual resulting "no time". We must have set a record for re-runs. Does the system not react well to coffee or is there something more?

I can only comment on the time that I spent with the laptop. I was able to revive it by adding an external keyboard. From what I could tell, the rest of the machine was running fine. Ten to fifteen minutes of "good" times told me that the machine was OK. As to the other 20 or more issues that can occur with the timing system and timing in general, I cannot begin to comment.

Although I was not one of unlucky few who lost times during timed runs, it did not appear to me that there were an excessive amount of re-runs (we always have some re-runs due to timing). There was the big chunk of them in your run group David, but I can't remember a bunch of others.

Rumor has it that Bob Brand just bought Bill I's Mustang for 90K. Missing times, Bill hacking the computer, 90K for a Mustang, Bob winning KP and BRI - Coincidence? I think not.

Seriously, lots of fun competition and a good track although I didn't feel like I figured out the slower parts very well.

Perhaps I am still too much of a novice, but I come to an AX to drive. The 12 laps we get is more than most AX's allow, but is still only ~15-20 mins of driving time in a full day. When I get reruns because of timing, spins, whatever, the only thing I am thinking is that I get to drive more -- which is a good thing.

Rumor has it that Bob Brand just bought Bill I's Mustang for 90K. Missing times, Bill hacking the computer, 90K for a Mustang, Bob winning KP and BRI - Coincidence? I think not.

I like this theory; obviously Bob has taken a page from Duke Cunnihgham's book. Look soon for Bob to be living on a yacht owned by the Ibbs that is named "The Bobster" which he is supposedly paying rent on.

I can only comment on the time that I spent with the laptop. I was able to revive it by adding an external keyboard. From what I could tell, the rest of the machine was running fine. Ten to fifteen minutes of "good" times told me that the machine was OK. As to the other 20 or more issues that can occur with the timing system and timing in general, I cannot begin to comment.

Of course, this all now sounds increasingly shady in light of Pete's recent revelations. I was prepared for Billeye times to improve due to the type of code munipulation (ex: For car 491="best time"- 1.15 seconds) that might go unnoticed under the guise of "fixing the computer", but I did not see the Bob angle coming. Very clever indeed.

David J Marguglio wrote:Yes, it was a great track! Can someone explain what the hell was wrong with the timing system? Some of us had their best time erased by what seemed like a larger than usual resulting "no time". We must have set a record for re-runs. Does the system not react well to coffee or is there something more?

David,
On behalf of the timing team, I want to say that I'm sorry for any lost time and reruns -- at least reruns by timing mistake. What is wrong with the timing system is that there are humans operating it! Well, a lot of good stuff happened in timing, but some not so good. Here's a peek at this world of black magic:

1. One was human error on the computer operator which was me in one case. Specifically, I had let cars go out on the track for timed runs without entering their numbers. That was a dumb mistake made by a rookie computer operator. That was the start of the second run session. Sorry about that -- really. Unfortunately, a small lapse in concentration and next thing you know there is a track full of cars that need to be cleaned off.

2. Another case was that we had a car somehow not trip the finish light. So, it appeared to the computer that we had more cars on the track than we did. (I think that this was happening during practice runs a few times too). At timing, the only way we can really tell that something is wrong is that some times "don't look right". In this case, you might see a 944 finish with a time of 1:44, and you think that might not be right...or maybe they had a bad run. Then you look at the next car. Then, you have to figure out what is going on, and drag a car off the track (on the computer GUI) so that the other cars on track will get correct times, but even if you can see the problem, analyze it, and correct it, several cars may have already gotten bad times and get the rerun.

3. In another case, a corner worker had called in car off track and out of sequence. But, we never got message of where the car came back on. The timing computer has the ability to pull a car off the track and reinsert it, but we have to know where it goes back on the track relative to the other cars. With only half of the info, everyone who is on the track will get bad times. We had something like six or seven cars on track at once. I think that this is also a little unusual, and we typically space cars a little wider for timed runs.

4. There were a number of spins on track that caused reruns, because cars behind were affected. It seemed that maybe we had more than usual for some reason -- maybe that was also related to car spacing. Timing had nothing to do with these.

I also want to add that timing is much more difficult than it looks. There is a lot going on, and very fast, and most of it human manual work. Even a small mistake can have big consequences. Help the timing people out by staying away from the front of the trailer, use radios to be clear about getting info quickly and accurately, make sure that you have the right car numbers on your car, and don't DNF or hit cones.
Bob

P.S.

Anyone want to buy a mustang? I have no use for that thing.

David,
You are on the right track with the Billeye computer "repair"
I think I might have heard him say it was something like this:
(For car 491="best time" x a factor of .94 )

This way he only has to "repair" the computer once and all his times will be "enhanced" equally over all the different tracks we run.
I think he muttered something about being cheaper and easier than taking the interior out....

Now I can't confirm any of this as 100% factual but....

bobbrand wrote:P.S.
Anyone want to buy a mustang? I have no use for that thing.

And true to form in the Mansiongate scandal, you are willing to take $70K less than you paid for it, right?

TT