AMB

[davidsq]

this might be beating an old horse... we all like that. i recall something about this subject some time ago...

what does it take to re-write or re-wire or un-plug or re-boot our amb system ?
a club like us should be able to share our times with my laps .com
now that we all stepped up and use amb, this is a very good tool. not only to bash your friends but,

(this line left blank...for later comments)

also a resume (for future clubs) if one was to expand her/his driving with other clubs...
WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP WITH THIS ?
David Q.

[kurquhart]

+1. I have no clue what the issues are, but I would also like to see our events on mylaps.com.

[Robert]

mylaps.com requires using AMB's timing software, which costs $3,000. Our results are posted on the PCASDR and Zone 8 websites, with a full history going back to when we got the AMB hardware, so there's no lack of ability to look up your times or create a resume. Personally, I have no interest in having to learn a new system when the custom one we have now works perfectly well with the way we run our events and I have it wired so that I can relatively easily register people, run timing, drive my own car, and produce results in a semi-timely fashion.

That said, if others would like to completely take over event timing management (including equipment storage and transportation, set up and testing, mid-event registration changes, timing, session results printing and posting, take-down, and transfer of results to the web) and can convince the Board to part with the $3K, I'd of course welcome it. Contact me if you'd like to volunteer.

[pdy]

WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP WITH THIS ?
David Q.

Well, you might start by getting a car....

[davidsq]

if others would like to completely take over event timing management (including equipment storage and transportation, set up and testing, mid-event registration changes, timing, session results printing and posting, take-down, and transfer of results to the web) and can convince the Board to part with the $3K, I'd of course welcome it. Contact me if you'd like to volunteer.

i guess the first step is to pay off the board.
robert i dig what you saying. my most respect to you and others who volunteeeer. THANK YOU.

more to follow.
DQ

[tb911]

Just in case anybody doesn't know, you can see your results from our events here:

http://results.pcasdr.org/pca.php?database=tt

This has been quite frustrating for me, as the author of our timing software. Back in the day, there was very little out on the market that was worth buying. So I decided that if it didn't exist, I'd create it. Which I did. And as someone intimately familiar with how we did business, I made it perfectly match. Wrote it directly to the specifications of our club's needs. All was good.

Fast forward 3 years, and transponders were all the rage (remember when our Time Trials used the trip lights like the autocross?). The club invested and I took the time to modify the software to make it transponder compatible. Kary Clements took the time to write the web based results database (the above link), so we could always see what we've done and what our friends were doing. (Thank you, Kary!) All was good.

Fast forward another 5 years. Today there is lots of timing software on the market. Some good, some not so. Ours is pretty b******g, if I may say so. And still works exactly how we need it. We don't have to modify how we do business to match the software, rather the software is modified to meet our needs. Not just patting myself on the back, rather trying to help you understand Robert's point of view.

AMB is one of those companies that now has some decent software, and perhaps more importantly, mylaps.com. Unfortunately, they really like that $3K per copy they charge. To encourage as many people as possible to spend that $3k, they do not let you use mylaps.com without buying their timing software. I suppose it makes business sense. But frustrates the hell out of me because I'd like to provide that function for you. If they'd let us, we'd already be there.

[kurquhart]

From the mylaps.com help page:

Q: I am a racer and cannot find the results of my race organization. What should I do?
A: Please contact your race organization and ask them to upload the race results to MyLaps.com. This service is completely free of charge for both the race organization and for the racers!

[davidsq]

WOW....
was it something i said...?
there is more to times than just the "timed" runs...
more to follow.

[Tawfik]

From the mylaps.com help page:

Q: I am a racer and cannot find the results of my race organization. What should I do?
A: Please contact your race organization and ask them to upload the race results to MyLaps.com. This service is completely free of charge for both the race organization and for the racers!

Kris: the service from mylaps is free of charge if you purchase and use their SW. I have looked into this previously and talked to someone at mylaps to see if we could somehow put our results in a certain format and upload and I was basically told by mylaps.com that it is not possible to upload results unless we use their timing SW.

I do however agree that it would be nice to have times posted on mylaps.
Happy thanksgiving.

[Greg Phillips]

From the mylaps.com help page:

Q: I am a racer and cannot find the results of my race organization. What should I do?
A: Please contact your race organization and ask them to upload the race results to MyLaps.com. This service is completely free of charge for both the race organization and for the racers!

From the MyLaps.com website
The site offers race organizations, that work with AMB transponders and Track Timing software, an easy way to upload results to the internet so racers can analyze their own results and compare it with results from others.

Our present timing software does keep all of the practice laps for each transponder. It might be worthwhile to look at finding a way to publish those laps also. I usually have Robert send me a text file with all of the practice lap times by driver when I am writing the TT articles. I import them into Excel and then look at them. There should be a way to get them out to a wider distribution if people want them.

Greg

[tb911]

I have a question:

Why do you want mylaps.com?

Is it so all your POC & PCA races are in the same place?

Or is it for the practice times, being able to see how everybody did in a run group?

If it is the latter, we can fix that, like Greg said, and I'm thinking about how and what it would take. More to come.

tb

[kurquhart]

I have a question:

Why do you want mylaps.com?

Is it so all your POC & PCA races are in the same place?

Or is it for the practice times, being able to see how everybody did in a run group?

If it is the latter, we can fix that, like Greg said, and I'm thinking about how and what it would take. More to come.

tb

Both, although the latter would be more beneficial, IMO. Let me know if/how I can help.

One thing that mylaps.com does not provide, AFAIK, is class records for every track.

As to posting to mylaps.com, I wonder why they are so hung up over $3k? With all the transponders that we use at one event, we have already paid AMB an order of magnitude more that that. I know the protocol can't be that complex; I'm sure we could send it if they would only share it.

[davidsq]

Is it so all your POC & PCA races are in the same place?

Or is it for the practice times, being able to see how everybody did in a run group?

YES, all of the above and more...when the amb is used i do look at all the laps ran, good and bad, it's a pretty good tool.
i understand what you've done and it works very well. thank you for doing that.

Let me know if/how I can help.

me too, count me in coach
DQ

[tb911]

I think I'll have something to show you in a day or so. Hang on.

[kary]

I think it is important to understand that the standard now adays is mylaps.com. As Tom described the PCA SDR timing and reporting software eveloved over the years prior to the popularity of AMB. Thanks to everyone that contributed as I had fun building it and looking at the results myself. Unfortunately, as David, my man! points out, the PCA timing and reporting software really does not provide practice laps nor does it report racing laps like mylaps.com. There are different needs for auto-x, time trial, DE, and club racing for results reporting. The timing and reporting software for PCA SDR works very well for auto-x and time trial, not for racing, which many of us have evolved toward and rarely auto-x or TT anymore. I understand the volunteer effort involved and it is works then no need to change it, maybe.

One last thought, while $3000 seems like alot of money to buy the software to upload and manage results for mylaps.com, the contributed time on many of our parts to write our custom software for this stuff far exceeds the $3000 price tag of software that will continue to be developed for free by AMB and continue to provide additional features that our timing and reporting system will not provide. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but eventually the standard, AMB, will overcome our custom featured software....anyone in the software application business knows this....

Please do not misunderstand my persepctive, I dislike AMB, they have doubled their transponder prices in 5 years and their software is very simple and featureless compared to what can be done. Their technology is archaic compared to what could be built and they are cornering the market with this stuff... Anyone want to challenge them?