The main display

This display is the one that the drivers should be viewing during the race.

Header

In the centre portion of the header is the name of your racetrack, the LAPMASTER brand name, or the name of the Event. (See Race Setup )
To the left you will find a description of the Racing Class (See Race Setup ) that you currently are racing.
You will also see the Racing Type (See Race Setup ) and possibly the stint, heat and round number you are racing.

By the way, Racing Class and Racing Type can be clicked as buttons and used as an alternative way to open the Race Setup

To the right you see the “Racing clock”. Either a real time display or a down count clock for the stage of racing you currently are engaged in.
The stage might also be displayed. A stage of “Manual” indicates that Lapmaster is waiting on input from the race controller to enter the next phase

e.g. pressing “START” to start the first stint in each heat.

Track record

The “Track record” heading is actual a button which will display the track-record panel.

The small > button will reset all track records for the current racing class, after a suitable warning.

You can select to display the “Predicted result” in this column in place of the “Track records”. (See Advanced options).
Track records are still recorded and displayed when suitable.

Lane information

Each lane as defined in the Track Setup is represented by a horizontal colour bar. The colour of this is also defined in the track setup menu.

The first field is the Lane number.

After that follows the Driver name. This shows the name of the driver assigned to that lane (according to the Entry/Qualify panel and the current Stint and Heat.)

Next the current Position in the race of the driver is displayed. This is updated dynamically during the race. The position is relative to the current set of drivers on the track.

LAPS show the lap count for this stint. Whenever the race is stopped, fractions might be used. This is solely based on calculation of the time passed since last count, the average lap time and the info typed in the Track Setup. The fraction is only guidance. It might be totally wrong if the driver spins of the track in the time between passing the counter and the power is cut. At end of race the person controlling the race (the race controller) should update the actual “fractions” by means of the “Zone correction” button that will be made available at that point in time. This fraction can also be used to verify if a car that has coasted past the counter after power off has been registered or not. If the counter fraction is zero, the car has just been registered. If the fraction is high, the car has not been registered recently.

Total Laps shows the accumulated count for all stints in the heat. It will show the same fractions as the Lap counter. When the next stint is started and the car passes the deadstrip, the fractions of the total counter will be cleared. The program assumes that the car is started from the same position as where it stopped (although on another track), therefore the lap continued from this fractional point. By the time the car passes the deadstrip again, the fraction is reset.

However if you have selected the Challenge mode in the Race Setup the cars are expected to restart from the starting line. So in challenge mode the fractions are added together for a total count.

Lap Time shows the time of the latest lap. The time is the actual and precise time displayed with 1/1000 of a second precision.

Best Time shows the best time achieved within the stint. However the lap needs to be a “clean lap” in order to be counted as a best lap. A “Clean lap” means that the power has not been off between the two consecutive passing’s of the lap counter. This also means that the initial lap of a stint can never be considered as the “Best lap”.

Track Records. The system keeps track of track records (single fastest lap) for each lane and Racing Class. Track records are displayed with time, name of driver and date of event. The data is saved automatically.

The > buttons. Cancel a track record.

The system keeps 3 generations of registered track records. If you want to cancel one track record, and recall the previous, you can press on the > button for the track in question.

The system keeps 3 generations of track records to recall.

This feature might be very handy if for instants you erroneously get a new record registered because of a car passing in the wrong track. In that case delete the wrong record and reinstate the previous record.

Remember that you might delete all tracks records for the racing class in one sweep by pressing the > button on the “Track record” heading.

The “<” to the left clears the lanes “Best time” registration without affecting the “Track records”.

Race control buttons

At the bottom of the main display, you find a number of control buttons to be used by the race controller.

Race Setup.
Use this button to enter the Race Setup panel. This button is gray’ed out for certain phases of actual racing when changes to the race setup are not valid. However it will always reappear if you press the RESET button.

Entry / Qualify.
Use this button to enter the Entry/Qualify panel. This button is gray’ed out for certain phases of actual racing when changes to the entry/qualification setup are not valid. However it will always reappear if you press the RESET button.

Result.
Use this button to display the Result panel. This button is gray’ed out for certain phases of actual racing when changes to the entry/qualification setup are not valid. However it will always reappear if you press the RESET button.

Start.
Pressing this button either starts the race or the next stage of racing, when race control is in manual mode. (That is, “Manual” is displayed in the top right corner of the main display.)
A timed intermission might be cut short by a click on the “Start” button.
Remote Start is also possible when the system is in the “Manual” state. Just click the “OFF” and then the “ON” button of the remote control.

Pause / Resume.
The race controller can call a “Track call” during racing, by either mouse click on the “Pause” button, pressing the “Space-bar” or pressing the “Off” button on the remote control.

A “Track call” means that power on the track goes off, and the countdown clock is temporary halted. This is typically used to clear a dangerous situation on the track, or for whatever reason that the race controller might want to halt the race. When a “Track call” is active “Yellow flag” will be displayed in the top of the main display, and an announcement made suing the speaker system. Also the function of the “Pause” button changes to “Resume”.

To resume racing, you can mouse click on the “Resume” button, press the ALT+“Space-bar”, or use the remote control.
The use of ALT+Spacebar to resume makes certain that you do not get “stacked” trackcalls due to the repeating nature of the spacebar if you hold it down to long.

Note: If the track-call is initiated from the remote control the track-call must also be reset from the remote. A warning to that effect will be issued if you try to restart in any other way. On the other hand, a track-call initiated using the mouse or keyboard can be reset from the remote, provided that you cycle the remote to “Off” and then “On” again.

Note2: The “Track-call” can also be used during a timed race intermission to temporary halt the pause timer.

Warmup + Warmup w/Sound.
During certain stages of a race, the race director can allow for a short period of Warm-up time, in which power is on the track, but the counter is disabled. The Warm-up button is used for this. Note that a Warm-up period can be cancel again by pressing the Warm-up again. I.E. drivers are given 1 minute Warm-up. After this they are ordered to the starting line, and a second Warm-up is started and cancelled when all cars have been driven to the starting line.
The Warmup w/sound is the same function, but plays a sound with “Gentlemen, start your engine..” as an intro. This can be fun, but you don’t want to play e.g. it if you add extra time to drive the car to the starting line.

Help.
Well, if you are reading this, you have probably already used the help button to bring up this document.

Facebook.
The Facebook button starts Facebook in your favourite browser and positions you on the LapMaster Facebook page.
You might seek tips and help using this Facebook page.

Reset.
Pressing this button will cancel any on-going race and bring the LapMaster program back to an initial state.

Race History
If you select the race “to publish” in the Advanced race setup, then results and statistics will be generated and FTP’ed to your website (if configured). However a local copy is also available on the computer.
Clicking this button allows you to view the local data.
(This function requires that a preferred browser has been configured in the program setup)

Manual lap correction.
Pressing this button brings up a correction panel that allows you to add or subtract a whole lap from the counter, or even reset the counter all together.
(You can do the same functions using the “hot-key” function.)

This function is only available during actual racing. Otherwise it would not be clearly determined if it is the previous or next driver that will be corrected during lane changes.
Please note that “Zone-correction” is something different, and also that after the race you can correct by going directly into the entry-list and edit the results.

Simulation buttons.
(1-8, “track” and “Simtest”)
These buttons are only shown if the LapMaster program is in the simulation mode.
Pressing any of the 1 to 8 will simulate the passing of a car on the track sensor.
The track button simulates the pressing of the remote track-call button.
Finally the simtest button starts an internal simulation program that will run “virtual cars” on the track with approximately 3.5 seconds lap time. This is great for testing and viewing how the program operates.

Track test button

This button is located at the right button edge, and is only available while under yellow flag (“Track call”).

A track call is usual taken for an unserviceable car, or if a fault on the track is suspected. In the latter case, you often want to turn power on, so that a faulty wiring, fuse or whatever can be inspected. You can do so with the “Track test” button.

It turns power on, while disabling the counters, and putting the LapMaster program in a generally disabled state. It does so by putting up a message box in the middle of the screen. Power stays on until you dismiss the message box with “OK”.

At this point the LapMaster program reverts to the previous state of “Yellow flag”. You can then continue the race.

If your track is wired for individual lane power, then this window will appear.

This allows you to put test power on a single lane (or all). This prevents everybody else from racing around except the driver with the problem.

Emergency minimum lap time adjusts:

Also on this panel you have the option to adjust the Minimum lap time. It you have started a race and someone suddenly starts racing faster than the minimum time, then this is your escape.

You can adjust the minimum time without having to restart the race.

Zone correction

At appropriate times, according to the type of race that you are racing, the “Zone correction” button might be enabled.

LapMaster calculates the number of zones driven, based upon the time of the last parsing of the lap-detector, and the average lap-time. Usually this is reasonable correct. However if the driver de-slots on the last lap, it can be significant incorrect. By means of the Zone-correction the race director can manual change the zone registrations to correct for such irregularities when it is significant.

Clicking on the Zone-correction displays a menu like this. You then have the option to change the decimal part “The zones” of the count for this stint.
“Reset” sets all the zones for all entries to zero.

Bye Round / Next driver

This button is shown during qualification. It allows you to cancel the current qualification attempt, and skip to the next driver.

In “Bye-round” mode (see “Qualify mode” under “Race setup”), it also sets up the driver for a second qualification attempt with the penalty given in the “Bye round penalty” field.

Msg (Message)

Click on this button to open a dialog which allows you to type a message that will be shown on the main display as well as the “LiveTiming”.
The intention is to post messages like “Lunch break”, “Driver xx disqualified due to…” or other messages that might be of interest to your audience. Not the least the potential followers of your LiveTiming.

Hot keys

The Spacebar has been setup as a hotkey for trackcall. Hitting space while focus is within the LapMaster or Scoreboard application will toggle the trackcall state.

Note: It was previously necessary to use ALT+SPACE to release a TrackCall. While still supported, this is no longer necessary.

A second SPACE will release the TrackCall. To avoid the typomatic (repeat) function of the Spacebar to generate a series of On/Off in case the user should be holding down the Spacebar, some specific timings will be ignored. The Spacebar will not be recognised if the release is less than 50 mS or exactly 500 mS from the previous Space.

Pressing “Shift” plus “F1” to “F8” will add a lap to the associated lane.

Pressing “Ctrl” plus “F1” to “F8” will subtract a lap from the associated lane.

Pressing “F1” to “F8” will reset the lap counter of the associated lane.
Note: This function used to be activated using “ALT + Fx”, however since ALT+F4 terminates the program, the “ALT” version is no longer supported.

Pressing “Alt-Shift” plus “F1” to “F8” will terminate racing on a specific lane (When racing fixed number of laps. This is required if the entry cannot complete.)

The operator will be prompted for confirmation of these functions, before they are carried out.

Checkpoint/Restart

Even though the outmost care has been used in providing a solid and stable LapMaster program, a Computer might fail for a number of reasons. If none other, then at least it will fail if power is accidentally removed.

When you (re)start the LapMaster program it can determine that a previous race did not run to its conclusion. In that case you will be given the option to automatically setup the race computer in the state as of the last lane change. You might have to rerun a partial concluded segment, but the bulk of your race is saved.

LapMaster does that by automatically storing “Checkpoint” data at every lane change. This includes race state, counters, statistics and scoreboard. It even works for multi-round racing (accumulated or best-of).

I case you ever need this feature, you should take care to restart the cars from the track position that they occupied at the last lane change.

This will be apparent from the “segment” value of the lap count displayed on the restart.

There are only a few instances where the current segment display isn’t the position of the car:

· If you added a non-integer head-start value to the counter before the race.

· If you run “Challenge mode”

· In multiple accumulating round, and you are in round 2 or later.

In these cases you might consult the Statistics or the History file if you need to big out more details as to the starting position.