We have exciting news today – RaceHero and MotorsportReg.com have been acquired by Hagerty as part of their deepening investment in motorsport! Our team is staying in place and will expand to make RaceHero even better than it is today. New features, better performance and expanded support are just a few of the benefits our race organizers, competitors and spectators can expect going forward.

Read the full announcement on the MotorsportReg blog.

RaceHero is produced by the same team who offers MotorsportReg.com, a software platform for clubs, racetracks and sanctioning bodies to manage motorsport events. We are very excited to grow our customer growth and success team! Our company is fully-remote meaning you can work from anywhere so long as you have a good internet connection and a regular 4-hour overlap with US/Pacific time zone.

While we don’t talk about it in the job posting because it’s a minority of the current position, helping grow and support RaceHero will be part of the responsibilities. Full details and how to apply: http://blog.motorsportreg.com/hiring-customer-growth-success-team

We hope you’ll consider joining our team, or referring people who would be a good fit!

The NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill in Northern California is the longest road race in North America each year. It is also an event where the team behind RaceHero directly participates. RaceHero Founder Brian Ghidinelli drove the #3 Tiger Racing / Bavarian Tuning BMW M3 in the top ES class and finished 4th in class and 7th overall behind a list of increasingly-awesome supercars like an Audi R8 LMS, Porsche 911 RSR and Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo.

In addition to being a racer, Brian also serves on the Thunderhill Raceway board a director. In an effort to improve the experience for participants and spectators, we added pit stop support in live timing to help teams strategize the race just like the pros. We worked with the track to install a new timing loop at pit in and coordinated with NASA to provide the necessary extra timing hardware.

The ultimate goal was beautiful – live timing with automatic visual pit stop notifications and counts including the super important “laps since last pit” counter to help identify when a racer might need to stop next. Everything a professional race strategist would use at the 24 Hours of Daytona or Le Mans is now available to every endurance race around the world.

For more information about how to get set up with RaceHero, download our Live Timing Relay for MyLaps. Pit stop support temporarily requires us to mark your race as an endurance event so please contact us for details.

The headline says it all – you can now find RaceHero native apps in the iTunes and Google Play stores:

We’ve focused on building a great cross-device experience for phones, tablets and web browsers, so why download our native app?

• Screen lock is blocked while watching live timing so you never look down and find the screen has gone black
• Better performance: more responsive to touches and taps and faster
• Bottom navigation for switching between live timing, results, entry lists and schedules doesn’t jump around on iOS
• Easy access from your home screen (or ask Siri to open it!)

There are also versions for tablets with more racers on screen. Perfect for enduros! We have been using it like rabid dogs for the past month in testing and at the track. We’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below. If you like the app, giving it a rating in the app store would be much appreciated!

I was on site yesterday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca supporting the National Auto Sport Association (NASA) Western Championships. Walking through Timing and Scoring, NASA Officials had at least one device in front of them and in many cases had secondary tablets or laptops dedicated to displaying RaceHero while they performed official duties on their primary computer. I personally saw dozens of shares on Facebook, all which included a large NASA logo, helping to promote their organization and event.

Since everything was running smoothly, I pulled out my laptop and put the finishing touches on some new features and bug fixes for live timing. These improvements are now live:

• Gaps in collapsed view – on phones, the Gap to the racer ahead now displays in the collapsed view. On tablets and larger devices, you’ll also see Gap to P1. This provides more context without having to tap a racer and see all of their details.
• Better handling for the Finish (Checkered) Flag and Stop Flag in Orbits – the clock now stops properly once the Stop Flag has been clicked in the timing program.
• Results notification stays longer – whenever results are posted, we display a notification at the bottom of live timing that lets you view them if interested. This message disappeared way too fast so now it hangs around for a minute. If it’s in the way, you can dismiss it by tapping the X. The entire notification is now clickable making it much easier to tap with your thumb.
• In certain Orbits configurations, the Overall/By Class toggle might go missing when starting a new run. They now stay visible unless you’re watching a single-class session in which case we hide them.
• Lap time and position charts no longer look like they ate an extra helping of fried chicken early in a run. They now stay nice and skinny whether you have a 3-lap qualifying run or a 500-lap endurance race.
• When embedding our live timing widget in a website, we fixed some browsers from displaying a duplicate scrollbar to clean up the look

That’s all for now! If you are a race organizer or promoter or timing and scoring person, you can download our Relay and start offering RaceHero to your racers free of charge.

Super excited to share some new features we’ve been working on! One of our goals is to push race data everywhere people want it. Race groups are becoming more web savvy and we know you want to direct racers, spectators, officials and sponsors to your website to build your brand and audience. That’s where our embedded website widgets come in!

Live Timing Widget

Organizers can copy and paste a short snippet into any web page to embed an automatically-updating live timing feed. If you’re not currently racing, we’ll show previous race results. Here’s an example from a sports car racing organization. They bundled our live timing widget with an announcer stream, play-by-play Twitter feed and Disqus forums to build a single experience for race weekends.

Our widget is responsive and automatically adjusts to your web page height and width. It does not require Flash or plugins meaning it works on any device – smartphones, tablets and computers.

Current RaceHero users can grab the code here. New to RaceHero? Get started here.

Race Results Widget

Who loves coming home from a long weekend at the track only to have to update your website with all of your results? Didn’t you just print and publish them at the event? Why do you need to take an extra step?

We didn’t know either.

We created an obvious industry first – when you end a session in your timing and scoring software, RaceHero automatically publishes provisional race results within seconds to every device. And that now includes your website! As fast as results appear on your phone, they also appear on your website using our results embed.

Like all results, timing and scoring officials can mark results as official which instantly updates your website eliminating any Monday-morning duties for T&S or race directors while keeping anxious racers and spectators perfectly satisfied.

From trackside to racers and fans on the web – automatically and instantly!

Current RaceHero users can grab the code here. New clubs, tracks and sanctioning bodies can get started here.

If you’re a racer and would be interested in embedding a live timing widget whenever you’re racing into your website or Facebook fan page, let us know in the comments!

IMSA-style system built with off-the-shelf parts brings pro technology and excitement to amateur racing

San Rafael, CA: The National Auto Sport Association (NASA) 25 Hours of Thunderhill presented by Hawk Performance will be easier to follow this weekend with live timing app RaceHero and the introduction of a low-cost leader light system. Unlike proprietary, expensive systems that display a car’s running position using LED lights as seen in the TUDOR Sports Car Series and 24 Hours of Spa, the RaceHero light system is built with off-the-shelf parts and updates continuously around the 3-mile Northern California circuit using an inexpensive mobile phone connection.

The longest North American sports car race is also the darkest with more than 12 hours of nighttime driving. Participants and fans have a difficult time following the storylines and positions of the cars as they circulate in mixed-class racing for more than 600 laps. The RaceHero app keeps everyone – teams, officials and spectators – up to date by delivering real-time race data to smartphones, tablets and computers.

“The amateurs at Thunderhill battle just as fiercely as the pros at Daytona and we’ve designed RaceHero to capture and tell those stories with our advanced timing and scoring integration,” said founder Brian Ghidinelli. “With live timing, race results, entry lists and schedules in one mobile app, it’s the only thing you need during a race weekend to follow the action.”

The leader lights connect the racers in the app to the cars on track creating an exciting second screen experience for motorsport events. The system uses low-cost Arduino computers connected via Bluetooth to an in-car smartphone app that retrieves position data for each car from the RaceHero servers. The total system cost is $75 and was developed in the four weeks prior to the race as a technology showcase.

“I have so much love for professional racing and what their resources let them add to the experience,” said Ghidinelli, “but our leader light demo shows what is possible using smartphones and consumer-grade technology to make racing – at any level – more appealing to both the current and next generation of motorsport enthusiasts.”

The in-car smartphone app is not limited to displaying position on the LED board. It can also provide the racer with tactical and strategic data including lap times, gaps to racers ahead and behind, flag status and official race clock.

NASA co-founder Jerry Kunzman said, “The 25 Hours of Thunderhill has become a premier event attended by drivers and teams from as far away as New Zealand, Europe and Japan. The RaceHero app makes it fun to follow the action and the leader lights will add additional excitement to our TV coverage scheduled to air early 2015.”

The teams running the demonstration leader lights are:

• ES – #6 Stammer Inc / Bavarian Performance BMW M3
• E0 – #31 Hankook Tires / El Diablo Motorsports BMW M3
• E0 – #82 BimmerWorld / Red Line Oil BMW 330i

The 25 Hours of Thunderhill begins Friday, December 5th at 4:45pm Pacific time with a one-hour combined practice/qualifying session. The 25-hour race begins Saturday, December 6th at 11:00am.

Entry lists, schedule, live timing and results will be available on RaceHero at https://racehero.io/orgs/nasa-norcal.

About RaceHero: RaceHero brings everything about race day to your pocket in a fun, social way. By looking beyond simple finishing position, RaceHero highlights big passes, personal bests and epic battles. Access entry lists, schedules, live timing and results from smartphones, tablets and laptops all driven automatically from the existing timing and scoring system. RaceHero is free to event organizers, promoters and racetracks and is available today at https://racehero.io.

Follow RaceHero at twitter.com/RaceHeroApp and facebook.com/RaceHeroApp

About NASA: The National Auto Sport Association (NASA) was formed in 1991 with the premise of delivering high-quality motorsports events to enthusiasts at major racing venues throughout the nation. NASA has created programs that allow owners of both racecars and high-performance street-driven vehicles to enjoy the full performance capabilities of their cars in a controlled professionally managed environment. NASA offers many different programs that will allow you to enjoy motorsports on a number of different levels, including our High Performance Driving Events (HPDE), Rally Sport, Time Trial, NASA-X and Competition Racing programs. For more information, log onto www.nasaproracing.com and connect with the community at Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

Has this happened to you or your timing team?

You finish another great weekend at the track as the Chief of Timing and Scoring. You load up your laptops, decoders and gear at 5pm and make the drive home safely.  You dump everything in the garage and go to bed exhausted but smiling. Monday is a blur of getting caught up and Tuesday is meetings all day long.  The “couple of minutes” you need to open up the timing laptop, generate the result PDFs and upload them to the website are scarce. Friends come over for dinner Wednesday and it’s Thursday night before you finally get a chance to unpack and publish the official race results.

Unless you make your living in timing and scoring, you’ve got other obligations and interests Monday through Friday. Booting up the computer to spit out a bunch of PDFs and update a website is not high on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, let alone your To-Do list.  So let us cross it off for you… permanently.

Introducing the RaceHero Results Plugin for Websites

Our Results Plugin automatically updates race results on your website without any action on your part!  Provisional results are automatically posted as each session ends.  Official results can be uploaded anytime: as they are certified, at the end of each day or the end of the race meeting depending on your schedule and officiating.  Adding it to your website requires a one-time cut and paste of a few of lines of HTML.

As soon as results become final, one click replaces provisional results with official results including penalties, adjustments and comments made in the timing software.  For most race organizations, your official results will be on your website before you leave the track.

Our Plugin is a win-win – it eliminates the tedious job of generating and uploading PDF results to your website while also getting results into the hands of your racers, officials and spectators as soon as the checkered flag is thrown.  By giving something fun and timely to your racers and fans, you will see more sharing on forums and social media which is free marketing for your race series.

How much happier will your racers be without having to wonder when the results will be posted?!?  How much happier will your T&S team be without having to come home from a long day at the race track to face more tedious computer work?  Those were rhetorical questions, we already know the answers. 🙂

Current RaceHero users, you can get the HTML snippet here. If you’re not using RaceHero yet, see what else you’re missing out on.

At least here in the Northern hemisphere, it’s the thick of race season.  And race season is always a blur.  We’ve been at the track nearly every weekend running RaceHero in private and public tests across North America.  Our live timing and results app was run at the Toronto IndyCar weekend, SCCA June Sprints and Pirelli World Challenge in Sonoma plus dozens of club races and kart showdowns like NASA NorCal at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and Championship Enduro Series at Blackhawk Farms plus a 4-Hour Enduro.

Just like battle on track helps sharpen racecraft, live testing with flaky Internet connections, busy timing and scoring chiefs and racers with weak transponders have helped us improve our relay software. We’re excited to announce a significant upgrade and the immediate availability of version 2.13.1.  The latest update brings the following benefits:

• Finds all MyLaps Orbits timing computers on the local network and presents a list with name and IP address for easy selection
• Automatically reconnects to Orbits if the timing computer is restarted or the connection is lost
• Newly redesigned “Live Event” screen helps you stream your event to the world in just two fast steps
• Still runs 100% hands-free once connected: identifies runs as they start, the type (practice, qual or race) and automatically uploads provisional results when each run ends.
• Added highly visible notifications if connections are lost plus system tray bubbles when the application is minimized
• RaceHero asks for the venue you’re racing at so we can compare results from weekend to weekend.  We improved this selection and matching process.
• Ran successful tests against latest MyLaps X2 Decoders and Orbits 5
• Download size reduced 25% and packaged with a proper installer to create a desktop shortcut and Start Menu icon.

It’s the new late summer hotness! Download it now and start streaming your next race live to the pits and the world with RaceHero!

Download RaceHero Relay v2.13.1 for Timing & Scoring Operators

Racers, ask your race director or timing chief to download our relay so you can use RaceHero at your next race!

Burn the midnight oil.  Nose to the grindstone.  Shoulder to the wheel.  Pick your saying because we are squashing bug after bug as we move closer to our official release.

We’ve run dozens of live tests with friendly timing and scoring teams but this weekend marks the first time we’re both running RaceHero and telling racers about it.  There are two high-profile events this weekend where you can see race heroes in action:

The June Sprints, “Not Just Another Race”, is running for the 59th consecutive time at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The legendary 4-mile circuit is hosting a SCCA Majors race where 300 top amateur racers will be competing for a piece of the SCCA Triple Crown. Competition starts with testing on Thursday and practice, qualifying and races on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The Canadian Historic Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport) will be hosting 220 vintage racers from Thursday to Sunday.  Featuring an enduro and a special Can-Am Showdown, anyone with memories of a famous car from their past will probably see something that makes them think about the good ol’ days.

Point your phone, tablet or laptop to http://RaceHero.io and you’ll find these events complete with entry lists, schedules, live timing and race results as soon as timing begins.

While you’re here, drop in your email address and we’ll notify you first when we start taking signups for Racer accounts where all of your results will be collected for you automatically!