NASA selects RaceHero as exclusive live timing & results service

nasa-25-hour-thunderhill-racehero

I’m very proud of this news today! This partnership has been underway for the better part of 2016 and we finally get to break the news that RaceHero is now the exclusive live timing and results app for all 150 annual events organized by the National Auto Sport Association (NASA). For racers, officials & spectators, RaceHero is the app for live timing & results!

NASA previously used a patchwork of familiar systems to keep everyone up to date: event schedule PDFs sent by email, printed entry lists at registration, live timing on race monitor and paper results taped to the side of a trailer. RaceHero consolidates all of those functions into one automated, co-branded service that creates a better experience for their members and racers.

Read on for the full release:

NASA SELECTS RACEHERO AS EXCLUSIVE LIVE TIMING & RESULTS SERVICE

Napa Valley, CA: The National Auto Sport Association (NASA) has selected RaceHero as the exclusive provider for live timing and race results for all 15 NASA regions and NASA Championship races. RaceHero provides a “weekend in your pocket” experience featuring real-time entry lists, schedules, live timing and race results. Racers can now track over 150 annual NASA events using RaceHero on phones, tablets and desktop computers making their NASA experience easier to manage during the weekend activities.

It’s not a race without results and there are no results without timing and scoring. What once was tracked with a stopwatch is today completely orchestrated by computers. RaceHero allows us to provide an automated live stream from our existing timing systems to anyone in the world on any device, enabling us to grow our reach with no additional cost or effort. It also simplifies the process of posting results and getting information out to competitors and fans alike.

“NASA Timing and scoring operators are typically volunteers working under tight schedules” said Roman Vaisman, NASA Chief Technology Officer. “Just like the racecars on track, speed and accuracy are critical for our Timing and Scoring staff. RaceHero automatically publishes accurate provisional results and lets us easily distribute official results with penalties and corrections without adding more work for our staff.”

“While we can’t do everything in-house, we look for partnerships where we aren’t just directing our members to a third-party”, said NASA Director of Business Development Jeremy Croiset. “We embed RaceHero’s live timing and results in our websites where we can drive traffic, promote our sponsors and provide value to our members through the latest and greatest technology. Software entrepreneur and racer Brian Ghidinelli created RaceHero based on his passion for endurance sports car racing which is a core event offering from NASA and we’re thrilled to be working with him on this new program.”

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+.

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 existing timing and scoring systems. RaceHero is free to event organizers, promoters and racetracks and is available today at http://RaceHero.io and on Apple iTunes and Google Play.

View a sample race result from NASA’s recent race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

iOS and Android Apps Now Available

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!

History of Timing and Scoring at the Indy 500

indianapolis-500-timing-scoring

We missed a piece our friend Marshall Pruett (of RACER and Road and Track fame) wrote on how timing and scoring became automated prior to the electronic transponder systems we know today. Specifically, he captured some fascinating stories about the Indianapolis 500 using a wire running 1″ off the ground at start-finish to trigger a kind of punch card system:

The Indianapolis 500, as we noted in an earlier TRA tale, got its start using the most intrusive timing system possible—one with an actual wire that ran across the start/finish line and sat approximately one inch off the racing surface. Passing cars would run over the wire and trigger an create an imprint on a time card. Timing and scoring workers would then be responsible for noting which car tripped the wire and building a manual running order list for each lap.

indy-500-timing-and-scoring-tapers

Even then, the promoter wanted a backup to all that newfangled technology, so Indianapolis 500 historian Donald Davidson explains how they used “tapers” (which we still see today at SCCA road racing events as a backup to the MYLAPS transponder system):

“And then to complement that you had three or four people doing serial scopes, which is where you’re writing down the number of every car that comes by; that takes a special person to do that, you’re doing it down the column and then when the leader comes by, and you better know who the leader is, and then go to the top and you write another column. So they would have three or four people doing that.”

Read the full article on RoadAndTrack.com and follow Marshall on Twitter (he’s always at a race track!) Be sure to read the previous piece which explains how one lucky guy had to fix the tripwire during the race!

MYLAPS Live Timing Relay for X2

MYLAPS Live Timing all starts with the Decoder

Over the past year, MYLAPS has been driving adoption of their next-generation timing and scoring system, the X2 platform. It offers new insights into race activity, track status and system performance. Many of these improvements are only applicable (or affordable…) to professional-level race series but between older TranX2 hardware aging out and aggressive upgrade pricing, we’re seeing a few club-level series move to X2.

We’ve been testing a new version of our RaceHero Relay with X2 compatibility with race series in the United States. We are happy to announce version 3.1.0 is now publicly available. Upgrading is not mandatory at this time for existing users.

Everything about the RaceHero Relay stays the same, especially the automated publishing that doesn’t require babysitting. The only addition is to connect and stream live timing, race results, entry lists and schedules from Orbits 5.1+ timing software. RaceHero is now the most complete MYLAPS live timing solution available.

From conversations with our customers, those who have purchased TranX2 decoders in the past 5 years are not planning to upgrade until they have a hardware failure. We have even seen a few of the pre-TranX2 decoders still faithfully reporting passings so we know they can last for a long time! The older decoders are compatible with the new subscription-based X2 transponders so there is no urgent requirement to upgrade if your existing system is working well.

1 Million Laps On RaceHero!

dr-evil-million

So far, the RaceHero Relay has logged more than 1,000,000 laps of practice, qualifying and racing! Timing and scoring staff in North America, South America, Europe and Africa are offering their racers a more complete, more engaging way to follow racing on their phones, tablets and computers. Our live timing widget can be embedded in any website and viewed on any device, including iOS devices which do not support plugins like Flash.

There is no charge to broadcast events on RaceHero so offer it to your racers, officials and spectators!

Hydration – A Racer’s Marginal Advantage

Picture of Subaru Rally Car at Rally America event

I’m a total optimization junkie. I think (hope?) that’s a good quality in a racer. Which is why this quote about hydration jumped out to me this morning and why I have to share it with you:

I’m not getting younger so I’m increasingly looking to get an edge through marginal gains like this! Click To Tweet

This straight from an interview with legendary rally driver David Higgins (three time British Rally Champion, winner of 15 of the last 16 Rally America rounds for Team Subaru USA) over at Precision Hydration.

Snow at Silverstone Circuit in central England

I’ve been down the same road. Three years ago, I was sliding my rental car into a snowy Silverstone circuit in England. I was signed up for a two-day fitness clinic hosted by Mark Webber, then-Red Bull Formula 1 driver. The session was organized by the Porsche Human Performance Center led by Andy Blow who I learned about via his book Motorsport Fitness Manual.

The event was mostly attended by up and coming racers in junior car and motorcycle categories like GP2, GP3, Porsche Cup and Moto2. These kids had natural talent, funding and lots of seat time, but they had little in terms of strategy. Few had experience with physical training or nutrition and the topic of hydration might have only meant “energy drink”.

But when Mark Webber spoke about all the tactics they tried at Red Bull to gain just an additional 3 meters in the run down to the first corner, we all learned top-level racing isn’t about the last 1%. Their last 1% was found ages ago. They were hunting for the last 0.1%: any obtainable marginal advantage.

Author Brian Ghidinelli working on the bike while being measured by a Polar heart rate system

The lesson I took home and began applying to my own racing was from the results of my sweat test. Andy used a special machine to capture sweat from my wrist and measured the amount of salt lost per unit of sweat. It turns out I’m a very salty sweater. To replace the electrolytes I lose over an endurance race would require drinking three large Gatorades with 96 ounces of fluid and 168g of sugar – plus spending $10!

Like Higgins, I immediately became a fan of the H2Pro tablets and I carry them in my helmet bag so I always have them at the track. The salt increases my body’s water and electrolyte absorption rate so I can drink less, pee less and still maintain that ideal pale yellow urine color. You can make a less optimized version of this in your kitchen by adding a pinch or two of salt into your water bottle. The tablets have been key for me to be competitive, like during a 5-hour stint at night in the rain on our way to a class win at the NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill.

As Higgins said, none of us are getting any younger. And even if youth is on our side, a stack of 0.1% improvements adds up to the 1% that puts you way out in front.

One easy racing tip to be better prepared than your competitors. So good, even Mark Webber does it! Click To Tweet

You can read the full David Higgins interview at PrecisionHydration.com. They have an online sweat test that can approximate the results of the machine test I used in the UK.

If you want to geek out further, check out my YouTube Motorsport Fitness channel.

Going slow: is it the Driver or the Car?

Here’s something new on the RaceHero blog: a guest post for drivers that you’re going to love… because we all love to go faster! Working with Ross Bentley, author of the Speed Secrets books, e-books and webinars, we’re sharing an issue from his Speed Secrets Weekly newsletter. It’s a weekly email with juicy content for anyone who wants to perform at their best. This time we’re discussing how to tell when it’s the car (or motorcycle, kart, snowmobile, boat…) and when it’s the driver with one specific technique. Enjoy!

Photo by Austin Bradshaw of Flying Bye Photography

Photo by 15-year old photog Austin Bradshaw of Flying Bye Photography

Driver Control Bandwidth

We know the numbers. They are right there on the dash, glaring at us. Also, we know what our best time has been in the past.

Looking at the infamous “Sheet,” we see the leader’s time.

At this point, it starts to boil inside us: frustration, disbelief, and sometimes anger. “How can we be that far off the pace?” It seems like an impossible jump to the leader’s time. And, to make it more of a pisser, we aren’t even near our own best time.

Instantly, justification attribution kicks in and we start racer bingo. The leader is (insert favorite):

cheating
spending more money
using better tires
using a better motor
got a tow
had better track conditions
has the newer car
did we suggest cheating?

At the minimum, anxiety is setting in, if not full blown panic.

Racer Excuse Generator: The winner is a) cheating, b) spending more money, c) using better tires... Click To Tweet
Before the next session, we have to tweak something on the car such as tire pressure, shocks, anything that will make us go faster and try to catch the leader. Alas, we run the next session and we don’t go faster, but we actually go slower! AAARG!!

We have all been there. But what really happened?

Even though we all are quick to make changes to the car, thinking something is wrong with it, or the ambient conditions require a change, there is a high likelihood the car is not the reason for slower times. At this point, we must admit that the biggest variable in racing is driving, and chances are someone else is doing a better job at driving than we are. So what can be done to improve our driving?

Driver control bandwidth is a concept that we rarely think about, if ever. This relates to the specific tasks we perform in the seat and where they occur on the track. In the case mentioned above, it’s likely that our car control points have migrated or have a wider operating range of repeatability. So, we actually end up going slower, not because of setup, but rather less bandwidth for driver control. Just like your internet connection, more bandwidth is more capacity.

We end up going slower, not because of setup, but because of less driver control Click To Tweet

From an engineering standpoint, we can manipulate thrust angles, roll centers, frequency responses, or many other engineering factors by tweaking on the car; however, improving the car in a particular situation requires that it be consistently operated in that situation.

For example: If we have corner brake application points (or any driver task) that vary with each lap, then the handling for that corner becomes a statistical problem rather than a precision engineering challenge, as can be seen in these real-life examples below.

These graphs are the distance traveled per lap from the start/finish line in feet to where the brake pedal was first depressed.

The top graph is from a young inexperienced driver struggling to grasp the concept of reference points and is basically driving by the seat of his pants. The graph on the bottom is one of the best professional drivers I’ve ever worked with who is usually on the pole and often wins. It is easy to see that one is very consistent with driver control tasks and the other is…. well, all over the place and consistently at the back of the pack. Granted, the data is not from the same track, but the trend is obvious. Hint: Which one of these drivers has more consistent apex speeds?

It is easy to embrace and employ this concept to improve your own driving. The goal is to create and use a driving aid that shows us the repeatability of a task or its migration. It really is just that simple, so don’t try to make it hard.

How To Measure for Improvement

A good way to do this is with an objective metric that is readily available to most all racers, which is data. Relax, we’re not talking about those confusing squiggly lines, just a row of numbers listing the feet traveled to the brake (application and/or release) point, lap after lap for a given corner.

Use a driving aid that shows the repeatability of a task on track to improve the driver Click To Tweet

This doesn’t require an exotic data system or a complex engineering process. Any of the most basic systems from AiM, CDS, MoTec, Pi or any other brand that will allow you to create a “math channel” will do the job. No special sensors are required, although a brake pressure sensor makes it more clear, but it’s not absolutely required.

It is also nice if the data acquisition software has an export function to take the brake point listing and put it in an Excel spreadsheet (as shown above), but again, that is just eye candy and icing on the cake.

To create this driver aid, start by looking at your data. Identify a distance to the corner in question and pick a point that is a bit short of any anticipated braking point. Remember this distance. You can call it “corner entry.” Next, look through several laps to find a good average distance where the peak brake pressure or peak deceleration G occurs, and remember that number.

Use the math function in your software and create two constants, one for the corner entry distance and the other for the corner mid-distance, using the numbers from above.

Next, create a math channel that uses nested “IF” statements to see if the distance traveled (lap distance) falls between the two constants you created. If so, then check to see if the brake pressure or deceleration G has exceeded a specific value. I like to use 40 psi as my specific threshold value. Once that specific value has been exceeded, we can use this lap distance as the brake application point (as shown in the graphs above) and then make the value of the math channel return to zero for the remainder of the lap.

All that is left to do is to display the maximum value of the math channel in a table style display on your data software. Now you have distance traveled to the brake point for that corner during every lap of the run.

Creating a math channel such as this and using it to improve your driving consistency can result in a major improvement to your lap times.

Struggling on track & unsure whether to change the driver or the car? Start with this graph. Click To Tweet

Written by John Block from Auto-Ware for Speed Secrets Weekly. Follow John on Twitter at @autowareinc.

Updates from the NASA Western Championships

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.

Embed Live Timing & Results in your Website

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!

RaceHero Debuts Leader Light Demo at 25 Hours of Thunderhill

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

Publish Race Results Before You Leave the Track

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.

The frustrating feel when No Race Results Found!

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.

Image of race results on SCCA club racing website generated by RaceHero plugin 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.

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