Race Coordinator and Viasue

[Race Coordinator]

A Race Coordinator user pointed me to this site so I thought I'd swing by and say hey. I was reading some of the Race Coordinator related posts and a particular post caught my eye. Rather than hijack that thread, I just wanted to say that RC has teamed up with Viasue to provide a fully plug and play USB based timing system.

The system is 100% plug and play, even the track sensors are installed into your track of choice (unless of course you're running on a routed track). It comes with a custom Race Coordinator installer that auto configures your hardware for you. Literally you plug some cables in, install the software, and you're racing.

The system comes with an overhead light bridge to illuminate the photo cells. We strongly recommend you use it, however, in my bench testing I ran something like 3600 laps, timing with both this system without the light bridge installed, and Trakmate timing simultaneously using a second set of sensors. I did this in my dark unfinished basement with nothing but a fluorescent light overhead lighting the room. Both TM and our system were within a single lap of each other at the end of the 3600 lap test. I don't know what caused the single lap difference, but I suspect it was a result of not using the light bridge (a shadow over the sensor). Regardless of the cause 1 miss in 3600 is less than 0.001% error rate, and a properly configured "Min Lap Time" would have prevented the false lap from registering in the software.

On top of ease of use and reliability, I am doing the software support and aiding with the hardware support. If you've heard anything about the Race Coordinator software, you have probably heard how hard I work to support my users. And that's for free software. You can safely assume I'll be working just as hard to support users that paid for our hardware platform if issues arise, although this system seems so solid we're hoping not to have any problems.

Lastly, as with all the donations made for my software, all the money I receive for this hardware platform goes to charity, so you get a great system, and a great cause gets a little bit of money. Everybody wins. For more information on the system check out the Viasue or Race Coordinator websites. It is for sale and available now.

Thanks
Dave

PS: Thanks for the move...

[waaytoomuchintothis]

RC, if I read your website correctly, these systems are only for plastic track and each version costs hundreds of dollars. Is that really what is intended? Did I miss something?

[Race Coordinator]

To be fully plug and play it needs to be installed in the plastic track of your choice. However, either arrangements can be made to install the sensors into your wooden track or a unit can be delivered that would allow you to install the sensors yourself.

As for cost the solution is not cheap by any means. Cost wise it's on par with competing offerings, but not very many (if any) offer a truly 100% plug and play USB system. If you're a DIY guy, this offering is not for you. But if you want a setup that works basically hassle free right out of the box then this is something you should consider.

For customization and price quotes you should contact Viasue directly.

[btaylor]

RC, I have had a Viasue track installed system (tommy HO) I must say that the software part of the kit I bought was impressive,however the in track sensors and light bridge failed to work from day one. the only way to make it work was to lower the light bridge to a point of touching the rear wings on some cars. It still would read laps on random lanes from a car just running with elevated rear tires. I also got a lot of run around for product support,and really never received any help other than to read the setup files. I don't mean to bash your system,but folks on this sight need to know if a system is truly plug and play trouble free.
That was last October,and it has been replaced with trackmate timing that works flawlessly. This is but one experience with Viasue,and does not mean that all the systems are problematic.

Bob

[Race Coordinator]

Yeah Bob I can't comment on a system sold last year as this partnership is new.

All I can say is what I already have, which is that in the bench testing I personally did, it took me 5 minutes to install the sensors (wooden track so I installed them myself) another 5 to install the software, and then I was off and running 3600 laps.

I didn't even use the light bridge that comes with it. Maybe that means my basement ambient light was so great that it just worked, I really can't say, but it worked flawlessly in what I consider a pretty dank/dark basement and under pretty rough conditions (the 3600 laps were run in 3 days, about 90 minutes of un-interrupted racing each day).

The other thing I can tell the community with regards to this new system is that if there is an issue like the light source problem you mention, I'd work with you and Viasue to resolve the problem satisfactorily to all, including a refund if it came to that. However, I would be absolutely shocked if we got to the point of a refund. We control every aspect of the system. I personally wrote every line of code running in the firmware and the RMS. Something truly unique and unexpected would have to be going on for it fail beyond fixing.

-Dave

[btaylor]

Thanks for the reply RC, As i stated,this could have been a single system failure, i could only speak for myself on what i purchased. I can say that i noticed a difference, between what is selling now through Viasue,versus the system i had bought. there seems to be a module at the end of the usb cable similar to the one trackmate is using. Mine was direct to the computer from the track sensors through a printer cable.All else looks very familiar.

Bob

[Race Coordinator]

Yeah what you purchased a year ago must have been Viasue's parallel port offering so that's one major difference from what I'm referring to now. Purely speculating about your issue a year ago, if it were just a single lane having the problem I'd say a bad photo cell, but if all the lanes were behaving badly I'd guess it was something different like something funky with the parallel port.

He is still selling that product, but what I've partnered with Viasue to sell is a USB based unit. Because it's USB based, we are much less likely to have hardware issues. Basically if the PC can detect the device (which has not been a problem yet) it should just work.

This offering is similar to what TM offers, although the hardware and software details are completely different and Viasue will install the sensors in the track making it a truly plug and play system. You don't even need a screw driver... Our offering also supports lots of potential for customization. More or less if you want it, we can provide it with this particular solution. Obviously the more custom you want it the more expensive it's going to get.

-Dave