We call this breakout racing. Most computer based timing systems will let you set a minimum read time, that is done so that if there is a rider in a particular lane a false lap will not be counted. The minimum read time would be slightly less than the best possible lap time for the type of car being run. That feature can also be used to handicap races. In order to determine what the breakout time should be you could run time trials and determine the fastest lap for each driver, then calculate the average lap time. After running a race using that value you might want to fine tune that number to get the desired results.

I have done some breakout racing and never cared for it. The faster drivers and better car builders are obliged to slow down or their laps will not be counted. Some drivers would opt to run slower cars. What this tends to do is shift the possibility of winning a race towards the average driver/builder, the better driver/builders are likely to become frustrated and the poor driver/builders will still be at the bottom of the heap.

Rather than running breakout races we include an IROC style race in every event. The cars are owned by the club or supplied by the track owner, often they have been tuned so that they can do similar lap times. The cars stay with their lanes and the drivers rotate so that each driver runs the same combination of cars and lanes. Obviously the best drivers will still have an advantage but at least the people with less money, time and car building skills have a better chance at doing well.

 

Thanks Rich. It's interesting to hear your observations.

The faster drivers and better car builders are obliged to slow down or their laps will not be counted. Some drivers would opt to run slower cars. What this tends to do is shift the possibility of winning a race towards the average driver/builder, the better driver/builders are likely to become frustrated and the poor driver/builders will still be at the bottom of the heap.

Wouldn't it be a big disadvantage to have a car that can easily break out and trying to drive it slowly? You only need to get it wrong a couple of times and you are last. I would have expected the most successful to have a car that couldn't quite break out, and then drive it to near the limit for the race. Surely this is much easier?

Shifting the possibility of winning towards the average driver/builder was partly the idea, so that newbies have more of a chance.

And - poor drivers/builders should be at the bottom of the heap. That is the stimulus to get better. We all start at the bottom of the heap after all.

Yes, I agree that the IROC format is good, and we run four classes to this format, all of which provide excellent close racing.

The basic idea remains though that a keen home racer who turns up at the Club track for the first time with a box of Scalex cars should be able to run their pride and joys without being shredded by the regular hot-shoes with fully sorted Moslers. It would also give the regulars a chance to run those oddballs in the box (like my FF050 Lotus XI that is fun to drive btu doesn't stand a chance against a modern GT car). Just one round per evening might be enough.

 

One of the clubs I race at is very informal and uses something similar to bracket racing. We have a few suggested classes - 1960s Le Mans, 1970s saloons, modern GT as examples - and drivers are free to bring any car they wish that fits into our broad categories. Each driver then "qualifies" his car by driving the fastest lap he can, and cars are subsequently matched to race with others having a similar lap time. If his qualified time is improved during a race, he will be matched against faster competitors in subsequent races.

This system provides very close racing where a fast car in slow hands can compete successfully with a slow car in fast hands. It also mitigates against the need to spend money on improving a car's performance. If you make the car faster, it's matched with faster opposition.

 

Our group is seriously into bracket racing: it is by far the most common form of racing for us. But it is a rather refined form of bracket racing with software and hardware that enables it.

An overview:

1. Typically for a round of racing, only the class of car is specified e.g. Targa, TransAm, CanAm etc. EVERYTHING else is completely open: brand, power, type of chassis etc etc.

2. At the start of a heat, drivers are allowed to run a number of laps to determine a "good" lap time for the car on that lane.

3. At each driver station there is a two way toggle switch that controls that lane's breakout time. The computer displays each lane's bracket/breakout time. Each driver uses the toggle switch at the driver station to set his own breakout time.

4. The number of laps per heat is set in the software before the round. The computer now calculates for each lane how much time is required to run the required number of laps at the breakout time. For each lane, the time difference is shown compared to the slowest car. The system shows the slowest car as "Pole" position (the reverse of a normal pole position but whatever) and the time difference for each lane from the time that the slowest lane would take to complete the race.

5. At the start of the race, the computer supplies power to the slowest lane immediately. It then sequentially supplies power to the other lanes after a delay equal to the amount of time this car is calculated to be quicker over the set number of laps in the heat. For example: say the slowest car has a breakout lap time of 8 seconds and the next slowest has a breakout time of 7.5 seconds. For a 5 lap race the computer then calculates that the faster car should complete the 5 lap race in 5 laps x 0.5 seconds per lap = 2.5 seconds quicker. So at the start it would supply power to the slowest car immediately at the start and to the faster car 2.5 seconds later.

6. The concept is therefore similar to old school 1:1 "Handicap racing" whereby, if every car completes every lap at the breakout time, all the cars will cross the finish line at exactly the same time.

7. The driver that is able to most closely match his breakout time on each lap obviously wins. So you have to drive as close as possible to your selected breakout time EVERY lap. BUT! And it is a BIG but! If you do better than your breakout time, the computer cuts the power to your lane and you score ZERO points for that heat! This is clearly very draconian and is quite an inhibiting factor.

The advantages of this form of racing is clear: you can have wildly disparate drivers and cars in the same race and theoretically everybody has an equal chance of winning. This means we are not much fussed with rules because if you want to run a 6.5 second car against someone running a 8.5 second car, so be it. It just means that in a 5 lap race you will start 5 x 2 seconds/lap = 10 seconds after the slower car. On an 8.5 second lap this means the slow guy will complete more than one lap of the 5 lap race before you start...

The disadvantages are equally clear: firstly, better drivers with well prepared (and very driveable) cars still tend to win. But at least slower drivers have a fighting chance. This means new people to the group are at least now not being demolished each and every race, which can be very demoralising. It also means that car modification and preparation rules can be very loose (can you say "non-existent"?). To accommodate new members that do not have a big range of cars we are also very relaxed about having to absolutely have a car per class.

I also believe this is provides no incentive for people to improve either their car preparation or driving skills.

Complex? Yes, but the software makes it rather straight forward. I personally prefer old school flat out driving within tighter rules but I am totally on board with this as it is very beginner-friendly.

To each his own.

Alwyn

 

MiniGrid is a Toronto area slot shop/raceway that has used bracket/breakout racing on virtually all their classes, and has for the last 7/8 years. A lap time is set on the software (different for every class), and if that lap time is bettered, the lap does not count.

This format does provide some things that the shop (and most of the customers/racers) like......it eliminates the need for extensive rules (and someone to administer the rules), and depending on the lap time (bracket) set, it does not require the racers to spend a considerable amount of dosh on "go faster " parts.

Each racing class is somewhat different with "stock" (ish), "medium" and "open" class designations assigned to each one, letting competitors choose how much money/time they wish to invest to be competitive.

I often get involved with the bracket setting, and will test a few cars to see what they will do.....eg. for the "stock" Slot-it Group C class, I will change/true the tires, add a bit of weight, and do a fairly basic chassis/body set-up.......test the car, and set a bracket that is just a bit quicker than the test car achieves..........this lets most racers (including the important "new" folks)...feel that without a lot of money/time they can at least be close...........critical, as there are several racers in the club who are not "hardcore" and come out purely for the fun/social aspects........"hardcore" racing for many of these folks would see them leave the club.

The same process is undertaken for "medium" and "open" classes.

While bracket/breakout racing is not my cup of tea, and I rarely race with the MiniGrid folks, every biweekly race for the last few years has had 22/25 racers................so,............for this crowd, it absolutely works.

What this bracket/breakout racing does not tend to do is.........promote the need to develop tuning or driving skills, and when the Mini Grid folks attend races that are held on the other many Toronto area club tracks (none of these tracks have bracket racing

),...many of the MiniGrid guys suffer.

So, there are certainly pros and cons........you decide !!

Cheers

Chris Walker

 

Interesting how similar our comments on the principles are in posts that we were writing at essentially the same time on opposite sides of the country Chris!

Alwyn