How To Use Race Stoppage (Rear Of Grid Penalty)

[eLapsRaceTiming]

The Race Stoppage (Rear Of Grid Penalty) functionality is specifically designed for Speedway racing, where races are stopped frequently after an incident, the Grid is re-ordered, and the race restarted.

To use the Race Stoppage functionality, first ensure your races are set up to have a race length in Laps.



Choose whether you want the Start Mode to be Grid (Rolling), or Grid (Stationary). These are explained below:

Grid (Rolling)
Start mode where all cars are closely grouped to form a 'rolling grid'. A race starts after the start countdown reaches zero, and a car crosses the timing loop.

Grid (Stationary)
Start mode where all cars are stationary on the track, in a grid formation. A race starts after the start countdown reaches zero.

NOTE: Race In Laps must use a Grid Start Mode.



After a race has begun, a 'Stoppage' can be initiated by clicking the Pause button (to pause the race), and then right clicking on the lap time screen, and choosing the 'Re-Order Grid...' menu item.



The Re-Order Grid form will appear, displaying all race entries.



The Re-Order Grid form can be used to:

- Deduct a lap from all entries without re-ordering the grid, or
- Choose which entries are to be penalised by being sent to the rear of the grid.

The 'rolling snapshot' (see below) is applied to all cars, in both of the above cases.

Rolling snapshot explained
All car lap counts are recorded each time the lead car crosses the timing loop. This provides a 'snapshot' of all car lap counts, for the previous lap.
This snapshot is used to reset lap counts when a Stoppage is initiated, and penalties are applied.

Sending cars to rear of grid
Multiple entries can be selected (by holding the CTRL key whilst selecting cars), where the order in which they are selected will determine which car is positioned in last place.

Once a car is selected, the Preview Changes button will become enabled.



Clicking the Preview Changes button will display the change in grid order, and the new lap count.

Clicking the Reset button will revert the to the old grid order and lap counts.

After re-ordering the grid, the Confirm Changes button will become enabled.



Clicking the Confirm Changes button will transfer the grid changes to the race control lap time screen.



Restarting the race
The race can be restarted by clicking the Start button.

If changes have been applied using the Re-Order Grid form (explained above), the race will restart when the lead car crosses the timing loop.

If no changes have been applied, then clicking the Restart button will restart the race immediately.

NOTE: The lead car may have changed due to re-ordering the grid.

Laps will not begin counting until the lead car crosses the timing loop a second time.

IMPORTANT!
Ensure the new lead car is able to continue racing, and ensure they cross the timing loop twice. Otherwise the race will never restart.

Finalising the race
The remaining laps are displayed on the lap time screen. As the lead car crosses the timing loop, the remaining laps count down with each passing. Once the lead car reaches the "Final Lap", the race is completed (for all cars) when the lead car completes its final lap.

NOTE: all cars, regardless of how many laps they have completed, will be finished once they cross the timing loop after the lead car has completed its last lap.

As cars complete the race, their Total and ETA columns will turn Red.

It should be noted that some cars may not be physically capable of completing the race. For example the car may be damaged and is no longer on track.

Click the Finalise Race button to finalise and mark the race as complete.



Depending on system settings, after a race has been finalised, the system will either prompt to print Race Reports, or the reports will print automatically.

Click the Advance button to initiate the next race, or to move on to the next session (Qualifying or Finals)