SlotMaster
Computerised race control system.

See Update below re Fuel Management - added 1/1/2000

Product Report: ‘SlotMaster’ race control and management PC system.

For contact details click here.

Report:
Since March 1997 our club has been using a computer controlled race management system. For all you club organisers still using a manual system you might consider using a computerised system if you find your club nights are becoming too busy for your race organiser, or that racers are querying the results (as if they would!).

When I looked into buying a system for our club I wanted two benefits; no manual recording of results and scores and, secondly, driver confidence in lap recording integrity.

After trials with various systems, visiting other clubs and talking to people we settled on a product called 'Slot Master' produced by Dave Lelievre. Slot Master has been evolving since it was first advertised several years ago. Originally a track side box of electronics offering full race control it is now also available as a PC based Windows 3.x or Windows95 application with 'online' race control and 'offline' editing.

Our club started with the basic Slot Master PC system. Our initial system came with infra red sensors, cabling, external traffic light display, PC interface card and software. We had to insert the sensors in to the slots on our mdf track (they can also be supplied already fitted to plexy track if required) and then fit the special interface card into a 286 PC. We are in the process of adding 'false start detection' and will later look at incorporating the individual lane power control module. Windows 3.x or Win/95 are not necessary for the basic system as the software will run direct from DOS.

During the year we have upgraded to each new release of the software as new enhancements have become available. In fact, we are now at a point where we run the latest 6-lane version on a laptop with a port simulator docking station (to house the special interface card) running Windows 3.11.

On-line software:
The latest on-line software is easy to use. It incorporates all the facilities you would expect to find. Driver names, car/team names can be added for free practice, timed practice and standard race. If you prefer, you can use the 'sequence control' whereby you add all the driver names to a pool and the software automatically sorts out who is

going to race in each heat and what lane they will race in. Additionally, the 'sequence' allows three different modes of sequencing. All points scoring is automatic. You can choose what points will be awarded for all of the finishing places including fastest lap bonus. During the race the screen displays fastest and last lap times and speeds,

race position, number of laps covered, elapsed time etc. There is also a 'no. of laps completed' manual over-ride for each lane should a car de-slot and miss the sensor. The false start detection feature monitors the car's power during the red traffic light, and issues a penalty ( displayed in red on the screen) if any driver starts to early. This penalty can be in the form of user defined time delay which cuts the power to the track or alternatively it will force the driver to complete extra penalty laps. There are too many functions to mention here but this covers the important ones.

Off-line software:
As a separate program the 'Slot Master off-line' application is an excellent help to make the evenings racing run smoothly. This windows application is well designed and very user friendly. The program is designed to be used for the administration of your clubs members results and grading positions. It looks at the 'on-line' race results file and gives you all the facts and figures that the 'on-line' software gives but, additionally, it also allows you to set up league tables for use in the 'on-line' sequence mode. More than that, you can specify a 'master' race results file. This can be used to retain the results for, say, the 'Touring Car championship' (all groups) and after the next round of this championship (possibly at the clubs next weekly meeting) the 'weekly' results file can be appended to the 'master' file. This will give you a running total of the championship as the meetings proceed through the season (like F1).

Try it before you buy it. 

Contact details:
You can ask Dave Lelievre for a demonstration copy on floppy disk or, if you have internet access, go to his site (www.slotmaster.com)  http://members.aol.com/dlel/slot_master/welcome.htm and download a demo copy of both programs. Dave can also be contacted on tel. 01202 534522, fax 01202 823381 and email dlel@aol.com

Update 11/9/98:
Software updated vastly. Far too many new features to mention here. Go to the above mentioned site for latest release features.

Update 1/1/2000
Slot Master Fuel Management

Since the Slot Master was first introduced about four years ago it has been continually upgraded and improved. Now in keeping with this ongoing development, a fuel management package has been introduced for the internal PC version of the system.

Although a similar option did used to exist on the first stand-alone system it was expensive to produce and had a limited user interface. This time it has been incorporated into an ergonomic friendly windows environment that is packed with enhanced features. The basic concept is simple, find a way to measure the car's power and use this to simulate fuel usage within the software. The first system measured the actual current drawn by each car. Although this is the most accurate way of measuring the power used, it was over complicated and expensive to produce. Therefore the new system measures the hand throttle voltage for each car, since there is a relationship between the power used by the car's motor and the voltage applied.

It also has the advantage of allowing existing customers to easily upgrade to the new system simply by swapping the internal ISA module, without changing any system wiring. The new module uses the false start detect wires to measure the hand throttle voltage. At the beginning of a race a simulated amount of fuel is given to each car. When the race starts, the system samples the hand throttle voltage at a regular sample rate and deducts a small amount of fuel in proportion to the voltage applied. The more power sent to the car, the more fuel is used. The amount of fuel left is displayed on the screen and is updated on each lap. When the car runs out of fuel the car's power is turned off and that driver's race is terminated. Each driver is also able to make pit stops and take on fuel. If the driver stops the car directly after the track lap sensor, then a pit stop will be implemented and the car will be refueled. The driver can watch the tank level rise as the fuel is pumped in. The pit stop can be aborted any time simply by applying the power to the car. Two warning levels have been introduced, a blue level (yellow was not very visible) and a red level. These levels are a programmable option within the software and are indicated by appropriate colour changes of the fuel level numbers. The external leader board LED's can also be programmed to flash on and off when these warning levels have been reached, if the driver cannot see the computer screen.

At then end of a race it is also possible for each driver to see the amount of fuel he has used besides the amount of fuel left in the tank. Many options exist for setting up the fuel management parameters. These consist of the following: -

The size of the fuel tank in litres together with the initial fuel load.
  The time of the pit stop refuelling window. 
The burn rate in litres per (volt/10) per second
Burn rate additions to compensate for the tank level going down and getting lighter.
An exponent value to the throttle voltage measured. This method is used to provide a non-linearity in the fuel consumption to reflect real cars.
Red and Blue warning levels in litres.
Warning level at which leader lights will flash.
Leader light flash rate
Pit stop refuel rate in litres per second.
Sample rate to compensate for slow speed PC's.

One bonus feature that has been implemented is the ability to record and store all the captured throttle voltage readings for one lap. This data is stored in a format suitable for direct transfer into Microsoft Excel or equivalent. The data will consist of the time stamp in seconds plus the voltage read for each driver. In this way driver's can compare their throttle settings using graphs to understand how and where the best driver's achieve the most speed.