Announcers for TTs?

[TXBDan]

Hi all,

I have a novel idea! We have a PA. We have timing and scoring. Why not do live timing reporting/commentating during the time trials? It'd significantly up the entertainment factor for spectators and the drivers waiting to run. Drivers would also get their results much sooner via word of mouth after their runs. Or a scoreboard could display times. Basically exactly how it works at an autocross. Time Attack also has commentators like this.

To maximize the fun, TT groups should probably be run as classes or portions of classes so competitors times can be compared directly in real time. The other bonus is that competitors in a class would be running at nearly the same time so conditions would be consistent. Competitors in the group would be ordered per "qual" as done currently.

I'm a crappy speaker and have essentially no personality, but i'd volunteer to commentate for a bit. Pairs would be best so they could take turns and banter if possible.

[brucesallen]

Dan,
I think the culture in COM has produced a system where you must come to the awards ceremony to find out who won.

[SEISAN]

That is true, and as the former trophy chairman and

[SEISAN]

and the current chairperson, (Rebecca ) we have have lugged trophys around that members who did not want to stay for the ceremony get there trophies at another event.

BB

[TXBDan]

I can see the value in that. You want people to stick around for the awards so the winners have an audience and for general community spirit. I agree sustaining that should be a priority.

But, do you think having real time unofficial results would significantly hinder that? People would still need to come for official results and the actual awards. They already have access to unofficial results from their lap timers and are able to compare times. And I suspect the people who would peace out early probably already do.

I know several people who skip Sundays because they don't see the value in the TT and see it as essentially half the track time for the same amount of money as Saturday. I think upping the energy during TTs would provide entertainment value to Sundays as well get people more pumped for the competition and thus involved in the TTs.

"T70, grid up!"
*T70 members all flip each other off as they pull their helmets on heading to grid*
"First up in T70 is Joe, followed by Bob, Dan, and Suzy"
"Here comes Joe for the first lap! 1:30"
"Bob comes around with a 1:29.5! taking the lead"
"Joe's second lap is a 1:29, taking back the lead!"
etc

That sounds really fun and builds hype for the event.

Although, I can see another con to real time scoring. If a class is divided into more then one run group, the later run groups would know the first group's times and have a goal to shoot for. Unlike autox where all competitors would have second/third/fourth chances at it. I'm not sure how significant that would be.

Also, as has been discussed, there could be a greater speed disparity in run groups and thus a greater risk of cars catching each other if they're put into class based groups - even if sorted by "qual" time within the group. Has historical data even been crunched to see what the impact would be? This is really a second topic though and doesn't necessary dictate the viability of real time announcing.

[jeffw]

Dan: just a quick note to say your suggestion sounds amazing. We've been talking internally about the fact that very few people stick around for the trophy presentation lately, and something like this could really change the energy during the TT.

[joncowen]

I like the idea. Even without announcers, some kind of scoreboard, even a computer screen with unofficial results might draw a crowd to watch. What about live results on the app? We get heated battles, and it would be really cool to watch it live, and know the times.

[offcamber09]

Great ideas. I think Chris does a great job at getting class competitors into the same run groups- especially if they have similar times. As you stated, Dan, that minimizes the affects of weather or changing track conditions.

[Chrispy]

Some interesting ideas here, keep the thoughts flowing.

One little problem however is that the current software we are using for timing doesn't support live data output in a useful fashion (can only spit out best lap for each driver). I'm looking into some modifications that should allow the proper export of live timing data so that we have the potential to interface with a live timing system. Stay tuned.

[TroyV]

Its about time you've made yourself useful.

[cfossum]

Its about time you've made yourself useful.

Look who's talking
Wait, I think I still owe some work to Troy myself...

[TroyV]

Indeed.