Tracktimer - Work in progress

Smart backup storage

2010-06-08T11:47:00.000+02:00

Tracktimer asks you to take backups after a user configurable number of days. To be really safe make sure you save the backups to your dropbox folder. They will then automatically be safe and always reachable from any computer you have.
Get dropbox here (an extra 250 MB for both you and me if you follow this link)

Stickers done!

2009-04-09T08:57:00.004+02:00

And lots of them too! Me and Håkan from www.zid.se worked last night from 17:00 to 03:00 with designing, cutting and preparing the stickers. Some of them are already attached as the one here. Now stop drooling! :)

Hardwarewise I am trying to communicate with my BPS Special ignition but the USB to serial adapter didn't work at all. Håkan was kind and let me borrow his old laptop with a dedicated serial port so hopefully it will do the trick.

Fairings

2009-03-24T22:04:00.002+01:00

Painted and ready for some sticker treatment later this week! Pictures will follow! Also I will go to Brno 14-16th April for some early practicing. A great track, now with new surface, now I just have to install the used BPS ignition I bought last year...

This time of the year again!

2008-12-25T23:38:00.002+01:00

I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! My Christmas was partly spent witha fake beard to keep the myth alive for my sisters kids, very enjoyable! :)

Race bike design

2008-06-30T18:27:00.003+02:00

I've had two complete fairings in the garage for more than a year now. I haven't been able to decide on a nice design for them but this weekend I finally concentrated myself and spent a few hours in front of the computer.
This is what I came up with, what do you think?

Vista revisited

2008-06-05T00:40:00.004+02:00

Today I had a private demonstration of Tracktimer for a customer running Vista Home Basic, he was not logged in as Administrator.
I saved a session just to show how it looks in the Sessions view but to my surprise it was empty! This session was saved in the track name subdirectory so I tried to save it directly under Sessions instead and this time it showed up.

Then I tried to run as Administrator and to my surprise no sessions were visible!

After some googling I found out this about virtualization:
c:\Program Files and its subdirectories are write protected for anyone except Administrators.
If you try to write there you will think that you have succeded but in reality it has been written to C:\Users\YourAccountName\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files instead.
However, if you run the program as Administrator it will write to c:\Program Files as in XP and earlier OS's, this explains why I couldnät see the session I saved when I was not running Tracktimer as administrator.

So until I make Tracktimer truly Vista compatible please install Tracktimer to your User directory - normally called "Documents" - instead of to c:\Program Files as it suggests by default during install.

The 100th online customer needs to be celebrated

2008-03-28T22:08:00.002+01:00

Yesterday Caroline Landström was lucky enough to be the 100th online customer!
She (or more correctly her father) bought the Basic Motorcycle version but she will now get a Pro Motorcycle version for free! And it's not even Christmas! :)

Thank you for your order and best of luck Caroline!

Tracktimer+Ubuntu+Wine=true!

2008-02-11T08:09:00.000+01:00

Some of my racing friends are not exactly overwhelmed by Microsoft operating systems so every now and then I get the question about when Tracktimer will be available for Linux.
"It will never happen" is my usual answer.
But it appears that Tracktimer actually works in Linux with the help of Wine, I got this e-mail yesterday:

Greetings from Malaysia Torkel!

Just writing to let you know that your software seems to work flawlessly in linux (Ubuntu) using the latest version of "WINE".. I've been able to do timing, saving, etc... using the demo version, with ZERO problems.

-Mikko Nassi
www.kartingasia.com

To be more specific he runs Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon)... and WINE
version 0.9.54.

Thanks for the research Mikko!

Tracktimer v3.0.0.65 released

2008-02-09T13:44:00.000+01:00

Time for a new version again, this time it is actually more of a bug fix release than a lot of new features...
v3.0.0.64 contained some very stupid changes from me that messed up the file names and the storage directory of the exported files. Check if you have some *.htm files in the Tracktimer directory, if so they are safe to delete. Thanks to Cedric Cornell for telling me about this error!

Bugfixes:

HTML file for setup created correctly in Exports directory
Changed to TAdvPicture when exporting tracks (possible to export gif again)
Doesn't remove backslash from track files during HTML export
Tire tag html export gets correct filename

New features:

Copies logotype image to Tracktimer directory
Added external link to part status items
Select from list of suppliers when exporting Part status report
Possible to sort part status report on supplier
Possible to include price/pcs column in Part status report
Number columns aligned to the right in Part status report
Progress window visible when exporting Part status

Update is automatic if you just start the current version of Tracktimer on a computer connected to internet. (Demo versions are not updated automatically, only Basic and Pro)

Now that the release is out I can concentrate on my bike! A new crank has to be put in and two sets of fairings have to be painted, when I have a design I like I will post tome pics here!

Version 3.0.0.64

2007-11-22T23:55:00.001+01:00

I thought I had changed all image components but I hadn't... :(
So I had to make a new version that handles gif images for the car in the Weight distribution page for cars and karts.
Update by starting Tracktimer on a computer connected to Internet as usual.

Sorry for this
/Torkel

Tracktimer v3.0.0.63 released!

2007-11-21T21:40:00.000+01:00

It's time again, a new release of Tracktimer!
This release contains many small changes that will make life easier for many of you. I would like to thank my "power user" George Vukmanovich for lots and lots of valuable input and discussions, the main reason for most of the changes in this release.

To update you just have to start your registered version of Tracktimer on a computer that is connected to the internet. If you have any problems just contact me.

A brand new feature is that you can now print tire tags directly to label paper.
It is now also possible to insert a row when entering lap times manually, just right-click on the grid.

Read on for the full list of changes:

Version 3.0.0.63

2007-11-21

Uses TAdvPicture instead of TGifImage
Print label dialog handles non-metric units
Filters filenames better for illegal tokens
Added Spanish, Italian, French and Swedish translations

Version 3.0.0.62

2007-09-30

Improved inspection export so parts that needs to be replaced are shown even if they don't need to be inspected
Uses 1 decimal for part status exports instead of "lots"
Possible to move multiple parts in part status
Added Suspension link for rear mc suspension
Added event name to Prepare session dialog
Tire compound history increased to 10 in tire dialog
New time format, added popup menu to insert a row, clears old lap times before import
Made session type an MRUcombobox
4 decimals for AD, 2 for RAD
Part status handles multiselect for both edit, move and delete
Key F5 resorts active part status grid
Inspection reports shows items that need to be replaced too even if they don't need to be inspected
Selected tire remains selected in tire list even after editing/adding of history or other edits
Three decimals for tire mileage
New correct formatting of purchase orders (tested on A4 paper)
Page numbers in purchase order
Double-clicking a filled lap grid opens the edit dialog
Changed order of temp, rel humidity and absolute pressure
Changed "My position" to "Drivers position"
All jetting comboboxes now have a memory of 10 items
New time format 1:11.111, also handles 1.11.111 as before
Right click timing grid when entering lap times to insert a row
Can print tire tags to label paper
Added progressbar to splash screen
Added distance to each driver
Removed optimal lap time
Doesn't overwrite new tracktimer.ini after restore
Correct handling of final page break in purchase order
Purchase order price has 2 decimals
Tests if sorting is necessary before sorting
Added Needle clip pos to session comparision
Label printing now works as intended
Tire label dimensions now decimal values
Saves font name for tire labels

Video logger

2007-11-12T13:18:00.001+01:00

The reason I added the possibility to connect an onboard video file for each session is the Bullet DVR. The Bullet DVR is a new robust video logger that also lap times and shows the lap times on screen when you look at the video. Mighty cool if you ask me!
I have been in contact with the constructor of this product to make sure that Tracktimer can both connect a video file to each session and also import the lap times.
Manufacturers site: Bullet DVR

Ambulanceless :(

2007-09-06T08:21:00.000+02:00

My trusty bike transporter / mobile home has now found a new home! The new owner just got his roadracing license so the cool Merc will continue it's life among the Swedish race tracks which is good!

A little crazy but...

2007-07-12T16:45:00.001+02:00

I just sent in the application to race in the European Championship at Karlskoga the end of this month! I don't have any expectations on this, if I qualify within 110% I am quite happy!
Now it's time to try the Seel kit for the first time...
As I say in Swedish: "Darra fjunisar!" (Tremble almost-hairless-youngsters!) ;)

Tracktimer version 3.0.0.61

2007-07-05T00:00:00.000+02:00

Hi!

Time for a quick update, I have fixed a few errors since the last release:

- Reads new format from Bullet DVR exported lap times
- Not necessary to be administrator to run in Windows Vista anymore
- Correct unit (kg/m3 instead of %) when exporting AD to HTML

To update just start your current version of Tracktimer and make sure
that your computer is connected to Internet.

If you use the demo version you have to re-register at http://www.tracktimer.com to download the latest version.

Have a nice summer!

/Torkel

HTML reports

2007-06-01T14:00:00.000+02:00

I have understood that not many know about the reporting capabilities of Tracktimer, even with the basic version you can get a good overview of your sessions.

(Note that these are in Swedish)
A list of my sessions this year sorted on date and grouped by arrangement looks like this.
A more compact view is the statistics view this time without lap times, it looks like this.
My track database is here.
The tires on the 125 seems to last forever, and I mean forever!!! (this requires the Pro version)

Ciao!

2007-05-13T15:40:00.000+02:00

At last the next release is out, version 3.0.0.60!
This time Tracktimer comes in two new languages: Italian and Spanish! The demo version has also been slightly changed so you can save lap times for one driver and the session notes and track data. New algorithms for RAD and AD calculations have been implemented with courtesy if Mr Richard Shelquist, Shelquist Engineering.

Here is a list of all changes from the last public version 3.0.0.58:

Version 3.0.0.60
2007-05-13

Wider jetting columns for less than 3 cylinders, fixed annoying narrow column with one cylinder

Fixed bug that made stock groups sometimes loos their stock property during update from session

Lap counter reset when reseting session

Only sorts maintenance log if date has been changed after edit of a row

Handles empty string for number of split times/lap

Shows a warning dialog if the supplier for an order status item doesn't exist in the list of suppliers when trying to edit it

Clears order grid before entering data into it in purchase order dialog

Version 3.0.0.59
2007-03-27

Added a button to associate a session with an onboard video recording

Demo version can now save session notes and track data

Datalogging button available for Basic versions too

Remembers directory for datalogging and onboard video import

Removed Open button from Datalogging dialog

Shows RAD or AD in list of completed sessions

Added links to order pages at share-it

Added warning dialogs for areas that the current version doesn't support

Removed way to show how basic mode looks like

Added possibility to choose between AD or RAD

Jetting Guru now handles 20 rows and can calculate jetting based on Rotax formula too

New algorithms for RAD/AD calculations from Richard Shelquist, Shelquist Engineering, Longmont, Colorado, USA

Shows correct decimals for speeds in Gearing page

Added way to calculate remaining volume of fuel based on weight of tank (or vehicle)

Add possibility to sort part status export on Storage

Added second sort order for part status export

Shows all parts that are in the Pro versions for both Basic and Demo versions with warning dialogs that these sections cannot be saved (only shown once per session)

Formats mileages for tire exports correctly

Indicates sort direction and order in the header columns

Ctrl-click sets third sort column in grids

Changed from Barometric pressure to Actual pressure

Changed Humidity to Rel. Humidity

Can import lap times from Bullet DVR logger

Added Spanish translation thanks to Cesar A. Guerrero Morente

Added Italian translation thanks to Fuser Francesco

Possible to delete more than one tire at the same time from the tire database

Deletes tire history correctly

No error message if a supplier is added and there is no sort column chosen

Remembers window state between program starts

All registered users will get the update automatically when starting Tracktimer on a computer connected to the Internet.

Have fun! :)

/Torkel

Order received!

2007-04-02T23:45:00.000+02:00

Sorry for being a bit late with this post, I've had the parts lying around for about two weeks now but tonight is "blogging time" so I will update Tracktimers order status right now!

First I went through the package and noted that the rotor puller was missing. It should be sent when it was available (fact is that I have already gotten it).
Anyway, I select all order items except the rotor puller...

And then I click on Edit to change all the selected parts...

I mark the date the parts were received and then I check the "All received" check box...

Then I select to add the new parts to my stock group and a list of the parts that will be updated is shown...

If any of the parts doesn't exist Tracktimer adds it like a normal addition of a part, if the part entry exists it gets updated with a new qty.

Then I can choose to also update the maintenance log for this vehicle, so I chose the Honda RS125R group...

Now the only order item that remains is the missing rotor puller...

Here are the parts that were added to the maintenance log...

And here we can see that the brake handle now has a quantity that is equal to the required quantity.

Done! Now all these parts are in the part status system and are ready to be moved into an active part status group where they will collect hours and mileages. As I move one part and the actual quantity is less than the required quantity I can easily create a new purchase order that I can send to my supplier.

Initialization rites

2007-03-03T22:14:00.000+01:00

For my new bike that is! I got some spare parts with the bike but since I hadn't entered them into Tracktimer I had no clue exactly what I got.
So I brought my laptop to the garage and started to go through box after box. I noted all the article numbers as I added them to my Stock group. I named their location as "Honda RS125R 2002 X-nn" where X-nn stands for the section in the manual where this part is defined. For example the main jets are found on page E-10 so their location is "Honda RS125R 2002 E-10".
I created another stock group for used parts and entered those too in the same fashion but also entered mileage data for those that had that information. (one piston...:()

This is how my stock group looks now (I changed to the English version for these screen shots, normally I run the the Swedish version so the groups and some parts are named in Swedish).

I ordered some parts today from TSRWorldWide and wanted to get those into Tracktimers order system.
I first added my two new suppliers Industrimodeller and TSRWorldWide into my list of suppliers.
I had entered some of those parts into my stock with a qty of zero but there were new parts that I hadn't entered (like the inner clutch basket i broke today...) I first made an automatic purchase order and then added the other parts to that list together with supplier. When this process was completed they were found in the Order status.
Then I did the same thing for other parts I ordered from Industrimodeller about a month ago. Now the order date is todays date by default, to change it to 12th of February I selected all order items from the supplier Industrimodeller and changed the order date.

My order status page for these parts now looks like this.

Normally I do it the other way around, that is I let Tracktimer tell me what I need to order but these parts were ordered before I had entered anything into Tracktimer.
When I get the parts I will update the order status and Tracktimer will automatically enter them into my stock group so next time I can use the automatic purchase order fully.
Now I just have to wait for the parts and then I can start to replace the crankshaft on my engine that I removed from the frame this morning. To be continued!

The tiny RS125R engine

New tutorial

2007-02-06T08:29:00.000+01:00

After a quick look through my existing flash tutorials I felt that I needed to do a tutorial that gives a little more overview of the program instead of focusing on smaller functions. I deliberately omitted to enter any data in the fields to make it as minimalistic as possible. Have a look here.
I recommend opening that link in a new tab or window.

Can you digg it?

2007-01-19T22:37:00.000+01:00

Of course you can!

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-15T13:44:00.000+01:00

I have a special gift this time, all the basic versions are now available for just 10 euros (+ VAT if applicable)!
I do this because I would like to see a really large user community which will help to market (marketing is HARD!) Tracktimer and hopefully a few of you will upgrade to the Pro version. I also do it because I am getting into the comfy Christmas mood with lots of "ho ho" and Swedish Christmas food! :)
We'll see what happens, I still think the basic versions are the most "bang for the buck" for anyones racing!

Happy racing
/Torkel

Version Francaise

2006-12-07T10:58:00.000+01:00

Hello!

Time for a new release of Tracktimer, this time the main feature is that it has been translated to French thanks to Willy Nsiala!
I am also grateful to George Vukmanovich who has given me lots of good feedback, more improvements to come.
There are also numerous other small changes and improvements since 3.0.0.55:


Version 3.0.0.58 
2006-11-14

Better handling of old versions when reading orderstatus
New look for track export
Possible to delete source row when moving a part between two stock groups
Inspection report sorts on Location by default
Order status edit: Only writes received order date if the checkbox has been set
Order status edit: Enables the received date checkbox if several parts have the same received date
Order status edit: Fixed bug so that the remark edit control is enabled correctly


Version 3.0.0.57
2006-10-25

Enhanced purchase order export with page breaks, remark column, new column ordering, possible to hide price and shows phone number
Fixed display error for shaft drive
Correct update of track details when selecting a new track in New session dialog
Possible to upscale track maps to a fit a certain size when exporting tracks
Added import from 2D Datarecording data files
Parts are identified by location too as well as name and partno
Replaced fuel consumption number Litre/100*km with Km/litre
Update to Part Status dialog only shows if recieved qty > 0 when editing order items
Speeds for each gear and rpm are included in html export
Field Location is shown for all part status groups and also possible to sort by when making automatic purchase o rder
Fixed strange error message when trying to edit empty lap time grid
Added French translation


Version 3.0.0.56 
2006-10-08

Faster edit of parts, no more unnecessary sorting
Shows speeds and rpm in html export
One more decimal for speeds and ratios
Fixed final gearing visibility problem
Location field always visible
Possible to sort part status reports on Location


Registered users should get an automatic update if Tracktimer is started on a computer connected to Internet, if not contact me and I will help you to upgrade.

Personally I have invested in a new bike for 2007, I will try to fit my 194 cm on a Honda RS125R racer! It will be very interesting and I will have full use of Tracktimer with this bike, it's a bit more sensitive than my former bike, the Aprilia RS250.

I also visited Valencia for the MotoGP finals where I met engineers from Team Toth Aprilia and Jeremy Burgess himself. Unfortunately the Burgess meeting was a short one on Sunday morning so I didn't have a chance to show him anything but he got a demo CD and we'll see what happens.




And by the way, the mysterious visitor I wrote about in the previous post has presented himself, it was Andy who used www.tracktimer.com as home page! A very good idea by the way! :D

Frustration

2006-08-26T11:13:00.000+02:00

I have now been waiting for my main computer to get back from service for 5 weeks! A combination of vacation and bad communication from their side and me thinking that I would get it back any day made me decide not to bother to set up the Tracktimer build environment on my laptop. But in retrospective I should have done that a long time ago because I still haven't received the computer!
Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know that I'm alive despite no updates and will soon be kicking again (or something!)! According to the service guys the last part needed will arrive on Monday so it's close now! :)

Another thing I wonder is who the guy from the Sheffield area is that has been visiting my site about 5 times EVERY day for the last two months? *scratches my head*
Anyway, you're welcome and if you have any questions about Tracktimer just let me know!

Race this weekend

2006-05-25T08:53:00.000+02:00

On my home track too! This will be fun, it also looks as if it will rain on the race day... Historically I have proven to be quite good in rain so this time anything other than podium is a big disappointment! That goes for the dry race as well.

Tracktimer development has been slow the last weeks, I am discussing a quite big redesign of the sidecar part since modern sidecars are more like cars but with three wheels instead.

I had a phone call yesterday with a friend in advertising (who also races bikes) about what you as a racer will gain by using Tracktimer, just saying that it's good isn't enough to make people buy it (but it is, good I mean!)

You will force yourself to make notes after each session. This means that you will learn more from each session both about yourself and the vehicle you are using.

By using the Maintenance functionality you will service your vehicle when it is needed to, not too often and not too seldom. This gives you an edge in knowing that the parts that you are using probably won't break in the middle of a race. This makes you confident and you can concentrate on going fast!

You will very easily be able to look up data from older sessions if you have internet connection, just export all sessions and upload to a web server (if you have an ISP you always get 10-20 MB of storage for a personal home page, check it!). This is invaluable if you are working with suspension engineers, engine builders and such. They can read all data from your tests and also see all the settings used. Not to mention extremely interested sponsors that want to know everything about the last race.

The first setup you enter into Tracktimer should be as complete as possible. Later setups should be based on the setup you used before which means that you will always have the complete setup available, not just the changes between two sessions. So if the bike/car/kart is completely disassembled you can put it back to the same settings as you had before.

Still, the most important benefit of using Tracktimer is that you force yourself to think and analyze your racing and get this feeling of being on top of all the small details.

A quick update about the race:
I qualified at 7th place with lap times about 2 seconds slower than I normally run. A combination of a lot of headwind on the straight and an engine that doesn't perform very well is the reason for this. Come raceday and I felt feverish, my forehead was dripping with sweat after the warmup, this didn't feel good. Anyway I did a good start (again!) and was fifth into the first curve, then on the long straight I could not follow the other bikes and after six laps the engine made a noise that sounded very expensive so I had to stop, at that moment I held 7th place. I haven't looked at the engine yet so it could be anything from broken gearbox to a broken exhaust valve.
So two races so far and two DNF's, at last me and Rossi have something in common! :)

Just a thought

2006-05-09T23:20:00.000+02:00

Ok, I got this "Update available" ballon from Microsoft again. And as usual it's only about security issues, Someone can take control of you computer, A vulnerability has been detected etc...
Crazy!!!
I started to think about how much time is spent on internet security just because we humans are so damn curious and can't keep our fingers away from others belongings. What if all of us tried to act like grown ups and stopped messing with each others stuff? Think about how many cool programs Microsoft (for instance) could do instead of the current megasuperfocus on internet security. And how much more interesting their work would be? Maybe I am just tired but this disappoints me big time.
Be good now! :)

Anderstorp report

2006-05-01T17:45:00.000+02:00

What a disaster...
I qualified in fifth place and did a perfect start, not very used to that! I was in second place into the first curve and after the looooooong straight I tried to outbrake the leader Anders Högberg but I was a bit too optimistic so I had to let him pass. It was very wet and since we are not allowed to use rain tyres the grip was almost non existent.

After 5 laps of 10 I had second place with the leader not very far ahead of me and the closest guy behind me about 20 seconds away. So it wasn't really a good idea to crash... :(
I was using just a little too much front brake into the first right hand curve called "Södra kurvan" and lost the front tire. We race on Dunlop D209GP come rain or shine and this time it was very wet. I didn't trust my tires one bit, lots of rear slides and eventually a big front slide too.
Anyway, I am quite happy with the race up until the crash and will try my best the next race on my home track the last weekend of May.

I used Tracktimer for all sessions (of course), check out the sessions export here! (A mix of swedish and english this time)

I worked some more on the next release this morning too, fixed a couple of small annoyances and introduced a "Clone tire" function that will make it a lot easier to use the tire database.

Anderstorp

2006-04-27T07:49:00.000+02:00

This weekend it is time for the first competition in the Swedish championships for 2006. It is held at the old F1 track Anderstorp. I will go there this evening with my biggest investment for this season: a 3 metre long (short?) caravan! It acts as a bike transporter too since it has wide doors at the back.
My goal is to reach laptimes below 1.53 and place myself in the top five, maybe top three too with a little luck. So please whish me some!

The new compare session look gives a much better overview, here is a screen shot:

Alice and me

2006-04-24T14:49:00.000+02:00

P1040035
Originally uploaded by Torkel.

This weekend I finally got to meet Alice, earlier travel plans had been canceled due to me not feeling very well. Here is pic of me and a 3 weeks old Alice, she is completely irresistable! :)

I also spent 4 days at Brno and had a great time, what a fantastic race track! I managed to get my Aprilia RS250 down to 2.29.8 which I am quite pleased with but for next year the goal is 2.25 (if I race the same bike that is).

Tracktimer development continues as usual. I am now in the process of redesigning the "Compare sessions" look and I will also add some session note fields for detonation counters, very useful for GP 2-strokes.

Uncle Torkel

2006-03-29T19:44:00.000+02:00

Jippie!
Today my sister Anna got her first baby, a little Alice! I will go to Stockholm this weekend to have a look at her. It's quite unreal! :)
(The picture shows the "original" Alice: my very much loved grandmother. The guy with the nice smelling foot is me...)

Plans for v4.0

2006-03-21T09:07:00.000+01:00

I just added import functionality from Motec exported files. So expect a new official release in about a week.

Then it's time to start working on v4.0...
My focus will now be on endurance racing in close cooperation with a swedish team that finished in second place in last years swedish endurance series.

There are three things that are of special interest:

Planning tool for the whole race with possibility to get new suggestions during the race
This tool (or guru as I will probably call it :)) will take many things into consideration, for instance estimated lap times and fuel consumption rates for each driver in different conditions (day/night/wet/dry)

Live reading of lap times
There is no way anyone can sit and press a button for 8 hours so this is crucial.

Possibility to have subsessions for a session
During an endurance race you switch driver, tires, brakes, oil, suspension setup, just about everything! As of right now a session in Tracktimer is based on just one setup and one driver. In the future a session shall be able to hold any number of subsessions with more or less setup changes in each. This will also work well for normal practice when you take a short pitstop and change some detail but still don't want to call it a new session just because of that small change.
When comparing sessions later I know there will be some complications but nothing that cannot be solved.

But my first priority is to get myself and my bike ready for a trip to Brno this easter for 4 days of roadracing practice. Yes, I am looking forward to that! Biaggis favourite track if I remember correctly.

I got mail

2006-03-10T18:48:00.000+01:00

Maybe not mail, more like a a box from cafepress.com with my T-shirt and two mugs! This turned out to be by far the most expensive T-shirt and mug I have ever bought... Base price for everything was $38. I can live with that, no problem. Then it was shipping to Sweden from USA, $15. And then the swedish customs added tax and toll to make it an extra 155 SEK or $20. So this T-shirt and two mugs cost me $73...
Bottom line, don't buy this if you don't live in USA!

The quality was good except for the small print on the frontside of the T-shirt, some bleeding colors there, a bit annoying...
Anyway, I now have proper mugs for coffe drinking in the pits this season, not too bad!

As for Tracktimer development I have released v3.0.0.53 to a chosen few testers. It has some small cosmetic fixes and also the opportunity to enter files and web sites in notes and get a clickable hyperlink. Good for linking to data either on you hard drive or on the internet.

Merchandise

2006-02-16T00:24:00.000+01:00

I feel like a lemming right now, doing the same as everybody else. Opening a "free" shop at cafepress that is!

(I just ordered two mugs and a T-shirt for myself just to see if they are any good, a report will come!)

Programmingwise I am trying to understand RTF (Rich Text Format) for Tracktimer memos right now. The goal is to be able to enter a filename or an URL and get an automatic hyperlink. Not quite there yet though...

I have also released a new beta release called v3.0.0.52 based on the new Delphi 2006! It looks very good (graphically nicer than before too) so far so I will probably soon replace the current official release v3.0.0.50 with this one.
It has a few improvements too such as track copying, track surface type and possibility to search in part status groups.

Forum Tracktimeranum

2006-01-26T00:45:00.000+01:00

If only the old romans knew how many people should be talking about forums in the future!
Yes, there is now a forum at www.tracktimer.com/forum , it is not pretty and it is very empty but it exists and is free to use for anyone that is interested.
Welcome!

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-23T20:10:00.000+01:00

Ho ho ho!

It's this time of the year again, my own private Swedish Rally starts!

Tomorrow at the break of dawn the first stint goes to Stockholm. I have arranged so the E4 will be free from all other traffic so I can cut the corners as I wish and try to better my personal record. The winner (me of course) will receive something we in Sweden call "julskinka", "glögg" and "sill". After a few days that mainly consists of moving large amounts of white cold stuff from one place to another I will let my back rest for a few days.

Instead I will act as co-driver (mostly watching videos and eating junk food) on the newly developed all-carbon Y-buss - all the way to the arctic test tracks in Härnösand. There I will most probably dive deep into even more "julskinka", "glögg" and "sill".

Then on Thursday I do it all again but backwards.

This is what we in Sweden call vacation. If it wasn't for "julskinka", "glögg" and "sill" I would call it something else...

I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Happy racing (as always!)

/Torkel

New Track Packs added

2005-11-21T23:45:00.000+01:00

A total of 10 tracks in South Africa and 16 tracks in Great Britain, Ireland and Wales can now be imported into Tracktimer. My regards to Andy Jamison who sent me this data.
The track packs are found in the Download section. Just download, extract the files and follow the instructions in the readme.txt file to import them.

Possible to download backup data for demo

2005-11-04T21:59:00.000+01:00

I finally did something I have thought about doing for - let me see now... - some years! For those of you that have downloaded the demo and haven't bought a license there isn't really much to see and play with. But if you download the newly added backup (actually part of my personal data from 2004-2005) you can play around with the program a lot more, you cannot save anything though.

All data are in Swedish unfortunately, hopefully it will be usable anyway. It is also based on the motorcycle version which means that you have to choose motorcycle as vehicle to be able to open the sessions and the tire list.
If you are a registered user there is of course no need to download this. If you do anyway remember to take a backup of your own data first.

The backup file can be found in the download section, together with instructions on how to use it, enjoy!

The next step for Tracktimer "developmentwise" is to port it to Delphi 2005 from Delphi 6, I am almost there but not quite yet.

Translators needed!

2005-10-18T18:04:00.000+02:00

Right now Tracktimer is available in several languages but the only translation that is 100% ready is the Swedish one...

Italian: 800 strings remain
Spanish: 1400 strings remain
German: 420 strings remain
French: 1135 strings remain
Norwegian: 535 strings remain
Finnish: 1400 strings remain
Danish: 1400 strings remain

I need help with this, ordinary translators won't do since it is a lot of motorsport terminology. I think that the best is if it is translated by someone involved in racing. Contact me for more information if you are interested or if you know someone that is.

End of season here in Sweden

2005-10-16T14:45:00.000+02:00

The last race of the year was run yesterday in 8 degrees Celcius! I am very happy with my riding, I got third place with a standard Aprilia RS250 among many 250cc and 125cc racers.
I might as well use this opportunity to show how a season export looks.
First show all sessions, sort them on date, select the qualify, warmup and race sessions using Ctrl-Click and the click the button Export sessions. In that dialog select to group by name of event and then you will get something like this: Season 2005 (In swedish this time!)

Ups and downs

2005-07-26T11:05:00.000+02:00

Racing is really up and down, during the race at Gelleråsen last Saturday I took my first pole position (thank you!), did a really lousy start and did my first highside on the fifth lap from 5th place!
Now I just have to start practising my starting technique because it is really really bad...
Photographer: Berra Swenson

V3.0 is out!

2005-07-18T16:50:00.000+02:00

Now I am finally done with v3.0! It took me more than two years since the last version was released to the public but now I feel that it is as ready as it ever will be.

I'm happy to introduce the Basic versions, they are less feature rich version of the Pro versions. You will not get any Maintenance functionality for instance and can only time one driver at a time. But they cost a fifth of the Pro versions. And if you decide to upgrade to a Pro version you will get the same amount back in rebate.

I have also included a number of flash tutorials at the Download page. In short: they rock! :)

So even though I didn't manage to release this early this spring as I had planned I hope you will like it in it's current form.

Enough of this, have a look for yourselves: http://www.tracktimer.com

It's looking promising!

2005-07-12T10:35:00.000+02:00

I will try to go public with the new release this week including the new basic versions. What remains is to activate the new basic products at share-it and to add some new screen shots.
I have done four new tutorials and have about five more to do until I am satisfied. The tutorials are far better than any help file in the world to help newcomers understand how to work with the program.
Take a sneak peak at the ones I have made so far here.

v3.0.0.50 was necessary...

2005-07-04T08:32:00.000+02:00

Ouch, maybe I shouldn't have made the power chart a window of its own, lots of problems has been detected due to this. In order to make that work I had to change the Dynobox window from a member variable to a common "auto created" window. Since this window now is created after the main form some functions did not work so well anymore...

First in v3.0.0.48 when the automatic opening of last session was attempted before the dyno box window existed and now in v3.0.0.49 when we try to convert from v2.0.x version before the dyno box dialog existed.
I moved all that code to after all windows have been created so now it works!

Since I raced this weekend myself (5th place and new personal lap record, wheee!) I found that long tire ID's could not be read when updating tire sets from a session so I fixed that one too.
Now I really hope I will not find anymore errors!

v3.0.0.49 - it's better!

2005-06-29T10:47:00.000+02:00

Ok, isn't it typical that when you think you are ready you are not?
The change to show the powergraph mapped on each gear in its own window apparently made it impossible to automatically load last session during startup. Thanks to Andy and Cedric for pointing that out to me.

What's new:

* Moved all commandline handling after all forms have been created
* Handles range of selections when making purchase order from partstatus
* Correct calculation of extra rows for ordergrid
* Added properties for sessionfile and load at startup
* Shows powergraph by default
* Moved repaint to after graphs have been added

v3.0.0.48

2005-06-26T15:31:00.000+02:00

A new beta (the last hopefully) released today at the usual place!

What's new:
* Uses a dialog to show powerchart on gearing page
* Final gear column wider
* Added tire history splitter
* Better export of tracks
* 3D-look to all tables
* When importing laptimes the date and time is set to the current date and time
* Added minutes when updating part status
* Possible to delete more than one part that is not in consecutive order
* Corrected confirmation message when a setup is opened from a session
* If we have zero items left of a part in the stock grid all specific data is cleared
* Remembers tire nodes better
* A part has to have a qty > 0 to be marked for inspection
* MergePartStatusRows handles various versions of zero better (0, 0.0, 0.000, '')
* When merging two parts the oldest date is used
* New program icon

I cannot think of any additions I would like to do in this version so if I don't get any error reports (or find any errors myself...) this will be the final v3.0 release.

Version 3.0.0.47 is now available

2005-05-12T16:17:00.000+02:00

The date format bug mentioned in my previous post has been eliminated! Customers can get the new release at the usual place.
Thanks to Gary and Cedric for pointing this out to me.

Information about the "date format bug"

2005-05-10T07:44:00.000+02:00

I got bug reports from two different users about problems to open part status items because the dates were invalid.
To make sorting easier Tracktimer uses the format yyyy-mm-dd for all dates in its tables. What happens is that when Windows XP returns from the screen saver it overwrites Tracktimers date format with the regional format which might be dd/mm/yyyy!
And now the string representation of a date cannot be transformed to "date" representation since the formats doesn't match anymore!

The quick fix if anyone has problems with this is to disable the screen saver until the next version is released. I am planning on showing all dates the way they are meant to be shown to make it even better.
Sorry for any problems this might have caused you.

v3.0.0.46 is ready

2005-04-10T19:50:00.000+02:00

Now it is possible to generate a purchase order from selected part status items. Order status rows are also colored depending on delivery status.
Beta testers and customers know where to download it, please do!

Update 13th April:
I found two bugs that made the merging and comparision fail when updating part status. So there is now a new v3.0.0.46 available (no need to waste precious version numbers...;))

v3.0.0.45 released

2005-03-19T18:54:00.000+01:00

A number of improvements in this release:

* Added Storage Location to each Part Status item
* Added Price/pcs to each part Status item
* Removed purchase order stuff from Export Part Status dialog
* Added new Export Purchase Order buttons and dialog
* Added AllReceivedCheckBox to Update Order dialog
* Calls UpdatePartStatus and UpdateMaintenanceLog when clicking OK in Update Order dialog
* Handles update of multiple order items
* Added General Notes to main pagecontrol
* Separated ExportPurchaseOrder from Export Part Status
* Updates Gearing page if Engine data has been reloaded
* Uses last selected node for tire list view
* Cosmetic changes for Part Status page
* Added Purchase Order button to Part Status and Order Status
* Can import lap times from AIM Light Analyzer software

Only available for current customers and beta testers right now but I am slowly moving towards the final v3.0... :)

New beta version v3.0.0.44

2005-02-21T23:47:00.000+01:00

The latest beta version 3.0.0.44 is now available at the usual place. The biggest change is an improved order handling that connects orders, parts and economy in a way that was previously not possible.
Of course, the two bugs mentioned earlier have been taken cared of. About 70% of all strings are now translated to German (Thanks Rico) and the rest will follow shortly.

Really cool stickers are now available!

2005-02-20T14:20:00.000+01:00

I have new very nice stickers and also a weaved patch that I would like to send out to all Tracktimer users out there, free of charge of course!
But to do so I need your postal adress, the last time I got several in return so this time I will try not to do the same mistake again.

The stickers look like this: http://www.tracktimer.com/gfx/stickers.jpg
Closeup on the patch: http://www.tracktimer.com/gfx/patch.jpg
Size of the large sticker is 25 cm (10") and the small ones are half as big.

So please reply to torkel@tracktimer.com with your postal adress and I will send you a kit of 1 large and 2 small stickers and a weaved patch.

Note that this offer is only for customers and sponsored drivers/riders!

Best regards
Torkel Börjeson

Bugs and news

2005-02-01T11:40:00.000+01:00

Unfortunately there is a bug in v3.0 that I found out a few days ago:
If you update only mileage on a part status group so that some parts replacement limits are exceeded you will get an empty dialog box. All parts are updated correctly and coloured but they don't show up in the dialog box. This has been fixed but not released.

Another bug was introduced between 3.0.0.42 and 3.0.0.43 that made it impossible to use any other part status exports than Purchase order.
Unfortunately I have to go on a business trip today and directly when I get back home I am leaving for one week vacation so there is no way I will be able to fix this one until I get back the 13th of February. :(

There is also a much improved Order page on it's way that resembles the Completed Sessions page. It will have a tree view to the left to be able to get a better overview of all orders.

Order status

2005-01-22T10:28:00.000+01:00

The order handling just got a lot better! For those of you who know where to find the beta releases feel free to get the latest one and try it out.
The key change is that when you make a purchase order you are first prompted to take already made orders (not yet delivered) into account. When the purchase order is done you are prompted to update the Order status table with the new orders.
It works really good and gives a lot better order tracking than before (when there was none!).

Order improvements

2005-01-14T14:56:00.000+01:00

Since Charles Wessman will use Tracktimer to keep track of the part handling for a team competing in the German Formula Renault series this year he has found a lot of things to improve. For instance yesterday he asked me if it was possible to remember what parts he had ordered so those parts wouldn't show up again if he did another purchase order before they had arrived.
Hmmm, I have never thought of that but it makes a lot of sense. Another page under Maintenance called "Order Status" will take care of this but it will also keep me busy a few days more.
Who needs television anyway when you can spend all nights programming? :)

Bloglines

2005-01-10T10:41:00.000+01:00

By using Bloglines - www.bloglines.com - you can easily subscribe to your favourite blogs (there are quite a few to choose from...) and now you can also subscribe to this blog, just enter this URL:
http://tracktimer.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Regarding Tracktimer it is getting the last refinements to the user interface.

Internationalization

2004-11-25T17:10:00.000+01:00

v3.0.0.39 has been released as a beta version, it has an improved purchase order model where parts are added more intellegently and also with possibility to add or change order details for each supplier. You can even decide if you want the order form written in English or translated to your own language.

I have been in contact with all my translators and sent out the material to be translated so shortly there will be versions in German, Italian and Norwegian too. Most likely I will have to modify the user interface to make place for longer strings but that's no big deal.

Getting closer to Christmas...

2004-11-12T14:42:00.000+01:00

Last week I released beta version 3.0.0.37 to a few Swedish users to get some feedback. Fortunately Charles Wessman was one of them and he has pointed out a few errors in the car version and also made me add some nice new features.
The latest beta release is now v3.0.0.38 and what remains is essentially a more flexible way to create a purchase order.

Translators
I am also looking for translators, it is about 1300 strings to be translated and I need help with the following languages: Spanish, French, Finnish and Danish.
Translators salary will consist of a free license after the work is done! Please contact me at torkel@tracktimer.com if you can assist (only the program shall be translated, the documentation will still be in english).
I already got German, Italian and Norwegian translators and I will start to feed them with data shortly so they can begin to work.

2004-09-26T12:08:00.000+02:00

The new maintenance page that consists of part status, maintenance log and suppliers. Note also the Stock group check box and the two new columns Supplier and Req. Qty. Red parts has qty zero, blue parts has qty < req. qty. By using the supplier data Tracktimer creates purchase orders for each supplier ready to be either sent as a telefax or as e-mail.

2004-09-26T12:03:00.000+02:00

Screenshot of the new detailed suspension page for motorcycles

2004-09-26T12:02:00.000+02:00

Screenshot of the new basic suspension page for motorcycles

Just a little bit more...

2004-09-14T08:47:00.000+02:00

The suspension setup possibilities for motorcycles are now hugely improved thanks to input from Espen at www.esp1tech.com. A place for everything, just as it should be.
I have also taken the plunge to create an "intelligent" stock function, a part status group (or more) can now be assigned as a "Stock group" and when it is two new columns are shown: Required Qty and Supplier. Together with the new supplierdatabase this means that you can easily create reports and buy orders to be either faxed or e-mailed directly to the supplier. All items where qty is less than required qty are also indicated in the program.
This is also the best place to enter all inspection intervals, task lists and such since an item in a stock group can have a qty count of zero without being removed. Think of the stock group as the complete part list from where you move parts to other groups.
Most of this has already been implemented, what remains is the supplier database and the reports.

Ooops!

2004-08-30T11:07:00.000+02:00

I noticed zero visitors for two days in a row. When I checked I had forgot to renew the domain name tracktimer.com... :-( But now it has been payed for so in a few hours the site should be up and running again.
No more news about Tracktimer unfortunately, August has been a very busy month "real world wise".

Vacation is over

2004-08-05T13:39:00.000+02:00

Now back home after four weeks of vacation. The first week was spent almost 100% on finishing the v3.0 for test but the other three weeks have been completely computer free but not racing free! I've been racing in Gelleråsen (11th place...) and also practiced at the brand new track Gotland Ring. This track will be longer than Assen next year! Right now it's 3200 m long and is an extremely nice track, check out http://www.gotlandring.com for more information.

I have received some e-mails with questions and bug finds from v3.0.0.33. I will answer all these in a few days and hopefully also have a new improved v3.0.0.34 ready soon.

This weekend I will go to Anderstorp and have a look at the European Championship in roadracing. I will also have a small stand to demonstrate Tracktimer, please stop by and say hello if you see me.

v3.0 is on it's way!

2004-07-08T10:32:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I sent out download information for v3.0.0.32 to customers and sponsored users. One bug report so far that has been taken cared of. Updates will be found at the same place starting this evening.

The evening is here!
Version 3.0.0.33 is now available, it contains a bug fix regarding first usage date for tire list and cosmetic changes to the jetting guru.

2004-06-27T22:13:00.000+02:00

This is how the motorcycle setup screen looks on computers running Windows XP.

Basic versions

2004-06-13T23:54:00.000+02:00

Well, since I have changed the format and now store the setups together with the sessions I cannot have the limit of one setup for each track as I had before. The "new" basic version will contain only the original core functionality of Tracktimer, the sessions and the setups.
There will be no Part Status and no Maintenance functionality, just the tabs Actual Session, Setup, Tracks and Completed Sessions. A detailed list of the differences will of course be available when I release v3.0.

2004-06-05T14:34:00.000+02:00

My Aprilia RS250 one hour later...

2004-06-05T14:33:00.000+02:00

My Aprilia RS250

Less is more

2004-05-15T11:27:00.000+02:00

In theory the concept of having separate session and setup files are good. But in reality it is not very good. Since you remember a setup by the session it was used in it is easier to refer to a setup as "the one I used in the first qualifying session here last year" rather than "the setup named blablabla". Also if you use the same setup and the only thing that has changed is the mileage on the tires it feels rather stupid to create a new setup just because of this. Not to mention that without this connection session files can be moved around into subdirectories as you wish without having the dependency of a setup file to bother about.

Because of this the v3.0 will be a slightly different animal regarding setups:

When you prepare a setup for a coming session it will be saved as an Incomplete session, not as a setup

The definition of an incomplete session is a session without lap times

All incomplete sessions are stored separately, these can be seen at Sessions-Incomplete

When you enter lap times to an incomplete session it changes to a complete session

You can of course open only the setup part from any session, modify it and reuse it in another session, this has not changed

All your existing sessions are merged with their corresponding setup files and these setup files are removed

Part setups remain as before

And yes, it will now take me even longer to get the v3.0 out, sorry about this but I feel that the changes done are so important that they cannot wait.

Aircraft technology coming up!

2004-03-31T11:11:00.000+02:00

The part status function has been completely redone, now there are replacement limits and inspection interval limits with the possibility to add a list of tasks to do during inspection. Create a report for the parts to be inspected, print it out and hand it to a mechanic. It comes complete with a list of tasks to do and also a field to sign when done. This is taken directly from the aircraft industry and if it works there it will work for racing too! Thanks to my team mate Fredrik Dahlgren for this information!
A few more beta releases has been handed out and I haven't heard any complaints yet so it's looking good.

World Championships SBK and SS600 starts next weekend!

2004-02-25T17:06:00.000+01:00

And I know that some of the teams are going to use Tracktimer, that feels good!

A Norwegian translation is on its way too so the next version will be more multilingual than ever! I have also written about half of the documentation (this is really boring stuff FYI) and try to work on that a little day by day. Maybe it's just me but it is so much more fun to create something new than to describe for others how to use that "new" feature... Hopefully the result will be good anyway!

I have received new very nice Swedish track maps from Magnus Thomé, administrator of the extremely popular Swedish car site http://www.rejsa.nu. These will be available from the homepage later.

I also want to apologise for not updating this blog as often as I had planned, I will try to do it at least once a month from now..

Documentation, basic versions and pricing

2003-11-24T10:52:00.000+01:00

Documentation
Status right now is that I have sent all strings for translation to Italian and German and I'm now working on the new documentation which will be in HTML Help format this time.

I have lots of ideas to improve the pit stop planning page but I haven't yet decided if I shall include those now or later. The last official release was in April 2002 so it feels as if it's time to release something really soon... :-) But since there is a new storage format for setups and all old setups has to be converted it would be nice to handle all conversions at once. Decisions, decisions...

Basic versions
The basic versions are new for v3.0 and the differences from the Pro versions are the following (for the time being):

- Only one timing grid (driver 1)
- Only one maintenance group
- Only one part status group
- Only one setup for each track, it is automatically named as "track name".set
- No tire database
- No handling for tire circumference (Car & Kart versions)
- No pit stop planning functionality
- No HTML-export of compared sessions
- No HTML-export of part status
- No statistics
- No association to datalogging file

Pricing
Prices will go up when v3.0 is released, the US Dollar has lost about 30% of its value compared to the Swedish Krona in the last two years so the prices will be at least 30% higher. The basic versions will be around 100 USD with possibility to upgrade to a Pro version.

Tracks in v3.0

2003-11-06T15:11:00.000+01:00

In v3.0 it is possible to import tracks and my ambition is to have a bunch of tracks for each country downloadable as zipfiles from the Tracktimer site. The zipfiles are nothing but normal Tracks folders but named as "Scandinavian Tracks", "American Tracks" and so on.

The idea is to first download the desired zipfile, open it and by using the "Import Tracks" button in TT you are prompted to select the tracks.txt file in the "Scandinavian Tracks" folder (for instance). All tracks in that folder are listed with a small checkbox, those tracks you already have are also listed but the checkbox is disabled so they cannot be imported.
This way you can always get the latest track information complete with track maps, lengths, contact information and more.
New in v3.0 (when will I ever release this?) is that you can also link to (and watch) a movie file from for example an on-board lap for that track.
So if anyone has collected lots of track information and are willing to share that please zip the tracks-folder and e-mail it to me and I will make sure it gets published on the site.

Yesterday I also made the "multiple-session-comparision" function a lot faster, it's really good to run programs on r-e-a-l-l-y slow computers during developement! (my laptop is a Pentium 90 with 32 MB RAM...)

Best laps

2003-11-02T22:50:00.000+01:00

Added a new node in the completed sessions tree view. You can now see a list of the sessions with the best lap time for each track with filters on year, driver, frame and engine. It sounds more complicated than it is, but it is a quite nice feature anyway.

Also implemented the symmetric editing flag in the new car suspension layout.

Users that have created subdirectories for stored sessions and setups have not been able to see those in the Completed Sessions tab or to export statistics. Now Tracktimer looks "deep" in the directory structure so all these sessions/setups will be available for comparision, htmlexport, statistics and so on.

Reseller information has been sent out to all my Share-It customers, only two has responded so far though...
The good thing about this reseller idea is that if anyone asks you about the program you can simply tell them that a) it rocks and b) they can buy it online directly from your website! All orders made from your site will give you 20% commission so five orders and you have your money back!

Resellers now working!

2003-10-28T09:29:00.000+01:00

I asked share-it about my needs and they had a brilliant solution for this! All users registered at share-it will get more information in a few days on how to become a reseller. If you are a user and got the program any other way please send me an e-mail and I will get back to you.

Yesterday the "Update tires from database" button was implemented and also the possibility to export selected sessions from the "Sessions - Completed" tab. This tab has a lot more functionality in v3.0 than before, a screenshot is coming up soon! I also made some improvements in the manual import of laptimes, in v3.0 you can import from UltraLap and PI software too.

Anyone interested in knowing about my long-term ideas concerning Tracktimer?

2003-10-27T07:05:00.000+01:00

Sharing setup information
In the future when you buy a racebike/car/kart you will also get a backup of that users Tracktimer data. You don't own Tracktimer yet but by using the trial version you can look and use the data you just like you can with the full version apart from that you cannot save anything (except track data details).
Then later if you decide that you want to continue using Tracktimer you simply buy it.

All old customers are potential resellers
Now comes the next step, all former customers can act like resellers! (Provided that share-it agrees on it, nothing ready yet). By signing up as an author on share-it you will get an author ID and by using that ID in the link to the order pages all orders will be "marked" with your ID and you will automatically receive a 20% (not decided the exact percentage yet) provision that also is payed out to you automatically every month or when you reach a certain sum. Since most of my users are on a level of racing where a web site is more or less necessary this will be very easy to implement, just add a few links and it's done.

Svensk Bilprovning AB
The "Tracktimermobile" (or chaosmobile as I prefer to call it) were thoroughly "dissected" today by the Swedish "car testing facility", something we have to do each year. All went well, new brake pads has to be installed though...

Here are some pictures of the car in case anyone is curious... :-)

So, what's up with Tracktimer?

2003-10-23T10:40:00.000+02:00

First of all I have been working hard to make it translatable by moving all static texts to resource strings. I have tried different translation tools and have decided to use dxgettext which works just great and is also free of charge.

I have also tried to remove a lot of the windows controls in the program to make it use less system resources, very important if you are running an OS older than Windows NT4.0. Also most input fields now have "memory" so you can choose from previously entered values in a "click-list".

The new basic versions are also working for all vehicle types. You can only have one setup for each track in these versions but that will hopefully be good enough for many users.

I have also added a very powerful tire database that more or less automatically updates your tires with number of laps, tracks, drivers and so on. Some more work remains here, like an "Update from database" button to get the latest mileage and circumference values to a new tire setup. This works if you reload the tire setup but I will also make a button to fix it faster.