Merry Christmas!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!