Roped into running the district derby

[JonG]

First of all, I would like to say thank you to this site. I have learned a lot and made pinewood derby much more enjoyable for my son and I.

A week before three district pinewood derby got asked to run the derby with our pack's track. Got to set it up in a dusty parking lot outside.

The race went really well considering the conditions. I used Jeff's derbynet and was really impressed.

Thanks,
Jon

 

[Vitamin K]

I'd love to hear more about your experiences with Derbynet. Can you go into detail for your setup?

 

[JonG]

I ran Derbynet on a Raspberry Pi 3. I also used a old router that I had laying around.

Installation was simple with Jeff's directions. Just followed along with the steps. I actually ran the pi headless (no monitor or keyboard). I had VNC turned on in case I needed to change anything.

I had a laptop and a tablet connected to the pi. I did not have access to the timer before the race, so I had trouble setting up the timer. I just manually entered the times. Took no time at all.

I took the timer home that night and set it up in my office. Our pack has a champ timer, I just shorted the start pins to stimulate the gate. Ran my hand over the finish line. The race ran without issue.

The race crew had the tablet they were able to pull the cars really fast.

Comments: only wish is that you could have other methods of judging finishes other than elapsed time. Software is great and Jeff deserves a reward.

Jon

 

[Vitamin K]

Really need to set aside some time to play with it. It really is a cool project.

 

[Richard C. Moeur]

From a fellow District co-chair, congratulations on a successful event. Are you now to be punished by having the District Derby task assigned to you on a permanent basis?