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Orlando Culvert Dodgers, Inc. |
January 24-27, 2008 (Winter Nationals) |
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Racing Association of Miami |
February 23-24, 2008
(High Points Banquet Sat. Night) |
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Brandon Model Boaters |
March 15-16, 2008 |
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Broward Model Boaters |
April 26-27, 2008 |
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Space Coast Rudder Busters |
May 24-25, 2008 |
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Palm Beach R/C Power Boaters |
June 28-29, 2008 |
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Tampa Model Boaters |
July 26-27, 2008 |
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Racing Association of Miami |
August 23-24, 2008 |
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Brandon Model Boaters |
September 20-21, 2008 |
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Orlando Culvert Dodgers, Inc. |
October 18-19, 2008 |
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Palm Beach R/C Power Boaters |
November 15-16, 2008 |
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Tampa Model Boaters |
December 13-14, 2008 |
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Namba District
3 Safety Officers |
District 3 members. I'm happy to introduce
you all to NAMBA District 3, Club Safety Officers (CSO), for
the 2008 Racing Season. Thank you, to all the club Presidents
for their timely response in the handling of this matter. I look
forward to working with all these whom were chosen for this awesome
responsibility.
John Cristi - Space Coast Rudder Buster (Melbourne, FL)
Hank Schaffer - Tampa Bay Model Boat Association (Tampa, FL)
Tammy Farrow - Orlando Culvert Dodgers (Orlando, FL)
Robert Pickard - Broward Model Boat Club (Sunrise, FL)
William Britton - Brandon Model Boaters (Brandon, FL)
Steve & Robert Adams - Palm Beach R/C Power Boaters (West
Palm Beach, FL)
Carol Connor - Racing Association of Miami (Hialeah, FL) |
Photo Start a Good
or Bad Thing???
 |
Are photo camera systems hooked up to the starting clock for
the start of every heat of racing a good or bad thing? Starts
are photographed and displayed on a computer screen. The display
stays until the start of the next heat.
With every new creation, comes some discussion. Is it nescessary?
How accurate is it? Should the photo start be used to judge the
start of every heat, or should the CD be calling the starts and
using the photo start as a backup only, in case of heated discusions.
The positive for a photo start is how do you argue with a picture???
But, the other side is how accurate are the pictures being taken?
In Thomas Harris's article to the right he explains the entire
concept. I thank Tom for taking hours to compile the data for
us to learn about this new technology available for our sport.
In a further conversation with Tom following his report, we discussed
that there are two areas to be concerned about in using a starting
line camera. First, the users must make sure the camera being
used is placed on manual focus as the auto focus, does add a
short delay to the picture capture. Picture quality is still
fine with the camera set on manual.
Second, according to Tom, one needs to accept a short delay in
the picture being sent to the video screen for display from the
camera's output. This short delay is because of the difference
in output type of what the camera supplies vs. what the computer's
screen requires.
In writing this artice, (playing devils advocate, voicing
both sides of the issue), some may say this delay should
be of concern, others say it's not. Though there are concerns
in oval racing for a starting line delay as well; racing in offshore,
where the race begins with an oval course till the start, then
goes to a different offshore course once laps have begun, could
this create a concern? The boat over on the start, called late,
would have waisted precious seconds following the offshore course
at the start, rather than remaining on the oval to get a legal
start.
So should we allow the ellimination of the human eye and CD from
calling the start of a race? Do we need or want this technology
at our district level of racing? Should Namba's District 3 clubs
be allowed to use a camera to CD the start of a District 3 Highpoints
race? Some feel it's a great idea, some would rather keep it
simple. District 3 racers will decide as a whole at our next
District 3 meeting, which will take place Saturday evening at
the West Palm Beach race in June. |
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2008 Winternationals Classic Thunderboat Racers |
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2007 District 3
Highpoints Winners |
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Congratulations to all the 2007 winners. The Highpoints
Award Banquet will be Saturday night of the Miami race, February
23rd. Great trophies, food and fun are coming soon, be there!!!! |
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District 3 Highpoints Class Winners |
1st Place |
2nd Place |
3rd Place |
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A Mod Tunnel |
John Otto |
Garson Connor |
Mic Halbrehder |
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A Mono |
Josh Kindred |
Richard Lind |
Mark Lawson |
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A Hydro |
Bret English |
Ron Ratoff |
Ray Kindred |
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B Mod Tunnel |
Mic Halbrehder |
Garson Connor |
Jay Halbrehder |
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B Mono |
Mark Lawson |
Gene Mongar |
Brandon English |
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B Hydro |
Ron Ratoff |
Rich Moore |
Bret English |
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C Monon |
Mark Lawson |
Marvin Erbesfeld |
Rick Bellinger |
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C Hydro |
Tom Pretzfeld |
Garrett Demaria |
Ron Ratoff |
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X Mono |
Gene Mongar |
Tommy Cardoso |
Donny Duchesne |
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X Hydro |
Rich Moore |
Brett English |
Tom Foley |
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Sport 40 |
Jack St Clair |
Josh Kindred |
Rick Bellinger |
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Scale |
Jack St Clair |
Rick Bellinger |
Perry Walter |
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Nitro Offshore |
Tommy Cardoso |
Steve Hearl |
Gene Mongar |
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GX1 Mono |
David Miller |
Richard Lind |
Robert Garcia |
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GX1 Cat |
Alex Reyes |
Robert Garcia |
Wayne Farrow |
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GX1 Sport Hydro |
James Traut |
Joe Rivard |
Wayne Farrow |
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GX1 Gas Rigger |
James Traut |
Wayne Farrow |
Richard Lind |
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Gas Offshore |
Bert Arencibia, |
Richard Lind |
Alex Reyes |
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Crackerbox |
David Miller |
Bert Arencibia |
Michael Hilldale |
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Jersey Skiff |
Wayne Farrow |
John Toft-Nielsen |
Joe Calogero |
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Start Camera Physics
– Operating Reality
By T. Harris, BMBI Photographer/Editor |
In the interest of settling issues with the use of a start-camera
monitor, I am providing the following data. I have made statements
that are in question and I admit that I made them based on too
many years of a highly-technical professional career. I will
try to provide technical data that will hopefully explain the
camera’s true capability.
The main controversy that concerns most boaters is the term DELAY.
The concern seems to be that the boats are traveling so fast
that it is thought that the camera can’t possibly capture
the real-time event of a START that is supposed to occur when
the clock strikes Midnight or “0”. According to normal
race-start protocols, no part of a vehicle should be past the
start-line when the “0” is displayed on the clock.
Human Eye Visual Retention: Let’s use this as a point
of reference since everything in the picture taking action must
be faster than the eye. The human eye and brain retain a visual
impression for about 1/30th of a second. This ability to retain
an image is known as "persistence of vision". The CD’s
eyes take 0.033 seconds or 33 milliseconds to obtain a new image,
33 milliseconds is a long time in photography.
Camera Triggering: When the clock displays “0”,
an internal clock relay closes two contacts that cause the two
wire connection at the camera remote shoot connection to go from
open to zero ohms (resistance). Since electrical signals, or
lack there of (resistance changes), travel at the speed of light,
there is no real-time perceptible delay in camera firing (capturing
the picture), 0 milliseconds. Compared to the human eye, the
camera has already captured the true image before the brain is
aware that the “0” has been displayed.
Image Capture Processor: The Canon 10D used in the Brandon
club start-camera has a maximum shutter speed (capture) of 1/4000th
of a second. That equates to 0.00025 seconds, or .25 milliseconds.
It seems safe to say that the CMOS chip in the camera must be
fast enough to capture the image in at least that time or better.
That is what keeps it from being fuzzy. Even if the shutter speed
is 1/200th, the CMOS capture speed is the same. It is a finite
value.
Image storage: With the image captured, realistically
at T-0, the camera stores the image taken at the absolute “0”
time point for the start. The storage takes approximately .33
seconds to the memory chip and camera internal display and out
the VGA port to the monitor. That is approximately 24’ of
boat travel.
Boat Movement: Let’s examine the elements of time
in relation to the action of boat travel versus the Competition
Director’s visual observation. @ 50mph X 5280’/mile
= 264,000 Feet / Hr - Distance ÷ (60min/hr X 60sec/min)
= 3600sec or 73.3 Feet / Second - Speed X .033sec (eye image
capture time) = 2.4 feet @ 50mph:
CD eye capture time equates to 2.4’ (feet) of boat travel
Camera capture time equates to 0.018 (feet) of boat travel
Summary: Hence, the concern for delay time in using the
monitored image to support the CD’s observation has no foundation.
Clearly the camera can’t entirely replace the CD for race
calling, but, it can back him up or cause him to reverse the
call or add another boat(s).
Again, the camera takes real-time very accurately and consistently,
and as we all know, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”The
CD has a full lap, ~~ 15 seconds or more, to make a call of “jumped
line” so the camera image is displayed on the monitor with
time to spare and it is never wrong.The camera doesn’t blink,
wink, or smile. |