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Updated 08/06/03 |
On this page you will find information that will help a pilot familiar with slope racing move up the next level and become a Contest Director. The ASRO endorses the AMA Contest Director program and actively encourages all CD's to become AMA Certified.
However, that's just part of it. Here's what will really come in handy when you choose to host your own race:
AMA Forms
You can get the forms online at the AMA Documents in PDF Format webpage. This includes membership forms and forms for contest directors.
To help someone become an AMA Member, get the following form:
902 Academy of Model Aeronautics Membership Application
For Non-US citizens who need AMA to compete in the USA get the following form:
903 Membership Affiliate Application
To become an AMA Contest Director, get the following form:
303 Application - Contest Director
To sanction an event through the AMA, get the following forms:
302 Application for Event Sanction (to request a sanction)
313 Contest Director's Report (Form 10) (to file contest results)
314 Flight Safety Declaration Form (used during contest signups)
315 Event Participation List (Form 11) (used during contest signups)
There are times when you will want to hold a contest at a site that your club has not insured. In this case you will need additional insurance for the site or sponsor, so get the following form:
306 Application for Insuring Flying Site Owners of Events Sponsors for AMA Sanctions
For AMA chartered clubs who wish to insure a site for a full year, get the following form:
305 Application for Insuring Flying Site Owners of Events Sponsors
Year 2003 SCSR F3F coordinator is Mike Sheridan
Equipment
Poles - two is all you need. Setup Base A and Base B 100 meters apart. Exact distance is critical for F3F, because it is a timed event, and scores are compared around the World.
Pole Hardware - depending on your poles, you may need rope and stakes to secure them. You must provide some sighting method. Either use the pole and one line, or two lines for sighting . Some systems have a sighting device. Visual aids are nice for the pilots and spotters. Use a nice triangular red flag at the top of your poles. This also serves as a visual warning to other air traffic that may be in the same area.
DON'T FORGET YOUR HAMMER !!
Timing Gear - You will need a at least two (2) stopwatch timers for the 30 second climb out period, and the race time. A regular wrist watch is ok, but a count down timer is better. For $350, you can buy a professionally built fully automated digital timer from Dr. Mike Roberts in the UK. Ask for the ASRO model.
Beepers: You will need some sort of device to send a signal from the turn judge to a buzzer/beeper at the CD's stand, so that the pilot knows he has clear the stand, and so that the CD can accurately record the start and stop of the race. The unit from Dr. Mike Roberts includes a beeper setup.
Signup Sheet (Excel Spreadsheet) - We have an example that is a combo signup and scoring sheet. This is separate from the AMA Sanction signup sheets. Have a separate signup sheet for each class.
Scoring Sheets (Excel Spreadsheets) - We have an example that is a combo signup and scoring sheet. Have a separate scoring sheet for each class. If it is a AMA sanctioned race, don't forget to transfer the final standings to the AMA paperwork.
Scoring
Fastest pilot wins. The fastest pilot in each round gets 1000 points for that round (a perfect score).
All other
pilots have their score divided against
the best pilots, and then multiplied by
1000.
Example: Pilot A gets a 30.80,
Pilot B gets a 32.62, and Pilot C gets a
41.05
| Pilot Matrix | Round One Scores | Explanation | |
| Pilot A | 30.80 = | 1000 Points | Fastest Round gets 1000 Points |
| Pilot B | 32.62 = | 944.2 | 30.80/32.62 = 0.944206 x 1000 = 944.2 |
| Pilot C | 41.05 = | 750.3 | 30.80/41.05 = 0.750304 x 1000 = 750.3 |
Rules
The F3F rules used by ASRO are taken completely from the FAI, and are listed here.
Year 2003 SCSR MoM coordinator is Gary Legerton
Equipment
Poles - two will work, but three is better. Setup Base A and Base B about 80-100 meters apart for all classes except unlimited. Set a third pole 150-200 meters from Base A for the unlimited long course. Exact distance is not critical for this is Man-On-Man, not a timed event.
Pole Hardware - depending on your poles, you may need rope and stakes to secure them. You must provide some sighting method. Either use the pole and one line, or two lines for sighting . Some systems have a sighting device. Visual aids are nice for the pilots and spotters. Use a nice triangular red flag at the top of your poles. This also serves as a visual warning to other air traffic that may be in the same area.
DON'T FORGET YOUR HAMMER !!
Flags - 4 flags will do, but 6 is better. Unlimited class will usually fly two at a time. Send two flags down with the third pole. Make sure flags are positioned so like colors are not next to each other. Lighting or shadows can make black and blue flags look the same from 100 meters.
Timing - you will need a timer for the climb out period. A regular wrist watch is ok, but a count down timer is better.
Signup Sheet (Excel Spreadsheet) - We have an example that is a combo signup and scoring sheet. This is separate from the AMA Sanction signup sheets. Have a separate signup sheet for each class.
Scoring Sheets (Excel Spreadsheets) - We have an example that is a combo signup and scoring sheet. Have a separate scoring sheet for each class. If it is a AMA sanctioned race, don't forget to transfer the final standings to the AMA paperwork.
Racing Matrix (Excel Spreadsheet) - We have prepared matrices for races with up to 12 pilots. This matrix will assign pilot numbers into flight groups so that each pilot will eventually fly against each other. Depending on the number of pilots, heats are grouped into 2 or 3 plane heats.
Basic Race Structure
The racecourse is set along the face of the slope perpendicular to the wind. The turn points are defined as base A and base B. Base A is where the pilots will stand. The racecourse should be at least 80meters long for the smaller span classes and up to 200meter length for the unlimited class. Any distance will work depending on the shape of your slope. Take into consideration that faster models need more distance between the bases and smaller models get boring on too long a course. The length of the heat race is usually 8 complete laps. About 1 1/2 to 2 minutes in length.
The pilots are separated into smaller groups called Heat races. These heat races are needed because we simply do not have room to race everyone at the same time. Pilots race in multiple heat races and get scored according to their final placing in that heat race. The pilot’s scores from each of these races are added together. If there is a tie in the final score then we arrange a fly off. Usually we only fly off for the top 5 places to determine the overall winners.
Depending on weather conditions, available frequencies and the number of pilots entered a pilot may not fly directly against every other pilot entered in the event yet he is scored against him. Heat races could have different number of pilots in them due to frequency conflicts or other reasons. The heat races need to be scored exactly the same so every pilot is fairly scored not only against the pilots in his heat but in the entire contest because all scores are used to decide the outcome.
Scoring
First lets mention that you should review the MoM Racing Rules before each race. These rules provide you with race procedure and duties for pilots and volunteers.
In SCSR, the MoM coordinator will be keeping and posting year to date MoM
scores for all four classes. If you CD a SCSR MoM event, you to send two things
to the MoM coordinator at the end of the contest:
1. Scores at the end of the heats, before any fly offs
2. Results of fly offs.
Heat scores are awarded as follows:
The
winner is the pilot with the least
amount of points.
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Racing Matrix
There are various ways to set up your heats. The best way is to have each pilot be able to fly against all other pilots in the class. Time prevents this in many cases. Another good way is to bracket the pilots. Use history or your best guess as to the ability of the pilot. For the first round or bracket of rounds, have pilots from all abilities in each class. This give pilots a chance to move up or down based on their skill or luck in the first few rounds. For the subsequent rounds, put pilots with equal scores together. Example bracket race below with 9 pilots in a class.
| Heat 1 | Heat 2 | Heat 3 |
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|
|
If all things are aligned in the universe and the experts, intermediates and rookies all fly up to their potential, then at the end of the first rounds (3 races) the experts will all have 3 points, the intermediates will all have 6 points and the rookies will all have 9 points. This rarely happens but the next step is to put the equals scores together.
| Heat 1 | Heat 2 | Heat 3 |
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|
|
Keep up this process for the remaining rounds. Then lets say at the end of the heats, there are two pilots tied for 1st with 9 points each. 3rd place has 10 points, 4th and 5th have 11 points, 6th has 12. We toss the two leaders into a fly off. CD's choice, one heat or 2 out of three. Use your judgment based on time or wind left in the day and how many flyoffs you need.
The winner of the flyoff will get assigned a negative one half point, ( -0.5 ) thus making the final scores:
Same thing applies if you have a fly off for 2nd or 3rd. Flyoff past that are not worth the effort. We award 1-3 place at the event. After that just accept the ties, it will work out. So I take these scores and award year end points by normalizing them to 1000; 1st place gets 1000 points, the rest are a percentage of that based upon their scores. Normalized, the above scores will look like this:
There are various ways to set up your heats. The best way is to have each pilot be able to fly against all other pilots in the class. Time prevents this in many cases. Another good way is to bracket the pilots. Use history or your best guess as to the ability of the pilot. For the first round or bracket of rounds, have pilots from all abilities in each class. This give pilots a chance to move up or down based on their skill or luck in the first few rounds. For the subsequent rounds, put pilots with equal scores together. Example race below with 9 pilots.