Sport Air Racing League

Quick Start Guide

In a play off of every software and consumer electronics product in the universe, I present this "Quick Start Guide" for new or potential members of the League to acquaint themselves with the SARL web site and all that it offers.

In this guide I will summarize the layout of the site and procedures of use.  Many will have already surfed around the site - hopefully this guide will answer any questions you may have come away with.  We'll use the main page list as our reference.

Home Page:  This is where you will enter the site. This page is usually only updated after a race - a link to race results will always be found on the home page. You will find a link to archived race results there as well.

The Mission:  This page gives the who, what, why, where, when of the Sport Air Racing League.  Links on this page will take you to the Experimental and Factory class descriptions.

Becoming A Member:  This page contains a link to open race numbers and the form to fill out to submit for membership.

Contact Us: Gives an email address to contact the League Chairman.

Calendar of Events:  On this page are all of the race events scheduled for the year. It includes races to be sanctioned by SARL as well as other race events that may be of interest.

Each event name is linked to a Race Page for the race. On the Race Page are links to: "I Am Racing", "Who's In", and "Race Information". If you intend to run in the particular event, you will select "I Am Racing" to submit your name and race number. Submitting your name in this way will put you on the "Who's In" list for that race and effectively enter you for the race.

For some races this may be all that is required for entry. For other races, you may also need to send material, documents, perhaps even an entry fee check to the Race Host. The details of that will be found on the "Race Information" page.

For some races which use their own web site to administer their race, the Race Information page will simply be a link to their web site. AirVenture Cup is an example of that case.

For races administered from the SARL site, the Race Information page will contain all of the details of the race. You may expect to find the course layout (generally taken from the EAA Flight Planner), a course leg table also taken form the flight planner, a course description (narrative) and identification pictures of the start, turn points, and finish. You may see pictures taken from Google Earth used in place of actual digital photos. We will always do our best to give you sufficient information to plan your race strategy and tactics. Most importantly, the Race Rules will be available on the Race Information page.

You can expect an event name to be linked to a Race Page 4-8 weeks in advance of the event, maybe further in advance. I post the information as soon as it becomes available from the race host. If I am the race host, I post the information as soon as I figure it out myself!

Member's Page: The first thing you will see is a logon screen. The Member's Page I put behind a password to protect your names and email addresses.  When you sent your registration I answered with the userid and password.  The prompt will ask for an email address - ignore that and just enter the userid I sent.  If you have forgotten or misplaced either userid or password, simply send me an email and I'll whisper it in your ear.

Besides a list of members, the state in which they live, their aircraft type and class and their email address, you will find on the Member's Page links to the League Standings page where the membership is listed by the points they have accumulated to date. There are points-by-class and overall points.  I provide a condensed version of the League Standings linked off of the Home Page for visitors.  This condensed version has only those members who have scored points and does not show the entire membership list.

There is also a link to a little service I provide to adorn articles with embroidery. I'll take your shirts, hats, jackets and put on the SARL logo, your name and race number.

The Member's Page has another feature you might find interesting. Any Race Number or Name you see underlined is actually a link. The race Numbers link to a picture of the aircraft, the Name links to a picture of the pilot. I keep adding these links as I get or take pictures of people and planes. If your aircraft or name is not linked, send me a picture!

Finally, the Member's Page sports a Google Map with a little pushpin for each member. Fun to see where everyone is, and the parts of the nation where the interest is. You might have a brother SARL racer in your backyard and not know it!

Newsletter:  I don't make as good a use of this page as I could. I send out information via distribution list and email. That way I know it got in front of you.

Occasionally I'll get creative and write an article, and I have a link from this newsletter page to what I call "The Chairman's Word" - my place to pontificate.

If you never visit this page, you won't miss much.

Links:  Please let me know if you ever find a stale link on this page. I try to keep it up.

If you have a link in mind you think other racers would like to visit (even your own if it's race-related) please forward me the url. I'll check it out and add it if appropriate.

Race Kit: One of my more recent brain storms. I've had people say to me, "I'd like to host a race, but I don't know how to do it."

This page is for them (or for you?). On this page I've tried to give methods, procedures, processes, best practices, hints and tips and general encouragement for folks to use to help plan and execute their own races in their part of the country.

I talk about The Course, The Procedures, The Race Brief, Timing The Race, Race Support, Safety Issues, FAR Waivers and Awards.

It's a work in progress...

Race Memories:  Perhaps my favorite page. Eye Candy! This page actually links to other pages, one for each race we hold. Pictures and comments. Most of the pictures are those I take, but I encourage folks to send me their event pics (digital) for inclusion.

This is also a good place for post-race writeups.  If I get in the mood to write about a race, or if someone else sends me a write-up, this is where you'll find it.

Race Software:  On this page are links to software to use when hosting races. For instance, we have a GPS timer application for Windows to give sub-second resolution when timing a race that starts and finishes in two different states.   The application was written and provided free by one of our own, Dennis Collins, Race 90!  

Also there is an example of an Excel spreadsheet to use for scoring, as well as other goodies...

The Record Book:  This page was suggested by one of our members after we had run a few races last year. The Record Book page has links to Absolute League Speed Records which are the best speed (by class) of all races run since the League started, and to Speed Records by Race which may or may not continue as tracking these speed only works if the course does not change year-to-year.

Opinions from folks suggest a change of the course each year would be a good thing. We'll watch and see how this develops...

So there you go.

It wasn't a very quick Quick Start Guide, was it.

Hopefully you can navigate the site with more confidence now, and find what you need.

Have fun!