Race formats for more than 2 lanes
My rebuilt drag strip will have 4 lanes of goodness and while that lets me race more than 2 cars at a time to see which is the fastest...what other types of formats/styles can be run with more than 2 lanes?
I might have a few ideas but what have you tried or seen and it work well? I feel like the extra lanes should open up some new racing opportunities. I admit, I worked to get 4 matching lanes simply because I wanted it without much of a plan otherwise...but I'd be bummed if the extra lanes don't allow for some more creative racing.
Lets brainstorm...share your ideas and experiences.
Discussion
My KOTH tournaments feature 64 cars, racing four at a time, one & done races until you reach the final four, these are then raced two at a time on a best of three format until you have your overall winner.
Four lane is a good number to have and opens up a wide possibility of race formats without a doubt.
On our 4 lane blu track we usually go with lane rotation. One run through each lane, and then use the average of the best 3 times (and ignore the worst run). Sometimes a car just randomly screws up a run (mostly due to track bouncing), and 3 times out of 4 eliminates pretty much all of the screw-ups and gives a really really clean result.
For the record: I use (free and open) software for calculating the average times, so you don't waste any time on "administration" and can fully enjoy the racing :)
When I started, I ran 4cars for 4 races. Points were awarded based on finishing position. I did 16 car tournaments. Here is my first tournament video:
Here's a couple that come to mind
1) Teams race, where it's 2x2 and both your team cars have to finish before the other two
2) 8 car drag, where they are double stacked in the start gate, and same as above both cars have to cross the finish line before the others
3) 4 cars rotate through each lane and the fastest time for each car (regardless of lane) is what is judged the winner