Round styles

A round everyone races can be run three ways. The Add Round dialog calls the choice How it's raced; this page holds the full rules for each. For help choosing, see Scoring & Championships.

	Schedule	Counts toward overall standings?	Ends when
Everyone races in every lane	Made up front	Yes	Every heat has run
Balanced	Grows as results come in	Yes	Every car has raced the chosen number of times
Elimination	Grows as results come in	No — it has its own result	One car is left

Everyone races in every lane

The default, and the fairest comparison.

• Every car takes each lane exactly once per run. Lanes are not equal — small differences in the track make some faster — and this cancels that out.
• The schedule is one heat per car per run, and every heat is full: no car gets an easier day by racing in half-empty heats.
• Runs per lane multiplies the whole schedule: at 2, every car takes every lane twice. More runs produce fairer averages and take longer.
• The whole schedule exists before the first heat, so it can be printed and heats can be reordered.

Balanced

Borrowed from GPRM, which calls it "Dynamic". The goal is that more children win a heat.

• The first set of heats is drawn at random.
• Each later set ranks the cars — most heat wins first, then best average points per heat — and races neighbours against neighbours. The winners race the winners, which means the other heats are winnable.
• You choose how many times each car races. Once per lane is the usual advice and the suggestion offered.
• Within a heat, each car is given the lane it has used least. The matchups come first, so the lane spread is best-effort rather than exact.
• Everyone races the same number of times, so times and points count toward the overall standings as usual.
• New heats appear on their own once the current set has all been run. There is nothing to press.
• A racer who checks in late joins the next set. They will have raced fewer heats than everyone else, so in a points race the round is set aside.

Elimination

The classic "lose too many and you're out" — with no bracket to draw and nothing to reprint when somebody does not show up.

• A loss is any heat a car does not win. Second of four counts the same as fourth. A car that breaks down mid-heat takes a loss; a skipped heat is neither a win nor a loss.
• You choose how many losses a car is allowed. Three is a good default.
• New heats appear on their own once the current set has all been run. Cars are grouped by record — the undefeated race the undefeated — and nobody races alone: a leftover single car joins the nearest group's heat.
• A car at the loss limit is out. The last car left wins.
• Elimination heats stay out of the overall standings — an eliminated car races fewer heats, so no average or total over them is fair. The round's own page on Standings shows the result in losses: cars still racing first, then the eliminated in order of how long they lasted.
• A racer who checks in late joins the next set on a clean record — but never a race that is already decided. Checking in after the final heat does not restart it.
• An elimination round cannot also be a championship round. Its survivors can feed one: point a championship round at the elimination round and the last cars standing race a timed final. See Championship rounds.