How do you get your autocross results? A spreadsheet? A handwritten piece of paper? Using software designed during the dial-up days? “Our sport deserves better,” John Leet says, and he has an answer. It’s called CLOKKR.
John’s no newbie or mere casual participant in the sport. He’s a longtime autocrosser and current president of the Porsche Club of America Sacramento Valley Region. When he first started, John watched timing workers manually log times for participants. Then they progressed to more commonly used software programs, but the most popular ones have failed to stay current with the times. Yes, they work, but do they really work?
“CLOKKR makes it so much easier for autocross organizers to set up and run their events and report on the results,” John says. “With a lot of other systems, they’re not all tied together. Someone has to take the times, parse them into results and post them on a website. So you need to have someone who knows Excel. Then you need someone who knows how to update a website. All this often gets delayed because most of us have day jobs. For some clubs, it’s taken weeks to see results, and by then you’ve moved on to other things.”
With CLOKKR, an autocross organizer can easily share autocross results instantaneously with participants.
In most cases, there’s no need to purchase anything new other than a subscription to CLOKKR.
Have electronic timing hardware from FarmTek or RaceAmerica that uses JAC, JAC-Chrono, or Chrono5 formats?
Have a laptop with a USB port?
Have internet access (at some point)?
Congratulations, you’ve got what you need.
How does it all work? The timing hardware sends the data to your computer, which in turn sends it to CLOKKR. Then, CLOKKR does its magic to parse the data and present it in an interface designed for today.
As far as names and numbers to match to those times, it's a cinch if you use a registration system that can export a .csv file, such as MotorsportReg. An autocross organizer can import those names and numbers from MotorsportReg directly into CLOKKR. In turn, CLOKKR can generate QR codes for those drivers. What can an organizer do with those? Print them out and slap them somewhere visible, such as on a helmet or on the driver’s side of a car. Why? The worker at the starting line can scan it with an Android or Apple device and tell CLOKKR who’s on course. In fact, that worker can actually go down the line scanning those QR codes to create a queue for the software.
Scoring-wise, autocross presents a few unique situations compared to circuit racing, such as cone penalties and PAX. CLOKKR addresses both of them. Organizers can create their own PAX tables within CLOKKR or upload their own in a .csv format. Admins can adjust cone penalties as well as DNFs and reruns. The penalties for cones can also be configured for the club’s specific rules.
After a run, the web-based CLOKKR then posts that time in real time to the CLOKKR website, where they get stored. No need to write down times or print them out–drivers can look it up on their own via any device with a web browser.
Have a site with limited internet access? No worries. Store those times on your computer until you return to an area with service, and then you can upload them to CLOKKR’s website.
Who cares if you offer times on handwritten slips of paper or a flashy, snazzy website? Results are results, right? Well, participants care–more so than one might realize.
“What we’ve found is that with a more attractive and usable interface, and with real-time results, drivers are more engaged,” John says. “By keeping drivers more engaged, you keep them coming back, especially those on the fence.”
Part of that engagement comes from pages specifically designed for each driver. The individual driver pages keep track of things such as every run at every event they run (that includes cone penalties, too). Not only that, but CLOKKR also provides standard deviations for a driver’s times compared to those for that day, helping competitors compare apples to apples. In the near future, CLOKKR intends to provide even more robust analytics.
“Our goal is to provide benchmarking against other drivers,” John says. “Every course is different, but the drivers remain the same. That way you can see if you’re improving.”
CLOKKR prides itself on being an easy-to-use and well-tested product. Many groups don’t need much instruction when they start using CLOKKR. With an intuitive interface, it’s a plug-and-play solution that organizations stick with once they start.
Who’s using it? Dozens of clubs across the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, ranging from the Porsche Club of America Golden Gate Region to SCCA Puerto Rico Region.
After running a recent SCCA Puerto Rico autocross, Alberto Ramos-Izquerdo said "CLOKKR offers an extensive list of benefits. I even had an older man managing the queue from his phone, just as designed. It was incredibly easy and intuitive–by far the smoothest autocross event I've ever run! Using CLOKKR is like switching from an abacus to a computer."
“Absolutely love it! Blows alternate solutions away!” PCA Golden Gate Region’s RJ Harrison says. “CLOKKR gives me instant, one-screen access to a reliable, real-time snapshot of my competition on race day. It’s a blast to use and fires me up to push the pedal on the right even harder!”
Easier operations. More engaged drivers. What does it cost to achieve those feats? Less than you might think.
For most clubs, it's priced at $600 for the year or $60 a month, for an unlimited number of events and drivers. Don't host that many events? CLOKKR offers a plan for smaller clubs running up to 5 events annually for just $400 for the year.
"CLOKKR makes the old ways look, well, old,” John says. “It’s like navigating with a paper map instead of GPS. Sure, it got you there–but it was clunky and easy to mess up. CLOKKR is turn-by-turn, real-time, smooth. Once you’ve used it, there’s no going back.”
Having used CLOKKR and other timing systems a bunch of events, both as just a driver and running timing, CLOKKR really is easier to use than anything else. But more than just being easy to use, I haven't come across any instances of the live timing not updating when I look at my phone in between runs, which is something that happens all the time with other systems.
Yeah I'm pretty excited about this. Even the "easy" options out there weren't particularly easy.
Although I don't know what I'm going to do if I'm at a major autocross and don't hear "Darrin DiSimo to the timing and scoring trailer" at least four times over the course of the weekend.
In reply to JG Pasterjak :
JG beat me to the punchline. Yeah, anything to keep events running smoothly is good in my book. (See also that I’m deathly scared of working timing.)
David S. Wallens said:In reply to JG Pasterjak :
JG beat me to the punchline. Yeah, anything to keep events running smoothly is good in my book. (See also that I’m deathly scared of working timing.)
I'm with you, David. I've done a lot of different work assignments, but rarely on timing.
Yes, it’s easy to use, stable, and already packed with features. Even better, I know there’s a deeper roadmap ahead—for clubs, drivers, and the broader community—and I’m genuinely excited to see it grow and evolve. This is being built by a long-time, passionate autocross insider who truly knows the sport. Wishing it all the success—for all of our benefit.
My autox timing setup used to be computerized. But only one or two people could really use it. So now it's this:
-two sets of electric eye gates attached to transmitters
- a stopwatch that stops/starts when the gates are traversed
- a package of 1x3 Avery labels
- sheet of poster board
- pen
Car starts, stopwatch starts running. The person running the timing waits for the car to trip the finish line. They write down the time and the number of cones on a label. Reset the stopwatch and wave to the starter. Stick the label on the piece of poster board usually taped to the side of my van where everyone can see it - labels are posted in rows so that you can just look for a number and scan across. Repeat.
It's old school but super simple and bombproof. The best part is that anyone can do timing with about 30s of training. No fees, the only batteries are some 9V ones that last forever and are easy to swap out.
I've worked timing a couple times in my life, but would rather do any other work assignment given the choice.
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:David S. Wallens said:In reply to JG Pasterjak :
JG beat me to the punchline. Yeah, anything to keep events running smoothly is good in my book. (See also that I’m deathly scared of working timing.)
I'm with you, David. I've done a lot of different work assignments, but rarely on timing.
I announced at the last autocross, so I was sitting beside the guys working timing. I admit, even being that close is a bit stressful. (Am I distracting them? What if there’s a problem and they need me to do something?)
Jerry said:I've worked timing a couple times in my life, but would rather do any other work assignment given the choice.
When I do it, I'm sitting in the back of my Vanagon with snacks and a fridge and I can listen to music. It sure beats standing in the sun beside a bunch of cars doing hard launches :)
Its been a while since I've used any timing systems, but this looks pretty great. Hopefully it delivers.
Jerry said:I've worked timing a couple times in my life, but would rather do any other work assignment given the choice.
Usually the timing trailer has A/C. Its an extremely desirable worker position.
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