Danica Fastest At Open Test. Online has a tough start.

Danica topped the speed chart today at the Homestead Open Test just edging out Ryan Briscoe. It was a busy few days to say the least.

First, the video streaming of the Unification conference. We had just two days to put it together and get it ready. Even though I have done live events hundreds of times, testing is still critical because of all the variables. Connectivity, video lines, audio, etc... makes things complicated so testing the day before is important.

We went with the laptop encoding solution instead of the rack mounted equipment. We needed to be portable because this was a last minute deal. The feed we picked up in Indy was coming in from Homestead Florida over satellite.

The only issue we had was the audio came in hot and I didn't have a mixer to adjust it. Everything else went off with no problem. I am more impressed with the ease of use of the laptop.

We had over 128,547 total minutes viewed and the average time spent watching was 31 minutes. This again shows people will spend time watching content they are interested in.

After the press conference we had to turn to the live timing and scoring application. This is where things went down hill quickly. We maxed out our application license within an hour. We did not anticipate that much traffic. We spent the night dusting off the old application and bringing it out. We were still able to get the new version tested with the help of users at TrackForum. At the end of the second day, we had most of the issues worked out.

The next test will come next Monday at Sebring. There won't be any video streaming but the live T&S application will be tested again. This time it will be the full blown race mode version.

Indy Car Series Homestead Open Test

We are ready for the Indy Car Series Homestead Open Test. From a development standpoint, this will be our first time to test our new applications in a live environment. These include:

New Live T&S in Flash -- This will be our biggest test. It has been built from the ground up. Zach Crowe did a great job developing this piece. He will be using a wireless Spring Card to send the data. As you know, bandwidth is the challenge with any wireless card on a continuous basis. Sometimes you live or die by those cards.

Live Video -- There won't be live video of cars on track at the Open Test.

indy500.com -- We will be trying something new this year. The Indy 500 site will follow the Indy Car Series this year. Check out the site for updates.

Some of our staff will fly out on Wed and have only a few short hours to set up and get everything ready to go. It will be an interesting week.

Live T&S w/ Data

Here is a sample of the Live T&S with data. It is from the Miami 100 Pro Series race.

indycar.com Live T&S application

The new IndyCar Live T&S system has completed the last phase of updates. It will be rolled out next week for the Open Test at Homestead.

This version will be Flash driven. In the past, we used an HTML version that would refresh every 15 seconds or so. We did it this way so it would be compatible with most browsers. The obvious problem is the data was delayed and at times would appear odd.

The new Flash version will give real time data. You will also be able to choose Lap Times. This is a significant upgrade over previous version. We will continue to update it throughout the year.

The back end infrastructure will consist of using multiple Flash servers at a CDN. This will increase response time and allow us to expand when needed.

New Additons

We went live with a couple more additions to the MotoGP site. The biggest one is the User system. This will evolve into an important tool for users and we grow the number of applications on the site.

User management system – Fans can register to create an account. Right now a registered user has the ability to Edit Email & Password, Information, Options and Avatar. You also get to view your submitted Designs and Photos. This is also where you will Tag your submissions.

Tags and Tag Clouds – As I wrote about a few days ago, the tagging system is now live.

RSS Feeds – Along with News we now have Design It Latest Additions, Bikes and Helmets.

Design It Tag Clouds

Tomorrow we will be adding a Tag Cloud feature to the Design It section. I always find it interesting when we can pull information from the users and display it. Tag Clouds are a unique and interesting way to highlight user information.

In the Design It section http://www.redbullindianapolisgp.com/community/designit/ , the Cloud shows what users add to their designs. Honda, NKG, JRF, Motul, Yamaha and Red Bull are companies of interest for them. This starts to bring awareness to these brands and speaks volumes about these companies. Not only are users spending time with these brands (this has to be the dream of every brand) but these brands are being displayed to millions of onlookers. This comes at no cost to the companies.

We will be adding clouds to different sections of the website and it will be important to understand what the users are telling us.

Hopefully this cloud concept will grow and produce even more appealing information over the next few months.

Danica in SI Swimsuit edition

We posted the latest SI Swimsuit edition photo of Danica on indycar.com.

You can also enter a chance to win an Autographed swimsuit edition poster. http://www.indycar.com/swimsuit/index.php?id=hp

I am sure this will get plenty of traffic. Good luck.

Networks NBC and Fox Put to the Test

Some bad storms this week knocked out the power and a a couple of shows didn't record on the DVR. No big deal I thought. I enjoyed watching network shows on the internet so I will catch up online (or so I thought).

I was stunned to realize how clueless Fox and especially NBC are in the days of online distribution. First lets check out NBC. I wanted to catch up on a reality show called The Biggest Loser that airs on NBC. My first reaction was to go check out hulu.com since I have watched shows on there before. Hulu had a list of exclusive clips, excerpts and interviews but not the show. Pointless filler I thought so I went to nbcdirect.com. This service had by far the most potential of anything out there but to my amazement it has turned into a joke. NBCdirect seems to have all of the Jay Leno or Conan OBrian shows you could ever want along with American Gladiator. Are you kidding me? Next I went back to NBC.com to see what maybe they had. Ahhhh, there it was. But wait.... That navigation sure seems to be a mother just to watch the show. Then it hits me. They broke it up into these ridiculous small clips and don't even show the whole thing. What a freaking joke! Doesn't NBC realize this is a reality show which has a shelf life of about 2 weeks then nobody cares about it anymore? Why are they making it so difficult to get to and watch? What a ridiculous experience NBC. NBC seemed to have an edge going into the end of the year but now they seem like a joke. Not sure how you keep viewers.

NBC wasn't the only show affected. I really enjoy watching House on Fox. I started the process over again. Went to Hulu.com. Yes! Found it.....but...wait. The last updated show was over two episodes ago. Nooooooo. Did the online programmers go on strike with the writers? Then I went to fox.com only to experience the same disappointment.

A word to the networks. There is no excuse in this day and age to 'hide' your programs from viewers. There are plenty of choices out there. I hope the advertisers realize this and move on as well.

Brickyard Crossing Golf Blog

Brickyard Crossing PGA Head Professional Jeff Schroeder is blogging from the PGA Winter Championships sponsored by Taylor Made-Adidas in Port St. Lucie, Fla. He is playing in the tournament with friend and former Champions Tour standout Larry Ziegler.

It is great to have Jeff talk write about his experience at the tournament so we can share it with everybody. Check out his Blog at http://www.brickyardcrossing.com/

Stats

With the official launch of the site on Wednesday, we can now start looking at the stats. It is always interesting to use the stats to help grow the site. I will need a few weeks of good data to start getting a better picture of how to use them effectively but Google Analytics does a great job on giving a wide variety of stats.

Visitors from 115 countries/territories have already visited the site. For all you techies, here are some stats:

Browsers
IE 79%
FF 15%

OS
Windows 94%
Macintosh 5%

Screen Resolutions
1024x768 45%
1280x1024 15%

Flash Version
9.0 69%
9.0 r28 7%

Blogging coming to MotoGP site

Tomorrow we will be using WordPress as our Blogging system for the Red Bull Indianapolis Moto GP site. WordPress currently has the best features for us to incorporate into our site.

The initially blogging will be by a few select individuals. Once we get that in place we will open it up to our fans.

MotoGP Fan Photo

You don't see this cross the infamous Yard of Bricks often. It is fun checking out photos submitted by fans.

User Registration Dev

We are a few weeks out from completing the User Registration application for all of the IMS sites. It will first be rolled out with the MotoGP site.

Connecting it in with Design It, Comments and Fan Photo will be in the first roll out.