Help Manual

Built into the Virtual Race program is a help program that is like an electronic operations manual. It contains graphs, photos, examples, MPEG videos, and many features to help you use the VR program effectively. This help program loads with the VR-CD and is resident on your computer for quick access. When you hold the cursor over any object on the VR main screen menu items, buttons, or the car or track edit screen items, you can click right and immediately go to a help topic that explains the item. Actually, the last page of the booklet Pinewood Derby Car Design and the Virtual Race (or the E-Book Measure Parameters) takes the young user directly into the help program for a continuation of the booklet topics.

Click here for a screen shot showing the help page that appears when you click [Cub help] under help on the main VR menu. It shows the car edit screen ready to accept the 12 car parameters you measured when reading the booklet. Notice a portion of the very large number of help topics at the left of the screen shot.

Click here for a help example for an advanced user who can click [Adult help] on the main VR menu for an introduction to the advanced help topics. The particular topic used here is for the user who wants to advance beyond Pinewood Derby cars to Soap Box Derby or larger gravity-driven racers. Also notice the large number of links that take you instantly to other pertinent help topics in the Help Manual. Both Cub and Adult topics are of course available to all users.

Click here for an example of a help topic that explains what the track parameters mean. Notice the diagram points out the relatively few measurements needed to specify a racetrack. For the Cub user, we suggest at first that only one of the standard tracks be used to test his (or her) car designs.

Remember this help manual is no substitute for the complete coverage of subjects to be found in the book The Physics of the Pinewood Derby.