Practice mode

Practice mode (also called demo mode) lets you explore RaceRanger without affecting live event data. It's useful for training new officials or familiarising yourself with the app before race day.

How it works

Each event can have one or more demo races. When a race is configured as a demo, any penalties or incidents you submit are marked as practice data. They won't appear in official reports, and no notifications are sent to other officials.

Demo races use the same interface as live races — the penalty submission flow, incident reporting, chat, and penalty box all work the same way. The only differences are that the data is flagged as demo and notifications are suppressed.

Who sets it up

The technical delegate or event administrator creates demo races within an event. They can configure the demo race to mirror the settings of one of the real races — same penalty types, same rules, same distances — so officials get a realistic preview of what race day will look like.

When to use it

• Before your first event — get comfortable with the penalty and incident submission flow.
• During officials' briefings — walk through the app with your team so everyone knows where things are.
• Testing new features — after an app update, try the new features in demo mode before using them live.

Starting a practice session

Once you're assigned to an event that has a demo race, select the demo race from the race list. You'll see a cyan Demo Mode header on the race screen (instead of the red Race Mode Active you'd see in a live race). Penalty Box, Incidents, Report Penalty, and Report Incident tiles all work the same way — entries are flagged as practice data and don't trigger notifications.

Practice while a live race is running

If another race in the same event is already Active when you switch into Demo Mode, the app shows a yellow warning at the top:

DEMO — live: \<race name> — Switch race before adding penalties

The Penalties and Voice Report tiles dim out and stop accepting input until you leave Demo Mode (drawer → Press to exit) and return to the live race. This safeguard prevents accidental practice submissions while real penalties for the live race are being recorded by the rest of the team. Submitting penalties or incidents for athletes who are racing in the live event from inside Demo Mode could create confusion in the timing and penalty-box queues — the warning is the app's way of redirecting you back to the correct race before you tap anything you shouldn't.

You can still tap Penalty Box, Incidents, Report Penalty, and Report Incident from the demo race to view existing data; the lock-out only applies to Penalties (the in-race review queue) and Voice Report (which classifies and writes a penalty in one shot).

Testing the full workflow in demo mode

When you want to walk a team through the entire officiating loop — report, review, approve, follow-up — do it in demo mode after every real race has been De-Activated (drawer → Tools → De-Activate Race Mode → DE-ACTIVATE RACE → Stop). With no race in the event currently Active, the lock-out described above disappears and every tile in Demo Mode is available.

Recommended walkthrough:

1. Report a penalty. Tap Report Penalty, enter an athlete number, pick a category and type, attach a photo, then SUBMIT. The penalty is written to Firestore tagged isDemo, so it never leaves the event in reports or notifications.

1. Approve the penalty. Tap Penalties (the in-race tile), open the freshly submitted penalty, fill in a reason for the decision, and tap Approve. Confirm the Are you sure? modal. The penalty's status flips to Approved and the Decision section disappears.

1. Report an incident. Tap Report Incident, pick a type (e.g. Mechanical), enter an athlete number, choose a severity, and SUBMIT. The incident lands in the Incidents list alongside any prior demo entries.

Demo data is safe to leave in place — Firestore tags it isDemo: true and the reports pipeline filters it out. When the demo session is over, the technical delegate can wipe the demo race's data from the web admin or simply leave it; the next real race ignores it entirely.