Marking splits

A split is a moment in the run that matters — the start of the track, the finish, or any intermediate checkpoint where you want a time. Splits define the sections that Racecraft compares between runs.

Why splits matter

Two reasons:

1. They give you per-section times. Without splits, you only know how long the whole run took. With splits, you know how long each section took and where you gained or lost time between attempts.
2. They anchor the alignment. Racecraft uses the splits on the reference run to align every other run on the same track. Splits placed on visually distinctive frames — a corner entry, a gate, a line marker — make alignment more reliable.

Splits on the reference run vs target runs

You only mark splits manually on the reference run. For every other run on the same track, Racecraft predicts the splits automatically by aligning the new run's footage against the reference. You review the predictions and confirm.

This is why the reference run's splits matter so much: they're the template every other run gets compared against.

How to mark splits on a reference run

When you open a new reference run, Racecraft suggests splits for you based on visually distinctive frames in the footage. You can:

• accept the suggestions as-is and confirm
• move a suggested split to a different frame
• add a new split at any point in the run
• remove a split you don't want

Confirm when you're happy. Confirming is what tells the rest of the session that this is the canonical version of the track.

How many splits to mark

A start and a finish are required. Beyond that, intermediate splits are optional but useful — they're the only way to see per-section times rather than just total time.

Most tracks benefit from 3 to 6 intermediate splits placed at natural section boundaries: the entry to a tech section, the start of a pedal straight, the entry to the finish chute. More than that and you'll be spending more time confirming splits than analysing the run.

For very short tracks (under ~15 seconds), Racecraft skips intermediate splits and uses just start and finish — there isn't enough run for section-by-section analysis to be useful.

Where to place splits for the best alignment

Place reference splits on frames that look distinctive — frames you'd recognize at a glance:

• a corner entry where the trail bends visibly
• a gate, banner, or trail marker
• a transition between visually different sections (out of trees, into open exposure)

Avoid frames in long uniform stretches — dense forest, featureless fire road, sky-only frames after a jump. Racecraft's automatic suggestions already favour distinctive frames, which is one reason accepting the suggestions usually works well.

Re-confirming reference splits

If you change a reference run's splits later, Racecraft re-predicts the splits for every other run in the session against the new template. Your manual edits on target runs are not overwritten — only unconfirmed predicted splits are recomputed.