The Background

Volare was originaly concieved by Wes Ratcliff as a testing program for some larger projects he was involved with.  Wes is situated in California, USA.

He needed a quick and easy way to provide lap times to show on broadcast equipment.

Wes has an exstensive knowledge of the Karting Industry and has helped operate Karting Centres before moving on to help develop software packages and then finally into devloping full time.

Meanwhile on the other side of the World I was also involved in the Karting Industry. After owning and operating my own Indoor Karting Centre I had moved on and was still working within industry but primarily on the Software side. My name is Matt Newell and I am based in Wigan in the UK.

After quite a few lengthy conversations and some testing we decided that there was a gap in the market for the simpicity that Wes had built into the software and we moved forward. Volare was born.

The Concept

The Karting Industry is mainly domninated by the top Five suppliers who have a fully integrated “All In One Solution”.

The All In One,s are a perfect solution for venues that have the time to sit and use all of the features provided. I was one of those people and hunted down and tried every little part I could possibly try and use. I was well known as a “Power User” but even then I was probably only using about 80 percent of what was available but still I have no complaints about what I had and what I was using.

There are a lot of Venues operating that just dont want and dont need all the bells and whistles that the All In Ones provide.

All that being said we did not want to exclude the people who wanted more than we currently offered but we really wanted, and still do, to concentrate on the Timing related fuctions of the software. Its what we both know and understand so well.

The software has been designed with a small footprint in mind to help with installation costs. All you will need is a single PC that the software is installed on.

Another key factor that was decided early on is that the customer should be able to test fully what they will be using. The full program can be downloaded for a trial period and has such a simple design that it can be downloaded, installed and running timing in less than 10 minutes.

Although simple in design the software if very rich in features and simplicity.

The API

Being able to include features that extend beyond the Timing module was an important factor. The software has been developed and wrote in a modern code using modern priniples.

This meant that using an API to communicate with other software was not only going to be important but essential and has proven to be a key feature if not the one key feature over all others.

Not only has this meant we are able to provide other services and modules but the customer now has a choice of which software package suits them best.

This has already proven to be a huge advantage over the All In Ones.

With the All In Ones you are stuck using the modules they provide. If you dont like a certain part of it then while you can request that things are changed the truth of it is that a small change for you could mean a huge change for all the other users and might not happen.

With the API we are able to offer you a choice of software to use for a certain module. If that does not suit your needs then you can either look at what others we have available or search for an alternative. As long as they too have API capabailites there is a strong change that it can be integrated.

You can have the software that suits your needs perfectly.

The Contract

Unfortunatley developing and supporting the product comes at a cost and at the end of the day everyone needs to make a living.

While the majority of suppliers will always try to keep you on board with them by using a lenghty legal contract that ties you in to them for sometimes years we decided to try a different method.

We want you to stay because you are happy and give you no reason to leave.

For this reson we are basing the product not only on the software and its uses but also on the relationship and support that you can only build over time.

Of course you can never please everyone and there will always be a disagreement over some small thing sooner or later but if its unrelsolvable then we dont want to keep you tied into a relationship that does not suit.

So if you decide to use our services you simply pay for one month at a time. Payments are made at the beginning of the month for that month only and then you renew again the following month. Once you are completely happy and sure then we do offer discounts for customers who wish to pay for longer terms but that is up the individual customer.

We are so sure of the concept and design that you can download and try the software for a month at your own venue using either our track simulator to make simulated loop crossings or enter your own decoder information and use live data to test with.

You can learn how to do this in the Support sections.

While we are not the only company to provide a rolling contract I have not met a company that will let you try a full version demo before you decide to join.