By Graham K. Rogers

This being the weekend of the Canadian GP it was interesting to see that Soft Pauer had provided an update to their useful Formula One Timing app for iOS devices.

The list of improvements and fixes is fairly lengthy and there are some that are most useful, especially the top of the list: a display of the 107% time. Those not within 107% of the fastest time in the first qualifying session are not allowed to take part in the race unless there is a specific exemption which can be given if there are unusual circumstances.

Other changes included in the 4.7.3 update are:

• Qualifying time cutoffs for Q1 and Q2;
• Marshal message fixes;
• Bug fixes for iOS 5 stability;
• Low memory device fixes;
• Cars focused on marshal messages now flash on the map display;
• Turns on map display flash if mentioned in marshal messages;
• Marshal sectors now flash and show flag colour on the map display;
• Tyre rules now closer to 2012 commentary;
• News alerts control now easier to understand - changes more immediate;
• Full marshal message log shown in commentary view;
• New look for marshal messages;
• Pit number is red during the race if a car must pit again;
• Race control messages now have driver short name in them;
• Interval and gap now in Full Timing in race mode;
• Smoother track movement;
• Fixed some reconnection issues when signal is dropped;
• New demo pack with some helpful tips;
• Added Twitter and Facebook links in setup.

The Formula One Timing app is available on the app store

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.