Help Docs / RacePrep / User Guide

RacePrep user guide

Start here. This page gets you signed in, set up and on the right plan. Everything else has its own page, listed below.

Where to find things

Go to	What it covers
Step-by-step tutorials	Ten short walkthroughs, from installing the app to a car, a maintenance plan and your crew.
Track maintenance	The Dashboard, setting up what each car tracks, and servicing an item and resetting its laps.
Weekly Inspection	Running the weekly checklist, resetting it, and choosing the items on it.
Tasks and lists	The Task List, the shared shopping list and the Parts and Supplies library.
Laps and Race History	Logging laps after a race and reading the team's Race History.
Team and cars	Adding and editing cars, inviting and removing crew, and joining a team.
Account	My Profile, subscriptions and purchases, Refer Friends, signing out and deleting your account.
Messages in the app	Every message RacePrep can show, what it means and what to do.
Icons, badges and FAQ	What each icon, badge and subscription word means, and the questions racers ask most.
Help center	Quick answers to common problems, and how to contact us.

Read this first

You need a connection. RacePrep reads and writes everything on the server. Offline you get a "No internet connection" bar and changes will not save.
The demo team is a sandbox. Its data resets, so do not keep real records there. Start the free trial to get a team of your own.
Lap entries can't be undone. You cannot edit or delete a Race History entry from the app. If you logged laps twice, open the card, type the correct total in the large box and save.
One owner, everyone else is crew. A team belongs to the racer whose account created it, and the owner holds the subscription. Anyone the owner invites uses RacePrep for free.
Deleting is permanent. Deleting a card or using Reset Car erases its data for good. To keep a card's history, swipe the card and use Move to park it in the Garage.

Getting started

Welcome to RacePrep

Where in the app: Splash screen and Product Tour

RacePrep is the maintenance tracker for a race car. Every part on the car is counting laps, and RacePrep keeps the count for you so you know what is due before you load the trailer.

What RacePrep tracks

Part life by laps. The Dashboard holds a card for each thing you want to watch, with the laps it has run and the interval you set. A colored bar turns from green to orange to red as an item comes due.
A weekly inspection. The Inspection tab is a checklist grouped by area of the car. Anyone on the crew can tick an item off, and their photo appears on the row.
Jobs to do. The Task List collects what needs doing now and what is coming up soon.
What to buy. The Shopping tab is one list for the whole team, and Parts is your inventory of parts and supplies.
Race history. Laps you log after a race night roll into every maintenance item at once, and the history keeps the record.
Your crew. A team can hold several cars and as many crew members as you like.

Who uses it

The team owner, the person who bought the subscription or started the trial, can manage the team, the crew and the cars.
Crew members are invited by the owner. They see the same dashboard, inspection, tasks, shopping list and parts, and they do not pay anything.
The person who owns the team is the one whose account the team belongs to. Everyone else sees a short message on Manage My Race Team telling them who the owner is.

The Product Tour

The tour opens by itself the first time you register, and you can replay it later from the side menu. It is nine full-screen pages, always in the dark theme.

The RacePrep logo and the line "100% prepared, 100% of the time".
Customize Maintenance: choose your race class so RacePrep can load a starting set of maintenance items.
Track Maintenance: keep track of usage on any part.
Weekly Inspection: make sure you are ready before you leave the garage.
Manage Tasks: every task in one place.
Parts and Supplies: keep the trailer stocked.
Shopping List: share a team shopping list.
Invite your crew: add your whole team.
Get Started!: choose Start Demo or Start Free Trial.

Tap Next at the top right to move on, or Skip at the top left to jump straight to the last page. Both disappear on the last page.
You can also swipe sideways between pages. The dots at the bottom show where you are.
The play button near the top of the last page opens the RacePrep tutorial videos on YouTube.
Start Demo takes you into the sample team. Start Free Trial opens the subscriptions screen, called My Subscriptions in the side menu. Its title reads Start Free or Go Pro while a trial is on offer.

Replay the tour at any time from the side menu, under Product Tour.

Where in the app: Welcome screen, sign-in and register forms

Your account is what carries your team, your cars and their history. Sign in on any phone and everything is there.

The welcome screen

The app opens on a short animation, then either the welcome screen or your dashboard if you are already signed in. The welcome screen reads "Run your race team like a pro." and offers, in this order:

Sign in with Google.
Sign in with Apple, on iPhone, iPad and Mac only. The button is not shown on Android.
Other login methods, a small orange link. Tap it and the link is replaced by two more buttons, separated by an OR divider.
Sign in with email.
Register with Email.

Under the buttons is the line "By creating an account, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy". Both open in your browser.

The extra email buttons stay open until the welcome screen is opened afresh, for example after Back to login on the password-reset screen, or after signing out.

Register with an email address

Tap Register with Email.
Fill in Your Name, Email and a Password. The password must be at least 6 characters. Tap the eye icon to check what you typed.
Enter an Invite code if someone gave you one. Otherwise leave it blank. The helper text beside the field reads "Enter your invite code or leave it blank."
Tick the box beside "I have read and agree to the Terms and Conditions".
Tap Create Account.

Validation only runs when you tap the button. You may see "Please enter your Name", "Please enter a valid Email address", "Please Enter Password", "Minimum password length is 6" or "You need to accept the terms".

If the account cannot be created you get a Registration failed dialog with the reason from the server. When the address already has an account the dialog button reads Login with email and takes you back to the sign-in form with the fields cleared.

After a successful registration the Product Tour opens.

Sign in

Tap Sign in with email.
Enter your E-mail and Password.
Tap Log In.

A wrong address or password gives a Login failed dialog with the reason. If the app could not reach the server at all the dialog reads "Error logging in".

Sign in with Google or Apple

Tap Sign in with Google or Sign in with Apple and complete the sheet your phone shows.
If you back out of the sheet nothing happens and you stay on the welcome screen.
A problem on the RacePrep side gives a Google Sign In failed or Apple Sign In failed dialog with the reason.
On a device where Apple sign-in is not set up you get Not Available with the text "Sign in with Apple is not available on this device."
Signing out of RacePrep does not sign you out of your Google account on the device.

Forgot your password

On the sign-in form tap Forgot Password?
Enter the email address of your RacePrep account and tap Request password reset.
A Password reset has been sent dialog confirms it. Tap OK and follow the email.

An address the server does not know gives Password reset failed. Back to login returns you to the welcome screen, so tap Other login methods again to get back to the email form.

Verify your email

Some parts of the app wait until your email address is confirmed. My Subscriptions and Refer Friends show "To continue, you need to verify your email" with a Send Again button instead of their normal contents.

Tap Send Again and the app confirms with "Email sent".
Open the link in the email. The screen re-checks every 20 seconds and swaps to the real page on its own.

Staying signed in and signing out

The app remembers you. The next time you open it you go straight to the dashboard after the animation.
Sign Out sits at the bottom of the side menu. There is no confirmation, and you land back on the welcome screen. Your data stays on the server.

If the app opens on a dashboard with no team and no cars, and the side menu shows an error message where the team picker should be, your sign-in is no longer valid. Sign out and sign in again.

Where in the app: Bottom bar, side menu and the controls you meet everywhere

RacePrep has five tabs along the bottom, a side menu behind the hamburger button, and a car picker on the screens that are about one car.

The bottom bar

Tab	Icon	What it opens
Dashboard	gauge	Part life for the car you are on. This is home.
Inspection	screwdriver and wrench	The weekly checklist for that car.
Task List	checklist	Jobs to do now and soon.
Shopping	shopping cart	The team shopping list.
Parts	engine	Your parts and supplies inventory.

A red badge on a tab is a count sent by your account. It always describes the car you are on, or every car when you are in View All on the Task List.
Tapping a tab replaces the screen you are on, so there is no back arrow between tabs. The app-bar button on the left is always the side menu.
Tapping the tab you are already on reloads that screen.

The side menu

Open it with the hamburger button at the top left. From top to bottom:

The RacePrep logo and, beside it, a "brought to you by" panel. That panel shows your sponsor's logo when your account has one, otherwise the RaceYear apps banner.
Select Race Team, a dropdown listing every team you belong to. Picking a different team closes the menu and reloads the dashboard for that team.
On the demo team, if you do not own a team yet, a button reading Get free Trial or Create my own team.
Manage Race Cars
Manage My Race Team
Race History
A panel headed "Other Apps by RaceYear" promoting RaceTrips with a Download button.
My Subscriptions
Join a race team
Refer Friends
Product Tour
User Guide, which opens this guide.
Tutorial Video, which opens the RacePrep playlist on YouTube.
Help and Freedback [sic], which opens the RacePrep help page.
My Profile
Sign Out
At the bottom, a brightness button and the version line, for example "Version v2.0.08 - Production".

The last three of those web links are marked with a small arrow icon. User Guide and Help and Freedback open inside the app with back, forward and reload buttons in the title bar. Tutorial Video hands over to YouTube and leaves the menu open behind it.

On the demo team, Manage My Race Team and My Subscriptions are grayed out and do nothing when tapped.

Picking a car

The Dashboard and Inspection show a photo carousel. Swipe sideways to move to another car. Everything under it reloads for the car you land on.
Tap the car name, or the pencil beside it, to open that car's details.
The Task List has two tabs above the carousel, View by Car and View All. View All hides the carousel and lists the jobs for every car in the team.
If your team has no cars yet the carousel is replaced by the words "No car found".
A car of type garage is a place to park parts you are not running. It appears on the dashboard carousel and tapping its name offers use Camera or use Gallery to give it a picture.

Controls you meet everywhere

Pull down to refresh works on the dashboard, inspection, task list, shopping list and parts.
A thin progress line under the title bar means the app is talking to the server, usually while a photo uploads.
Confirm dialogs always name what they are about, with the safe choice on the left and the action on the right.
Messages appear as a bar near the bottom of the screen for about three seconds.
The brightness button in the side menu footer switches between the dark and light themes and remembers your choice.
Text follows your phone's text size setting up to a small limit, so the layout stays intact.

When you are offline

A pill reading "No internet connection" and "Please check your network and try again." slides up from the bottom of any screen while you have no connection. It goes away by itself.
If a request fails because of the connection you also get a No Internet Connection Available dialog with a single OK.

Leaving the Task List while items are ticked opens "Completed tasks." first. Do it later leaves the screen without clearing them, and Clear items clears them and resets their lap counts.

Demo mode, free trial and subscriptions

Where in the app: Dashboard banner, side menu and My Subscriptions

RacePrep gives you a sample team to play with, a free trial to run your own car, and a paid subscription after that. Crew members you invite never pay.

The demo team

A new account starts on a demo team with sample cars, so you can look around before you commit.
The dashboard shows a banner reading "You are in DEMO MODE" with Start a Trial or Buy a Subscription on the right. Tapping the banner opens My Subscriptions.
Coming into the demo from the Product Tour shows the dialog Welcome to the demo! once. It explains that you can test everything and that "this demo data resets daily", and the button reads Explore Demo.
Manage My Race Team and My Subscriptions are grayed out in the side menu while you are on the demo team. Use the Get free Trial or Create my own team button at the top of the menu instead.

Demo data is a sandbox. Anything you add there is not yours to keep.

Starting the free trial

Open My Subscriptions from the side menu, the dashboard banner, or Start Free Trial on the last page of the Product Tour.
If your email address is not verified yet the page shows "To continue, you need to verify your email". Tap Send Again, open the link in the email, then pull down to refresh.
On the Free Trial tab, tap Start a free trial.
The dialog Your 30-Day Free Trial Starts Now! appears. Tap Start My Trial.
Manage Race Cars flashes past and the app leaves you on the Dashboard. Open Manage Race Cars from the side menu to set up your own car.

The trial gives you your own team, so you can add a car, build your maintenance program and invite your crew. The app's own wording calls it a 30 day trial. The exact length is set by your account.

The Free Trial tab only appears while your account is offered one.

While the trial runs

The dashboard banner reads "This is a TRIAL VERSION" with Buy a Subscription beside it.
My Subscriptions lists the trial under "RacePrep Trials & Subscriptions" with a green badge counting the days left.

Buying a subscription

Open My Subscriptions.
Pick the Yearly (save 30%) or Monthly tab and read the plan.
Tap the buy button on the plan and complete the App Store or Google Play sheet.
When the purchase comes back, the dialog Welcome to your Full Subscription! appears. Tap View Dashboard and the app opens Manage Race Cars.

Prices and plan names come from your account and are shown in US dollars. The App Store or Google Play sheet shows the amount you will actually be charged.
If a plan cannot be sold in your region the card reads "This plan is not available at this moment." with a link to contact CrewChief@raceprep.app.
Restore Purchases at the bottom of the page brings back a subscription you already paid for, for example on a new phone.
Canceling or changing a subscription is done in your App Store or Google Play account, not in RacePrep.

When the trial or subscription ends

The dashboard, inspection, task list and shopping list are covered by a card reading Subscription Required, with your data still visible behind it. The card explains that your data is safe and offers Buy Subscription. The Parts tab, Race History and Manage Race Cars stay open.

The app checks your account every time you bring it back to the front, so a new purchase clears the block within moments. Pull down on the dashboard to force a check.

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