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In everyday life, the magic of light is taken for granted. When day turns into night, your body clock tells you that its time to relax and hit the sack. Cars and bikes don't have the same luxury, however, and are called upon at any time of day or night to do what they're intended for, which is to ferry people from one place to another. That's why they have headlights of a fixed capability – to light up the road ahead while driving at a reasonable speed. The faster you go, the more powerful and brighter they need to be, which is why it's important never to overdrive your headlights. But what happens when you want to go circuit racing at night? Obviously, normal headlights are far from sufficient. So the only alternative is to light up the whole track. An impossible task you say? Not with today's technology! As this is being penned, authorities at the Losail MotoGP circuit in Qatar are experimenting with light artificial light. |
Image: MSI / Nigel Kinrade via Weick
Text: The Consultant
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The opening race of the 2008 MotoGP season will be held entirely under floodlights over the second weekend of March, and will become the first ever Grand Prix, two or four wheeled, to be held at night. Formula 1 is yet to go artificially lit, and will race under lights for the first time at this year's inaugural Singapore GP in September.
Coming back to MotoGP at Losail, the project of lighting the circuit to ensure that it's good enough, not only for racing but photography and television coverage as well, has been handed to Musco, an American lighting company with considerable experience of night racing events in the United States – where racing under lights is not a new thing as NASCAR and Indy Cars have been racing at night for a number of years.
The power used to provide this massive amount of light amounts to some 5.4 million watts, which would be equivalent to lighting up 70 football stadiums with 50 percent brighter illumination. Alternatively think of it this way, say you had a road linking Qatar's capital, Doha, to Moscow in Russia 5.4million watts would be enough to power to light the entire stretch of road. Better still, 3,000 houses – equivalent to a small town – could enjoy electricity as well.
Be sure that Formula One will be watching Losail very carefully. After all, in September it will be Singapore's turn to host F1's first night race. The Singapore lighting project is slightly different. For one, it will be held on a temporary street circuit that wends its way past historic landmarks and modern buildings, whereas Losail's is a permanent installation.
Singapore has opted for Italian lighting specialists Valerio Maioli S.p.a. of Ravenna, Italy. A custom designed state-of-the-art lighting system will deliver optimal visibility for night race conditions. The system minimises glare and reflections from a wet surface or spray from cars by using lighting projectors strategically positioned on one side of the track.
In terms of hardware, the logistics boggle the mind – 108,423m of power cables, 240 steel pylons and around 1,500 light projectors will be used, with a total power requirement of over three giga-watts. At 3,000lux levels, the lighting is expected to be four times brighter than the lights at sports stadiums.
Seen as the Monaco of the East, the SingTel Singapore Grand Prix will take place on 28 September 2008 on a street circuit around the Marina Bay area with an expected attendance of 80,000 spectators. The track length is 5.067kms, which will run anti-clockwise and consist of 24 turns, 14 left and 10 right. |
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