While i was watching an interview with Lewis Hamilton on YouTube they mention something about a night race. Does anybody know anything about this? Which circuit is it supposed to be on?

It's official, my country's gonna host a GP on 28 Sep 2008. I can't wait!

How will lighting be taken care of? Will lights be mounted on the cars somehow? Or will the track be lit up with lightposts?

Quote from h3adbang3r :

How will lighting be taken care of? Will lights be mounted on the cars somehow? Or will the track be lit up with lightposts?

They're gonna do with big sulphur lamps which are extremely effective:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQycD8X5UmI





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_Street_Circuit

In a sense it wont be night, but just a highly lit up track. I hope we'll still be able to see sparks and glowing brakes.

Would be funny to see headlights on an F1 car though. I am sure they will have some kind of 'luminescence' on the cars.

Guys from MotoGP tested a night race, and it was alright. The track will be lit by huge floodlights.

Seems like a total waste of time to me. The track is going to be lit by thousands of lamps and will, essentially, look like daylight. An article in this month's F1 Racing said that the power consumption would be 3 MW.

I can't exactly see how this fits with Moseley's 'green' agenda for F1. Not that I agree with that in the first place

If they want the track lit up so well why can't they just race during the day?

Night racing is great at Le Mans but that's because IT'S DARK.

Quote from Bob Smith :

If they want the track lit up so well why can't they just race during the day?

I think you're putting the cart before the horse there, Bob. As I understand it they want the eastern races to be held around the same times as European races, hence the idea of racing at night.

One way to get around jet-lag.

Can't they just hold the race in Europe then? And send some reps over to wherever...

Night F1 must be the most stupid idea ever conceived. What happens when it rains? Imagine doing 320KPH at night in the rain on a circuit with hundreds of lights reflecting on the wet surface. Bernie has finally gone senile. Stupid, unsafe and all about commercialism, nothing to do with good racing.

They are trying to copy American racing, and fit in with the European fanbase while exploiting the developing countries in an attempt to make more money and get more sponsorship. I do like night races though, the atmosphere is great when your there, and it does look fantastic on TV, even with flood lights.

I can see the Melbourne race lasting perhaps 6 laps in the wet at night.

Quote from Gunn :

Night F1 must be the most stupid idea ever conceived. What happens when it rains? Imagine doing 320KPH at night in the rain on a circuit with hundreds of lights reflecting on the wet surface. Bernie has finally gone senile. Stupid, unsafe and all about commercialism, nothing to do with good racing.

Apparently the lighting has been very carefully designed to avoid any sort of reflections/glare disturbing the drivers (including puddles on the track). Again, according to F1 Racing.

Quote from Gunn :

Night F1 must be the most stupid idea ever conceived. What happens when it rains? Imagine doing 320KPH at night in the rain on a circuit with hundreds of lights reflecting on the wet surface. Bernie has finally gone senile. Stupid, unsafe and all about commercialism, nothing to do with good racing.

In the words of Tristan, "you slow down."

Not my idea. Same as the "why doesn't NASCAR run in the rain?" Because driving on an oval at top speed right on the very fine line of traction in the rain is stupid and unsafe. Same with this.

I think night races are daft. And I think night wet races would be even dafter.

But I'm sure all top drivers (and 99.99999% of crap club racers) are able to slow down a bit and go as fast as conditions allow anyway, so it there is glare, it's the same for everyone and they can lift off a bit...

Quote from Gunn :

Night F1 must be the most stupid idea ever conceived. What happens when it rains? Imagine doing 320KPH at night in the rain on a circuit with hundreds of lights reflecting on the wet surface.

Hell, you're right! You must be the first person in history to have ever considered the possibility of rain during a night race. Better get Bernie and the phone and tell him your brilliant ideas for how best to mitigate the farcical procession that will surely result. :rolleyes:

Christ people, this plan has been in development for years. FOM has people who do nothing but sit around and plan for things like this. The FIA has conducted wet tests on a floodlit track with F1 cars, with F1 drivers. No serious problems were found, and the go-ahead has been given.

The reason Bernie is pushing for a night races in the far east is purely because of TV ratings. A night race in Singapore is afternoon in Europe, which is prime for a big audience. Four, five, six AM races are dismal for ratings.

Furthermore, the race will not look it is being run in the daytime. Haven't you ever seen a race run at night? A two-second googling of 'IRL night' gave lots of returns of footage of open-wheelers running at night. The track is lit up well, but the multitude of floodlights makes the cars gleam brilliantly. It looks really good when the pack tears by at 200mph.

There will be no sort of 'luminescence' on the cars, other than what is already standard. They won't even run with the flashing red light if the weather is clear.

The cars are going to look absolutely fantastic for the Singapore Grand Prix next year, especially crossing the lit-up bridge. This circuit is quite a bit different than many other street circuits. Watching the cars coming down Esplanade Drive and through the fast sweeper will be quite a sight. Singapore will be right up there with the best venues on the calendar. Just you wait and see.

this might soud odd - but do they qualify at night as well?

Quote from Dru :

this might soud odd - but do they qualify at night as well?

Yes. There will be day practice and night practice though.

Well you never know what will happen.

Maybe there will be tons of glare from puddles in 1st corner and then everyone won't see where their going and there will be a massive pile up and all cars will be wrecked, and so the race will be over. But the downside is that whoever had the idea will get shot if this happens.

It might go well

Quote from Gunn :

I can see the Melbourne race lasting perhaps 6 laps in the wet at night.

That's assuming Melbourne keeps it's GP.

It sounds like an elaborate and expensive solution to a problem that doesn't exist to me.

Seriously though talk about belittling F1 as nothing more than fixed general entertainment, it's a world championship but the TV schedules must fit so it can be beamed live in Europe?

Quote :

It sounds like an elaborate and expensive solution to a problem that doesn't exist to me.

Alright James




I for one can't see any harm in at least giving a night race a go, who knows, it may prove to be a huge success.