Qatar will Be Run at Night

[saltysurprise]

Today it was announced that the Grand Prix of Qatar in '08 (March 9th) WILL be held at night under lights!:eek: WOWZA! I read that it was the largest lighting project in the world for any sporting event.

That will be quite a spectacle. Over 3700 separate light sources to illumimate all of the track, run off areas and to illiminate shadows. I bet you could see it from space!:lol:

[saltysurprise]

Last weekend, the five factory manufacturers had their representative riders give the first section of fully illuminated circuit a test. I think it was more of a publicity event than an real test per se.

The 5, Capirossi (Suzuki), Toseland (Yamaha), Melandri (Ducati), de Angelis (Honda) and West (Kawasaki), all rode factory replica machines for the test, but were able to push nearly 300km/h nonetheless.

All were in favor of the experience and of what Musco Lighting (from the US, and who has lit such events as Daytona and many, many others) was able to pull off within 65 days to make the test a go. Musco figures it will have the million watts of lighting completed by early February.

To paraphrase the veteran Capirossi, "...the lighting is perfect out there! There's hardly any difference between day and night riding in these conditions, and of couse it's going to be exciting to race at night. There's no problems with shadows or reflections, I'm very happy with this."

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[JoStream]

I think it's great they actually went beyond the 'Oh, that's sounds like a good idea' stage. They took action, eventually made it to the test day and it turned out great. It really shows how all parties are working together on an idea that might improve the already exciting MotoGP races. F1 could learn a lot from them :rolleyes:

[DarkLord]

I saw them testing under lights...

but i m not sure the light was as good as daylight..

[EIR Loe.307]

I'm just not sure about the even distribution of light. If there are dark spots that creates several problems. Bad for the viewer as well as bad for the riders. The thing about running at an oval under lights is that it's evenly lit so you can see the on track action and the drivers can see. That's what the F1 night race needs to figure out too.

[DarkLord]

thats what i hv observed dark spots...hvnt seen full lap so i cant comment on distribution of light as they only displayed clip for around 15-20 seconds...

[Ryan]

Well if it's as good as daylight why not save all the energy and...ummm...run the race during the day?:confused:

[JoStream]

Well if it's as good as daylight why not save all the energy and...ummm...run the race during the day?:confused:

Yea, I don't think that's the aim of the project. From what I understand races at night will attract larger audiences because of the ideal time differences. There's also a cool ring to it: 'Racing at Night' :rolleyes:

[Ryan]

Yea, I don't think that's the aim of the project. From what I understand races at night will attract larger audiences because of the ideal time differences. There's also a cool ring to it: 'Racing at Night' :rolleyes:

Everything sounds cool when you add "at night" to it.;)

Sandwiches...at night!

I just find it funny the way the international racing leagues never consider the fans in East Asia or the Antipodes.

"Most races will be run at 4am where you live, and when they do come to where you are we're going to run it at a bizarre hour as well.

[saltysurprise]

There's also a cool ring to it: 'Racing at Night' :rolleyes:

Oh for sure! If I had to choose one race to watch (live), I'd pick the night race. It's a totally different atmosphere at night. Live would be something else:thumbsup:

The track is lit on both sides all the way through. The vids are of only a partially lit circuit. If Loris says it's ok, then that's fine with me:D

[saltysurprise]

"Most races will be run at 4am where you live, and when they do come to where you are we're going to run it at a bizarre hour as well.

The race is supposed to be televised in the UK in 'prime-time' smarty pants. They were testing in the dark at 7:30 pm in Qatar. It's all about marketing History boy.

[Ryan]

I'm aware of that.;)

I was just pointing out that the Pacific area's always get shafted on this stuff, and it's no wonder nationalized racing ie. V8 Supercars has higher ratings in Australia than F1.

[saltysurprise]

While the rest of my compadres over in Europe get to watch this HIGHLY anticipated race, I still have to wait another 6 hours:( Hey, at least it's not 3 days from now:rolleyes:

This is gonna be awsome! Just have a look at the quali times. With all the logistical nightmares that go along with putting something like this together, I don't think anyone really took into account the track temp:lol: Unfortunately I don't get the pleasure of getting to see the quali, but from what I can tell, the guys who got out early, while the track was still relatively warm, posted the best times.

All Yamaha front row! Warmup is in progress:D Enjoy the race everyone! 3pm Pacific time on SPEED. I almost forgot to set my clocks ahead:eek:!

1 Jorge Lorenzo 1:53.927
2 James Toseland 1:54.182
3 Colin Edwards 1:54.499
4 Casey Stoner 1:54.733
5 Randy De Puniet 1:54.818
6 Nicky Hayden 1:54.880
7 Valentino Rossi 1:55.133
8 Dani Pedrosa 1:55.170
9 Andrea Dovizioso 1:55.185
10 John Hopkins 1:55.263
11 Chris Vermeulen 1:55.540
12 Alex De Angelis 1:55.692
13 Loris Capirossi 1:56.070
14 Toni Elias 1:56.251
15 Shinya Nakano 1:56.434
16 Marco Melandri 1:56.730
17 Sylvain Guintoli 1:57.198
18 Anthony West 1:57.445

[emmabro]

The qualifying was real "edge of the seat stuff" last night :D
can you believe that Toseland lost pole :eek:
can't wait for the race :)...
not long to wait now :D
xxem

[aphelyon]

I can't wait to see Toseland in action, and I hope Rossi will be up there too :rolleyes:
2 'rookies' in front row, that's awsome! :thumbsup:

[saltysurprise]

I can't wait to see Toseland in action, and I hope Rossi will be up there too :rolleyes:
2 'rookies' in front row, that's awsome! :thumbsup:

Indeed! I've been waiting patiently to see how James and Jorge will do this year. The race is probably over. 90 minutes or so to go for me:whistling: WAITING!......

[JoStream]

How was the race under night conditions? Did in make any difference in how exciting it was to watch? :wonder:

[Harakimi]

How was the race under night conditions? Did in make any difference in how exciting it was to watch? :wonder:

I think it was cool. Mika Kallio fom 250cc said that it makes no big difference for drivers but it sure was damn cool to watch from tv! Sparks were flying and stuff, can't wait F1 night race now. :cool:

[saltysurprise]

I'm so effing pissed off right now!!!:mad:

The TV listings said that it was going to be on. I sat and waited. Set up the DVR. Oh! They're going to show the 250's first, I thought. So I reset the DVR as I was going to be out. I just got back and fired it into the DVD player...

NO @$%&ing RACE!!!! Are you kidding me!!?!?! RRRRAAAAWWWWRRRRR!!!!!!:banghead:

Not to mention, SPEED will be showing the 250's again later in the week, not once, but twice. But NO GP!!! Eff you SPEED, and your oval-lovin' redneck, toolshed genius's who run the joint! nlnn

[EIR Loe.307]

They showed the MotoGP race on SPEED. I just watched it. It was on later though for some reason. Great race. I may have to see if I can output it to the PC and send you the vid Salty.

[aphelyon]

For me the man of the race was definitely Doviziosso ...at first he was hunting Rossi and then, in the last laps started to fight and he made it :).
"It was too good, I have tears in my eyes" is what Dovi said.

Dani had a SUPER start ...from 8 to first spot in the very first corner :eek: