Singapore F1 names lighting contractor

SINGAPORE--Italian company Valerio Maioli will be designing and constructing the lighting system for the world's first Formula 1 night race to be held in Singapore in September next year.

The auto racing event, which will be the first for the island-state, requires special lighting for optimal race conditions and high definition television (HDTV) broadcast.

Race promoter Singapore GP said at a press conference today that the night competition will require the track to be nearly four times brighter than a typical stadium, or a light level of 3,000 lux.

Valerio Maioli's proposed lighting system for the track involves some 1,500 lighting projectors to be powered by 12 twin-power generators. The 24 generators are expected to be fitted in "special protected areas" and will power, in addition to the lights, the PA system as well as the track's monitoring equipment, said Valerio Maioli, the company's chief.

Should one generator fail, the load will instantly be picked up by the second generator, preventing a drop in lighting levels, said Maioli.

"Each power generator can power the whole race in the event of either failure," he said.

An estimated 3 megawatts of power will be required for the event's lighting system.

Although Maioli declined to reveal the cost of the lighting system, Singapore GP's deputy chairman, Colin Syn, said costs would be "kept low" by using "local contractors".

"We are still working out the cost," Syn added.

The lights will be brought to Singapore in early January for testing, and the setup will take at least two months, though Maioli said the eventual setup in the second quarter of 2008 will take a shorter time, about six weeks.

A mock setup was previously tested at the Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track in Le Castellet, France, which took 15 days to install and two nights to trial, with no reported complications, Maioli told ZDNet Asia.