Singapore night race will not be dark…

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Here’s a new picture showing just how bright the lighting will be at the inaugual Singapore Grand Prix this year:

The Singapore race organisers trialled a new lighting system recently along St Andrew’s Road in front of the Padang – where the cars will hit 260kph during this year’s race.

More pictures below:

They’ve also tested out the lighting system that will be used for flag warnings:

Concerns have been expressed by drivers and fans about the safety of racing at night – but from these pictures it looks as though the race will be very well-lit.

According to the organisers the pit building is 65% complete and resurfacing work on parts of the circuit are and resurfacing work on part of the track has begun.

The 2008 Singapore Grand Prix will be held on 26-28th September. It will be F1’s first night race and is expected to be followed by Malaysia in 2009 and possibly several other Asian circuits in the near future.

No news on the environmental impact of running all those lights though…

High resolution pictures

Singapore night race lighting trial 1
Singapore night race lighting trial 2
Singapore night race lighting trial 3
Singapore night race lighting trial 4
Singapore night race lighting trial 5

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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27 comments on “Singapore night race will not be dark…”

  1. No news on the environmental impact of running all those lights though…Don’t worry. By then all the cars will be powered by compressed air.

  2. with all the energy problems the world has, this is just SO pointless that’s hard to explain…

    it’s even more pointless now that we see the how dark (ironic) the race will be… it’s like daylight, but it consumes electricity… xD

  3. Do you have any high resolution versions of these pictures?

  4. Nope (I would have put them up if I had!) but I’m trying to find some. If anyone has any do let me know through the contact form or Flickr as usual.

  5. You could at least have uploaded higher res…

  6. Haplo – I don’t get what you mean, this is the highest resolution picture I’ve got right now. If I had a better one I would definitely have used it, but this is the first photograph I’ve seen that gives a good impression of how well illuminated the track will be.

  7. Just got some better quality pictures now, big thanks to D Winn for the tip! Have added them to the post.

  8. I have to agree with Fer no.65.What a waste of energy,with all the talk of spending less in Formula 1 and now this.I admit it will be interesting but,if the track is lit up like daytime,what is the use?So,we have to get up in the wee hours to watch it,I can deal with that.
    Thanks for the pics Keith.

  9. It would be better to see more than about 60 metres of lights.
    It gives the impression of glare against the dark background, but I expect it will be ok when they get the other 1484 lights added to these 16 !

  10. Ignore my last contact Keith, pix are OK now

  11. The track will definetly be well lit… but what might not please the sponsors is the view of the stands and spectators. I don’t tink we’ll see much of them.  Guess we just have to wait and see ! I’ll propbably be working as a marshall for that race so that won’t be a concern for me aha aha ha !!!
    I wonder if the governement is paying back their carbon emissions for the race… Big bill in perspective.

  12. Please let’s not wheel out the energy argument! The energy required to power the lights is a microfraction of that required to run an F1 race …  get real.

  13. I didn’t know that John – have you got any figures on it?

  14. I still do net get this debate on the enviromntal aspect of lighting up a race track …

    if all the people who go t the race stay home, they will turn on lights at home, turn on their TVs, aircons

    I think we should also ask UEFA and FIFA to immediatelly ban football matches under floodlights …

  15. John we are not talking 60 watts light bulbs here, if u get the exact number of generators that will be powering this lighting systems and the amount of power they generate, you will know for sure that its much more than what the cars will generate. Although all these carbon neutral talk is ********. What i feel is more important is the added cost an organiser has to be burdened with in addition to hosting rights. It will cost a lot to maintain these lighting systems.

    I’m really curious if these pictures with the poles on the road is going to be part of the race track as it is right now, cause that looks very dangerous. Or are they going to put fences cause that will make for a very tight race track. Monaco all over again

  16. I just don’t get it. Why do we need a night race??? Totally pointless.

  17. AndyWolf, it’s so the folks in Europe can watch it during the day. As opposed to having racing actually in Europe.

  18. the lighting may be ok for the drivers and trackside spectators but, i had a tough time with the first motogp race this year.  tv viewing for night races  is absolute crap-even the nascar/irl footage i’ve seen here in the states is just odd to watch. and yes, the whole idea of f1 making a huge proclamation of wanting to be the eco race series and then doing this just really hacks me.  what a crap load of hypocrites is running this series.

  19. harrison, so? Half the fun of F1 is the getting up early (which is only a couple of times anyway!)..And what about the locals? Seems terribly unfair that they have to get up and some unholy hour just so the Europeans can get a good nights kip.. Still cant see the point..

  20. Not to mention anyone that lives in the city having to hear that all night…. I agree, if it is so lit up that it looks like a day race, whats the point. If its to please all the European viewers, wouldn’t it make more sense to have more European races? I bet the stands wont even be full.

    I think its ironic that they will be introducing an environmentally friendly KERS device and yet decide to host more night races.

    Yet another reason Bernie and Max need to go, we need someone who can whip this sport into shape…… whoops!

  21. Shahriar Ahsan
    17th April 2008, 19:54

    with all the energy problems the world has, this is just SO pointless that’s hard to explain… — totally agree maan

  22. said this when t was first raised that it des no fvours to F1 to use lights to run a race – it is only ben demanded for pure commercial reasons by bernie – it is though an interesting experiment but pointless as we all can get up in the morning when req – see the success of the blog on race/practise days – but for the masses who dont it will seem a great idea – probably since LH has arrived they never watched before or know the history as wel as some of the contibutors to F1 do.
    Bernie sees only money – F1 is his product and needs to maximise his take – but then he never listens to anyone anyway – maybe the advertisers can sway him – hopefully to get the usa back on the circuit again

  23. I actually don’t care about the energy consumption. Energy needs are going to rise no matter what, because of population growth, modernization, etc. So we are better off finding more efficient ways of producing energy than do short-term things like ban night races, etc. Doing the latter only reduces the economic pressure to find better energy sources.

  24. those overhead shots look very bright indeed. i guess we wont be getting many helicopter views for this gp?

  25. A little point to add to the ‘Why do we need a Night Race’ debate – has anybody noticed how much Bernie is attacking the older European circuits now (Silverstone, Magny Cours, Spa and Monza so far) for not being up to his standards? He’s been at it for a few years now.
    I think he wants the Night Race in Asia/Daytime in Europe thing to really hit the spot with the fans/sponsors so that he can move the whole shebang to the Middle East, Asia and India, where they will happily build any number of new circuits for him, and totally ignore the pesky European circuits (apart from Monaco of course). He has already turned his back on America, even though it would be possible to hold three different events there – one at Indy, one in Mexico and one in California, and have the F1 circus do its thing for a month or more (great publicity anyone?). So pay attention in 2008 and 2009, your local circuit needs you!

  26. “He has already turned his back on America”

    did you forget that US are not the only contry in America? Brazil host the last race of the year and it’s part of america

  27. I hope after all the fantastic press from last year all you clowns are now eating your words. Most of the talk above indicates you have no idea what you are talking about. Early hours? The race starts at 8:30… Despite the fact the race won just about every award possible, you people always have to bring out the negatives… grow up and have a look in the mirror.

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