Professional sport is the world’s biggest entertainment industry and lighting plays a huge role in enhancing the excitement and drama, as well as enabling sportsmen and women to perform at their very best. Philips Lighting has long pioneered lighting innovation in sports, from the 1952 Olympic Games in Oslo to the first Formula One (F1) night race to be hosted in Singapore on 28 September this year.
For years, Philips has been the technical partner of international sports federations such as IAAF (athletics), FIFA (football), FIBA (basketball), ITF (tennis) and FIH (hockey). Through these partnerships, Philips has helped to draw up official specifications and guidelines for floodlighting in sporting venues
When designing lighting for world-class sporting venues, not only is it important to consider the needs of the sportsmen and women, but also the spectators and viewers at home, creating the perfect conditions for film and photography, enabling camera crews to capture sharper images that comply with High Definition Television (HDTV) standards.
A New Formula
The decision to host the first night race in Singapore recognizes F1’s increasing popularity among emerging economies and marks a significant step in taking the sport to a truly global market. Traditionally, F1 was restricted to the Americas, Europe and Japan. However, most recently, the sport has attracted increasing interest and attention from countries in the Middle East and Asia. This has encouraged an influx of sponsorship from Middle Eastern and Asian companies looking to capitalize on the growing popularity of the sport.
Championing night racing, F1 chief executive officer, Bernie Ecclestone, commissioned Valerio Maioli, Singapore Grand Prix lighting consultant, to develop the lighting system. Maioli selected Philips as lighting partner and developed a solution that meets the stringent requirements. Maioli put the installation through a series of tests across Europe, involving F1 professionals such as Renault test driver Nelson Piquet Jr. Once convinced that the lighting system and driving conditions, even at speeds of over 300km per hour, complied with the rigorous safety requirements, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) gave the green light to the first night race.
The Singapore Installation
The Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore will be fitted with nearly 1,500 lighting projectors, illuminating one side of the 5.067km track with light that is four times brighter than a football stadium at night. Because the track is a street circuit, the lighting system is temporary. To save unnecessarily uprooting of trees, the height of the lights is set deliberately lower than the canopy, and will not interfere with underground public services such as water and gas pipes, and electricity cables.
Achieving near-daylight conditions, Philips Lighting provides a safe environment for drivers, even in wet weather conditions. The system avoids glare by projecting the light beams at different angles instead of vertically.
The entire track, including the run-off areas, need to be consistently lit. However, in order to avoid confusing the drivers, the run-off areas will not be as bright as the rest of the track. The light beam has to be controlled so that if the cars spin and end up facing in the wrong direction, the driver’s vision is not impaired.
The light projectors are mounted on aluminum trusses, measuring 400 by 400 by 4000 millimeters. These are installed 10 meters above the track, supported by vertical steel pylons placed 32 meters apart. The vertical steel pylons, measuring 252 by 360 by 10,000mm, will be supported by prefabricated concrete blocks. The height of the pylons, which varies from 8 to 12 meters, will have to be individually adjusted according to its location along the circuit, without compromising on the luminosity.
Each light consists of a projector with internal reflectors individually modified to adapt to a particular area of the circuit. Each projector consists of a 2000 watt white metal halide lamp. The projectors will be installed at four-meter intervals on the aluminum truss
The lighting projectors will only be placed on one side of the track, fixed at the same side of the track as the television cameras, to reduce glare when broadcasting the race. As the height of the Formula One cars is only one meter, the shadows cast would be minimal. Thus, it is not necessary to have lights on both sides of the track.
Philips and sports lighting
Philips Lighting is the world experts in sports lighting, lighting up the majority of major stadiums, fields, pools and other sports venues. It has written the lighting specifications for e.g IAAF (athletes), FIFA (soccer), FIH (hockey), FIBA (basketball) and ITF (tennis). It has currently illuminated 70% of all UK Premier League Clubs, 55% of the world’s major soccer stadiums and will light up the vast majority of the venues for the Summer Games in China (like they did for the Olympic Games for decades now ranging from Seoul, Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney and Athens). Recently Philips provided a state of the art lighting installation for Manchester United Old Trafford stadium, enabling mounting heights to be reduced without causing glare, and keeping light where it belongs to reduce or eliminate light pollution.
Pictures and video material will become available and will be posted on www.lighting.philips.com/newscenter
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