Lighting a race track!

[Ed Carr]

Has anyone here had experience with lighting a circle track?
We have been hired to redo the electrical at a local 1/2 mile
dirt track.The place is currently in pretty sad shape and basically
nothing there is salvagable.I've looked at some of the sites that
specialize in this type of lighting and know there is some apparently
high end stuff.We are looking at possibly 35' utility poles with a crossarm
and multiple lights.What would be some other thoughts.
Thanks, Ed

[mdshunk]

I'd call the people at Sportslighter (http://www.sportslighting.com/) and let them design it.

[Ed Carr]

Marc, Have you worked on anything with this company?

[mdshunk]

Marc, Have you worked on anything with this company?
Once, for a group of tennis courts. Completely pain free. Heck, the fixtures were even pre adjusted to point right where they're supposed to.

[Ed Carr]

Marc-I looked through one of those sites for quite awhile yesterday.
You are absolutely right, that is the way to go.Do you have any idea
of the cost of your project? Any thoughts for a backup plan if this proves
too costly?

[roger]

I have used Musco Lighting (http://www.musco.com/projshow/show_case.php?id=motorsports) on a couple of University sport fields and GE on another, they were both excellent to work with.

Roger

[mdshunk]

Do you have any idea of the cost of your project?
This was 2001-ish, and was about 47K if memory serves. For a plan 'B' for your dirt track, I'd put two Stonco sportslighter heads on a wood pole every hundred feet around the track and hope for the best. :)

[ItsHot]

This was 2001-ish, and was about 47K if memory serves. For a plan 'B' for your dirt track, I'd put two Stonco sportslighter heads on a wood pole every hundred feet around the track and hope for the best. :)
Marc! Then you would have one of those demolition derby"s!:D

[Ed Carr]

My thoughts as well Marc.
Specially the hope for the best part......

[Ed Carr]

We could have the dash for the Pole!

[mdshunk]

We could have the dash for the Pole!
I'm certain you can have more than 100K easily wrapped up in lighting that track the way it should be done. The light pollution people will hate you. 8-)

[electricalperson]

Once, for a group of tennis courts. Completely pain free. Heck, the fixtures were even pre adjusted to point right where they're supposed to.

we had them design the lighting at the high school football field. came out pretty nice its like day light out there

[roger]

I'm certain you can have more than 100K easily wrapped up in lighting that track the way it should be done. The light pollution people will hate you. 8-)

Absolutely on both points. One baseball field we did was over 100k for just the lighting, poles, pole base engineering (120 MPH) and concrete. This did not include labor or miscellaneous materials.

Roger

[Ed Carr]

wow...100K plus :roll: :roll:
Marc,just did a quick google of the Stonco-$500 with bulb 1500watt MH
This aint gonna be cheap!

[Ed Carr]

Roger, Thank you. I had already looked at the Musco page.
I knew they were the pioneers of track lighting.

[mdshunk]

wow...100K plus :roll: :roll:
Marc,just did a quick google of the Stonco-$500 with bulb 1500watt MH
This aint gonna be cheap!
Nope. There's little league teams that had to have fundraisers for a good 10-15 years to light their field.

[cowboyjwc]

You could do it like Charlotte and light it from below using mirrors to direct the lighting to where you want it.

Of course at a dirt track you might have a hard time keeping the mirrors clean.:D

[wamegojim]

Marc is right about SportsLighter. Musco, Hubbell, and GE are the other major players. I quoted a university stadium expansion...4 - 80 foot sectional poles with about 20 lights apiece 700 grand. that included the engineering and design for the bases, crane rental, and all the associated feeders.

Keep in mind it had to light for TV.

Not the same as the dirt track but as the quality of the lighting required goes up the price will too, only exponentially!

[DanZ]

Have you talked to your contact at the track about this? They may have had someone design it before they want to reuse.

If not, bring up having one of the companies mentioned design it, and don't forget to tell the contact at the track how much benefit they will get from it. They may want to go to them themselves, or have you go. Or tell you you're already over budget.

This sounds like one of those times when planning ahead and paying a little extra initially will really pay off in the long run.

[brantmacga]

I have used Musco Lighting (http://www.musco.com/projshow/show_case.php?id=motorsports) on a couple of University sport fields and GE on another, they were both excellent to work with.

Roger

Musco is fabulous.

[weressl]

Has anyone here had experience with lighting a circle track?
We have been hired to redo the electrical at a local 1/2 mile
dirt track.The place is currently in pretty sad shape and basically
nothing there is salvagable.I've looked at some of the sites that
specialize in this type of lighting and know there is some apparently
high end stuff.We are looking at possibly 35' utility poles with a crossarm
and multiple lights.What would be some other thoughts.
Thanks, Ed

Glare is the biggest problem there is. The best solution is high mast (65-100') with downlights placed on the inside of the circle. Of course it is more costly, but the issue is safety and for the spectators to be able to have the best possible lighting.