A 24 hour Lemons race on a unlit track.

Lemons has announced that the April event at CMP will be a true 24 hour race. 11 am Saturday to 11 am Sunday. 

CMP is in the middle of BFE and at night it's as dark as 20' up a well diggers ass. Even allowing for lighting on the cars, I am uncertain as to the safety of a race where the corner workers can't see E36 M3 and the drivers can't see the corner workers.  This seems like a receipt for disaster to me.

Have any of you gents run a Lemons race at a unlit track? How was it? Can you see the corner stations before you are on top of them? Can you see a car that is sideways in the middle of the track? Or is it just tip toeing around the course waiting for daylight? 

At the moment it's a no go for me unless some of you can tell me it isn't as bad as I think it will be. 

It's different. And crazy. But I would suggest it. Seeing other cars isn't an issue, seeing the road is. 

Just go as fast as you are comfortable, just like any other time on track. Speed will come as you go.

Get spotlights pointed out at a 45degree angle both ways.

The one I did the track was an oval with an infield and was partially lit, but the infield was perfectly dark. One of the most fun and unique driving experiences I've had. You have to change your brake and turn references because you may not be able to see them in the dark. You can only work with what you can see. 

Tldr, do it!

From a marshal POV, visibility is next to impossible for spec cars.

For WEC and the one LeMans I worked, You can tell by the headlight colors who is coming and the approximate speed differential. When I did the only chump race I worked going into the night, It was horrible and I never worked another one. i would recommend to the race organizers that the corner stations be lit. At least then the drivers have an Idea where the heck they even are. 

I ran at the Nelson Ledges 24HoL- forward lighting is easy, you want lots of light  although it can be hard to see the edges of the track so make sure that all of your drivers get out during the day time first to learn it.  DO NOT follow the taillights, I have a few fond memories of going "I don't think that guy knows where the track is..." followed immediately by the taillights getting very bouncy and disappearing off into the night.

Make sure you have a way to avoid being blinded by the lights from other cars too- tint for your mirrors or something.  Masking tape over your own warning lights and stuff can help preserve night vision as well.

We ran a 24 at Edmonton.  They turned the lights from the dragstrip around to shine on the main straight, which meant pretty much zero visibility on turn three and four.  I learned pretty quickly to watch the edge of the track, with an eye ahead for stuff to hit, and when I got to the end of the red and white curbing, stand on it.

Corner workers had lights instead of flags, and rescue vehicles were lit up like Chernobyl on a friday night.  I enjoyed it, and ran pretty darn close to my daytime lap times.  One of our guys was terrified the whole time, and came in way early to get out of the car.

When Chump ran Spokane in the dark, they used portable yellow lights they could control from the lit front stretch and they had a skeleton crew during the night for the corners.

The drawback at that track was the cars appeared to be coming from ahead of you due to the layout.  Otherwise it went relatively well.

Good lighting, and at least on our car we ran LED light strips all the way down the sides of the car so other cars could see us. A good portion of the cars out there were doing that as well. It was the guys with lousy/sub-par rear and side-lighting that you really had to worry about. Didn't help that we did it in the rain, though parts of the track were lit. 

All the above advise is on point. If you have a daylight stint try to document and memorize you breaking marker for each corner. At night they will come up quick. Start by dialing back your braking point 50-100 feet and then cut it down as your bravery/comfort increases. 

I'm kinda sad that I'll probably be missing that race. I'd love to do CMP in the dark, although maybe not with our Toyocedes's current lighting. I've raced there enough times though, and know my braking points well enough that I think I could do "okay" at night.

Unique led treatment to your car helps your teammates keep track of you also.  I didn’t find that running in the dark was all that bad probably due to my being in the dark most of the time anyway.

The fun part is going from almost ready for a nap to adrenalized for two hours at midnight and again at 4:00am.  That and the drive home, that’s fun too.

My second Lemons was a 24hr in 90 degree with 90 percent humidity.  Other than the heat we had a great race just gas and go.  Came in second place class C, now we are up to a best of 4th class B.

Hydrate and nap if you can.  

We were having thoughts of running this race.  20 hour drive, 24hr race, 20 hour drive, that’s what, only like 65 hours of my life.

I am 99% sure  they will bring in portable  lighting.  Jay and Nick run a surprisingly tight ship with regard to safety.  Plus, the insurance and legal eagles will likely insist on it.

We use portable generators with built in lighting at work during shutdowns. The systems are commonly available for rent. 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

I ran at the Nelson Ledges 24HoL-

Really! Me too; what car were you in? We were in the quad4 CRX. We did not have enough lights. Which turned out to not be that bad because we blew up before night fall in the race proper so the only dark track time we got was in practice.

Spring CMP being 24 hours really makes me seriously want a 2019 return to racing. The youngest will be 2 and a little more independent than right now.

While I didn't run in a night race I did attend one and I do remember one car that stood out among all the cars that raced that day.  It was covered 100% with reflective yellow tape!  Anytime any light hit it it just glowed and you knew it was "that car".  So I suggest you put some reflective tape on the cars sides so that others car see it.

Some reflective tape is required on each corner but you can add more.  You also need glow sticks in the car incase of a power failure.

We had a TIKI head that lit up as our third brake light.

In reply to dculberson :

The supercharged MR2 with the stars and stripes on it- think I remember battling with a CRX briefly, but it was at night so I'm not sure if it was you guys.  I miss LeMons being really cheap.

I am SO not a night owl, I'm an early to bed and early to rise guy.  But I'm excited about this race, should be fun.  I'm not fond of the sandbox that is CMP, but it should be a good time.  Having run as many LeMons races as I have, I'm confident that the folks in charge will do all they can in the name of safety.  The rest is up to us drivers.

I ran with Chump at Road Atlanta for a night race.  Only a couple of the corners were lit with portables and they had electronic flagging at night. 

Our Civic had subpar power and barely any auxiliary lighting, but it was like our car picked up 100hp after dark.  You have to know the track very well and drive with reference points vs just looking out the window.  

Biggest problem with visibility will be other cars poorly implemented aux lighting. 

The one thing I saw that I'll rip off for the next night race is put in good interior lights for driver changes.  And don't forget to bring a clear visor if you're used to running a tinted one.

Big interior lights, now that's a good idea.  We were pitting under a drive through tent with big lights so it wasn't bad but next time there will be interior also.

The Thunderhill 25 is on a dark track. Spend some time making sure your lights are well aimed not only for straights, but for cornering. Last time I did the T25, we pushed the car out to the end of the pits so we could aim the lights when it was on the actual track surface.

One thing you'll need for the pits is a lit way to flag down your drivers. I have a little LED wand that flashes blue, should make it easy for the driver coming down the (lighted) pit row to pick out home. Heck, it could be a pie plate on the end of a broom handle with a flashlight (not a random example), you just need something for them to see.

akylekoz said:

You also need glow sticks in the car incase of a power failure.

 

A battery powered dome light on the interior roof works well.

Lemons has no lighting rule as far a number and lumens go (unlike ChumpCar), so that helps. Avoid cheap Chinese LED light bars, they just throw light everywhere and have very little distance. We just did the 24 at VIR, which also has no lighting (and no moon that night) aside from a few portable towers. We came with HID projectors in the stock headlight housings and two cube LED spot lights on the hood. An early crash took out the HID's but the cube's survived. They were brilliant for the amount of light they put down range, but there were a few corners where the apex's were dark.

I was a little nervous getting in the car at 2am for my first time ever night racing. After a few laps thought I settled right in and wasn't bothered by it at all. It's much cooler in the car at night for one thing. Also, your mirrors will be for the most part, useless- you need to be very aware of your surroundings.

Maybe I'm the only one but my night vision has degraded much faster and further than my normal vision. I would probably still race but i can imagine the added stress taking a lot of the fun out of it for some people. I think it's cool that this race exists. Also glad i found this thread because when i saw mention of night racing on their Instagram i immediately thought "there must be a lot to say about that" but didn't remember to follow up. This is interesting reading, lots of good ideas.

Also, make the cabin as dark as possible while on track. That will help with your night vision. That holds true for your street car, too, which are lit up inside like Christmas trees on modern cars.

Keith Tanner said:

Heck, it could be a pie plate on the end of a broom handle with a flashlight (not a random example), you just need something for them to see.

We use a pink Hello Kitty umbrella, with a flashlight taped to it for night duty.

In reply to ross2004 :

The LeMons website does list a minimum of 2 functioning headlights, and one functioning brake and one functioning tail.  Can be a combo stop/tail light.

No minimum lumens.  

https://24hoursoflemons.com/race/?id=231

I also did Road Atlanta at night.  Track was pretty dark, we just had OEM headlights on a Subaru I was driving for another team.  it was a bit spooky at first, but you get used to it.  IIRC corner stations were illuminated.  

Honestly, as much as I'd love to do a real 24, the next race on the schedule for 2019 looks more fun- New Jersey, and there'll be a HooptieCon and Concours de LeMons the same weekend at the track.  (May 4th)

ross2004 said:

 

I was a little nervous getting in the car at 2am for my first time ever night racing. After a few laps thought I settled right in and wasn't bothered by it at all. It's much cooler in the car at night for one thing. Also, your mirrors will be for the most part, useless- you need to be very aware of your surroundings.

That's a big one for me.  I pride myself in being a very clean (albeit not super fast) driver.  One thing that I'm pretty OCD about is being able to see in my mirrors as much as I can.  I use that, along with my senses to help make sure I'm always fully aware of my surroundings.  Guess on a dark track I'll have to adapt to less visibility in the mirrors.