Enduro Lights

Ron Earp

Ron Earp

Administrator
What doe most people fit for enduro lights on their car? I'm prepping our #43 Miata for the VIR 13 hour coming up and I'm looking for suggestions.

Last year Mark fitted #39 with two lights on a bracket that could pop on at dusk and be connected. I think they were both 60W lights.

Also last year I saw some people running around with like 4 100W Hella lights on a bar, but also heard just about everyone on the pit wall complaining that the damn lights were too bright, blinded drivers in front, and were way over kill for what was needed.

I was thinking to mount four additional 55W lights, two mounted in the grill opening and pointed basically straight ahead, and then two mounted in the outer grill openings and pointed slightly left and right for turning. Grill opening was choosen because:

1. Miata has enough problems at 100mph, don't add more drag by putting huge lights in wind stream.

2. Miata has more than enough cooling, so, blocking a little air won't hurt a bit. Any air not going through the radiator is not causing more drag.

3. Despite the coolness of plug in lights at dusk, a mount is just one more thing to fail. Having the lights mounted permanently eliminate the mount but expose the lights to more risk of breakage during the day.

Lights are relatively small. I planned to protect them and the radiator with some ally screen so rocks and whatnot won't break them.

What are other folks doing?

Ron
 
Never had a problem being blinded by cars behind me, it really depends on how the mirrors are adjusted. There is no such thing as "too much light" for a night enduro at a track that's as dark as VIR at night.

We had 4x 85w lights on a mount that tied into the hood-pins and could be popped on during a pit stop. They were woefully inadequate on the Del Sol.

This year we've got two 85w (angled) & two 140w lights (straight ahead), which may be enough to acutally see going 130+ into the esses.

I might suggest something more powerful than 55w for the "straight ahead" lights if your goal is increased visiblity. 55w is about the same as the stock high beams, so all you are adding is redundancy. Angled "turn in" lights are a very good idea.

Grill mounting is OK, although it is much more in harm's way if you bump draft or someone checks up suddenly in front of you. A screen is a very good idea even if you aren't running the lights there.

I don't know that the drag added is really all that significant if you were to mount the lights somewhere else. We didn't have any problems with our quick-release mount, other than it made opening the hood slower due to the nature of the set-up.
 
Originally posted by raceworks@Oct 30 2005, 05:09 PM
This year we've got two 85w (angled) & two 140w lights (straight ahead), which may be enough to acutally see going 130+ into the esses.
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Thanks for those ideas. I was just out in the garage and I swapped the 55W H3s in the forward lights for two 100W H3s, so, maybe that will help a bit there. The 55w lights on the side angled out seem to do a pretty good job.

Right now I'm going to just mount them permanently and flip them back on their mounts so that the glass will point straight up. Then when we need them we can flip them forward to a pre-aligned mark and tighten them down.

Dang, I would have figured that 4 85W lights would do it. Maybe I replace the Mazda stocker lights with some 100W jobbies too.

Ron
 
I disagree that a Miata has more than enough cooling. I've seen plenty to disprove you (if you want somethign really scary, put an oil temp sensor into the oil pan). Unless its a cool day, you can plan on cooling problems if you block the radiator opening w/ lights. Remember that stock temp gauge on a Miata is just an idiot light with three positions - off, normal and cooked.

Screen on the radiator is an absolute requirement. Give it a good 2-4" from the screen to the radiator. We put one in about 1/2" in front of the radiator, after 24 hours it was still all shot blasted.

Mount them as high & far back as the rules will allow (usually the top of the lights cannot be higher than the top of the dash). Put them out in front & you will increase your likelyhood of hitting something.

Put them on & aim them the night before, don't touch them unless you need to.

Tint on the rear window is also a requirement unless you like getting the inside of the winsheild lit up like a movie screen.

Do some math to figure out what you've got for altenator capacity, then start adding lights. On a lot of small cars there is not much left over for big monster driving lights. You'll never have enough anyway.
 
If you can afford a Pod of HID off-road lights, you would be far ahead of the game.

The lights put out a tremendous beam and do not draw much amperage.

They really hit the wallet, though.

Hella, PIAA and KC all have good ones.
 
Originally posted by rlearp@Oct 30 2005, 10:37 AM
What doe most people fit for enduro lights on their car? I'm prepping our #43 Miata for the VIR 13 hour coming up and I'm looking for suggestions.

Last year Mark fitted #39 with two lights on a bracket that could pop on at dusk and be connected. I think they were both 60W lights.

Also last year I saw some people running around with like 4 100W Hella lights on a bar, but also heard just about everyone on the pit wall complaining that the damn lights were too bright, blinded drivers in front, and were way over kill for what was needed.

I was thinking to mount four additional 55W lights, two mounted in the grill opening and pointed basically straight ahead, and then two mounted in the outer grill openings and pointed slightly left and right for turning.  Grill opening was choosen because:

1. Miata has enough problems at 100mph, don't add more drag by putting huge lights in wind stream.

2. Miata has more than enough cooling, so, blocking a little air won't hurt a bit. Any air not going through the radiator is not causing more drag.

3. Despite the coolness of plug in lights at dusk, a mount is just one more thing to fail. Having the lights mounted permanently eliminate the mount but expose the lights to more risk of breakage during the day.

Lights are relatively small.  I planned to protect them and the radiator with some ally screen so rocks and whatnot won't break them.

What are other folks doing?

Ron
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I made a bracket that bolts to the same place hte bumper does. I take the four bolts that hold my bumper on, hold the bracket up and put the 4 bolts back in. I then wired the lights to run when I turn the high beams on. That way when I come into the pits, I just turn my high beams off and the light bar turns off, but the low beams are still on.

During the a practice day, I dropped about 2 seconds a lap by just turning the lights on. Too much draw.

I'll take some pictures when I finished. I had them on for last years EMRA 4-hour and since I'm planning to run it again in the next few weeks I need to dig it all out and bolt it back on.

HTH
 
Originally posted by MMiskoe@Oct 31 2005, 02:09 PM


Tint on the rear window is also a requirement unless you like getting the inside of the winsheild lit up like a movie screen.
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Stripes of racer tape about .5-.75" apart does the job also. That and it's easy to remove from the outside of the glass when your done.
 
Originally posted by MMiskoe@Oct 31 2005, 02:09 PM
Tint on the rear window is also a requirement unless you like getting the inside of the winsheild lit up like a movie screen.
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Is this something that is just commonly allowed in endurance racing or is it specifically allowed in the supps?

"Windows shall be clear and uncolored" GCR 11.2.1.W

How are you supposed to see a point-by (or other critical hand signals used on-track) in the daytime?

AB
 
Originally posted by rlearp@Oct 30 2005, 02:37 PM
... Also last year I saw some people running around with like 4 100W Hella lights on a bar, but also heard just about everyone on the pit wall complaining that the damn lights were too bright, blinded drivers in front, and were way over kill for what was needed. ...
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darkpit2.jpg


They didn't have them, or they wouldn't have been complaining.

We did and I'm not.

At Summit this year, when I'd get passed by a faster car, I'd actually dim them so the driver in front could find his apexes and run away from me faster, rather than being dazzled by their mirrors.

K
 
What I've found is if you don't have good lights and you're not the quickest car on course, when a faster car with better lights comes up behind you, you end up making a shadow with your own car! Then as the car behind you moves around the shodow you are creating also moves, that can make it difficult for you to see where you want to be. So you need lots of good light so as to fill in the shadow. Does that make sense??
 
Miskoe, we put a Koyo in our silver Miata and saw temps drop from 210 to 180. Gauge does not move. I don't think a couple of lights in the intake area will affect it tremendously in November. Do you have data showing otherwise?

Kirk, how is Pablo II coming?
 
Originally posted by rlearp@Oct 30 2005, 10:37 AM
Also last year I saw some people running around with like 4 100W Hella lights on a bar, but also heard just about everyone on the pit wall complaining that the damn lights were too bright, blinded drivers in front, and were way over kill for what was needed.
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I've worked my share of enduros and night races - those people that were complaining are rank amateurs b/c (as was stated) there is no such thing as TOO MUCH LIGHT during a night race. However, most tracks request (or demand) that lights be dimmed upon entry to the pits.

The biggest limiting factor in lighting is the vehicle's alternator output. As Spanky mentioned, the car was truly 2 seconds/lap slower with the lights on and it was noticeable behind the wheel!! A good solution is to install Euro headlights (if available) b/c of their superior beam pattern. Most events allow only 4 aux lights - 2 pointed directly ahead and 2 pointed outwards to "search" for turns.

To avoid glare from other cars, adjust the mirrors so they don't aim directly into the driver's face. Try covering the mirror glass with a tinted film (think Saran Wrap). Tape the rear window every 1/2" horizontally since it's not critical to see all of the car behind but just to know that there is a car following.
 
We used that perforated white flim that they use for bus window graphic wraps, AND the darkest street-legal tint I could find on the back window. Worked great.

K
 
Over heating Miatas - no hard proof, but during a hot 12 hour at Summit we saw more than 1 car w/ lights down there & a bubbling radiator cap. We had the bottom of the radiator all peened over from too much use w/o a screen & did the same thing. No idea what they had for a radiator, we've always just used stock ones.

There is not much flow of air to the upper part of the radiator. We added an oil cooler at about bumper height and saw no difference in the oil temp until we made a duct to grab air and direct it up to the cooler.

For glare, use tint and learn to duck your head a bit so the mirrors don't reflect into your face.

Tying the driving lights to the high beams I would advise against. I find having the high beams on the OEM column stalk is very handy. Any dust kicked up by an errant car is like a opaque curtain to your high beams, but not so bad to driving ligths & low beams.
 
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