I have staged four night autocrosses in July, running
until midnight. We have tried several techniques to
help illuminate the course a little bit.
Reflective caps on the cones were tried first. They
are available from the cone suppliers and work well
but cost more than the cones. They last the life of
the cone and do not come off for safe storage. 8-(
Small Work lights and generators scattered around tend
to blind the drivers as they drive into the bright
light. They also need to be too far from the course
for safety and are not very good solutions.
Large elevated hiway construction work light/
generators work well more as a way to illuminate
workers but we like them a lot. We rent one or two for
the event from an equipment supply place. They tow in
behind a pickup truck and only make a little too much
noise, quieter than a tortured street tire.
Finally, jack-o-lanterns. Flashlights placed under the
cones light them up like jack-o-lanterns. This is very
amusing, cheap, and popular. We have folks bring a
cheap flashlight to place under the cone of their
choice. We lose a couple every year, flashlights that
is, they are less durable that the cones. The
batteries seem good for 4 to 6 hours. We stand them on
their bases but when they fall over it doesn't seem to
much matter. We now have about 50 flashlights and can
mark all the turn downs, apexes, and turn outs as well
as any slalom sets on a minute long course.
We actually have one fellow (in an M3, runs SM or
CSP/BSP/ESP) who is faster in the dark than in the
light.
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Dennis Hale
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