SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1524296
SCORE JOURNAL 2024 LIGHTING GUIDE Lighting Choices Can Make The Difference Between Winning And Finishing Story by Stuart Bourdon Photography Courtesy Of The Manufacturers In the early days of off-road racing, lighting for motorcycles, cars, and trucks was fairly unsophisticated and downright rudimentary. You were lucky if you had lights that reached far enough ahead of you. There was no such thing as vibration resistance, and sometimes it felt like you had a handheld flashlight taped to your race car or motorcycle. Today, off-road lighting has improved by leaps and bounds to include incredibly powerful off-road lighting products that have moved away from fragile bulbs to rock-solid light-emitting diode (LED) designs and sophisticated electronic power control. The science of reflector and lens design has helped focus the powerful LEDs, creating columns of light that reach out a quarter of a mile into the dark night, or a wide fan or conical-shaped floodlight to deliver daytime-like illumination on the ground directly in front of you and both sides of the terrain around you. WHAT’S NEW Wes Wheeler at Baja Designs gave us a look into a recent update to their off-road lighting products. “Every forward-facing light has been upgraded to our next-gen LEDs and next-gen circuit boards. They’re drawing less power while allowing huge gains in distance and overall light output. For instance, with our XL80, we’re seeing an 18-percent distance increase, which comes out to about 400 feet. Our Squadron SAE and S2 lights are our newest street-legal products, and they are perfect for a chase truck or the recreational off-roader.” “When it comes to testing and future development, the most notable race teams we use for our BD-X Program (BD-Experimental) are Bryce Menzies, the McMillins, and Cameron Steele. In reality, anyone running BD lights has been part of the development, because we take the feedback from all of our racers to stay on the cutting edge.” Hella is always up to something interesting. Pablo Sanchez, Sr. Marketing Manager for Hella, told us about their new BLADE light. “Our new 6-inch BLADE light produces 8,500 lumens from its six powerful 6,000K white LED modules that create a bright spot beam with a reach of 600 meters (nearly 2,000 feet), and its unique design incorporates an LED position light with white or amber modes in twin horizontal blade shapes.” Hella BLADE is a multi-voltage light that can operate on 12-24 volts DC, features a polycarbonate lens, and a 500 mm (almost 20 inches) long electrical cable with open ends for easy installation. It’s also IP69K rated (cleaning with high-pressure, high-temperature water) and IP67 rated (the housing is waterproof). Optional covers with translucent position light contours are available. Sanchez also talked about a noteworthy heat-maintenance feature of the new 6-inch Hella Blade. “The aluminum housing features cooling fins on the backside that help keep the electronics from overheating, but the BLADE self-regulates to some degree. If the light gets too hot, its system backs off the output (a slight drop in light intensity) to cool down the BLADE. When it returns to a safe level, the light goes back to full power.” Rigid Industries recently launched its 360-Series Laser Edition light. Rigid’s Damon Flippo told us, “Some of our racers like Justin Davis have been running them in the big boy trucks. It has two LEDs and one laser, and its pencil beam has been certified at a 1.2-mile reach. Another new item we are very proud of is the 9-inch 360-Series light. It throws out 8,600 raw lumens, is available in all our beam patterns (as well as an amber model), and draws just 15 amps constant with a 23-amp turn-on.” Sylvania Off-Road is the newest player in the off-road arena and has introduced three new lines of off-road illumination. The company’s Slim line of pods and small light bars deliver up to 5,400 lumens, the waterproof Rugged line pods and light bars run as bright as 5,000 lumens, and the Ultra series is water-resistant and designed for racing. The Sylvania Off-Road Ultra series (2,360-lumen 3-inch pod, and light bars up to 50 inches wide with a 19,440-lumen output) is the company’s most powerful new off-road lighting product. Vision X is introducing new lighting systems with more features and vehicle-specific mounting brackets. Vision X Marketing Manager Brandon Nelson said, “While we currently offer a number of powerful off-road lighting products, we will be releasing two new series of lights at SEMA (November 2024) with more output and distance to replace the CG2 Light Cannons that have been a staple of our racing program. Ten years ago, it was all about single LEDS and big reflectors to get long-distance light. Now we use multi-LED configurations with smaller reflectors and more focused optics to achieve higher output and more width than your typical standard spot. We’re also launching a new line of square lights directed at the recreational off-road market that will be packed with features and affordably priced.” NOT ALL LEDs ARE THE SAME Light-emitting diodes, like all lighting products, have a color temperature that is measured on the Kelvin scale. The simplest way to explain Kelvin temperature is to think about how sunlight cast on the landscape can change color over a day. A 5,500K to 6,000K LED is slightly blue (like a cloudy sky) and often referred to as “day white.” Direct sunlight registers around 4,800K. An LED with a 4,000K to 4,500K color temperature is slightly warmer in color and sometimes called “natural white.” Even warmer and in the yellow/amber range are LEDs in the 3,000K to 2,000K range. Most manufacturers use an LED in their white lights that is as close to daylight as possible, which renders colors more natural to the human eye and has been proven to enhance visibility and make people feel more alert and active. LEDs also come in a range of power (watt) outputs. Sylvania’s Erin O’Malley told us, “We use OSRAM white LEDs to achieve the highest output coupled with our performance-designed optics. We haven’t finalized our yellow/amber options yet, but we are working on developing them in the near term.” Brandon Nelson said, “At Vision X, we typically suggest a 50/50 ratio of white and yellow lights for the best approach to having a long reach for speed (white) and the best visibility (yellow/amber) through dust or fog. Traditionally, amber LEDs (usually 3- or 5-watt) were used but they can’t match the output of a white LED. We dye the lens material yellow, use 10-watt LEDs, and lose only 2- or 3-percent output. We are seeing a profound improvement in performance this way.” MOTO LIGHTS NiteRider specializes in unique motorcycle lighting, and Daniel Valazquez gave us the rundown on the company’s helmet lights, as well as a new and more powerful rear blue safety light (required for all motos and ATV classes in SCORE races) that was introduced at the 2024 SCORE Baja 500. “One of our more popular helmet light systems is the Pro 4200 MX Enduro light. It attaches to a full-face helmet and weighs just 160 grams. In Race mode, it helps deliver 600 lumens of light where the headlights don’t for as much as 16 hours. We’ve also just introduced a new and more powerful (330 lumens) version of our BlueBomb CherryBomb Tail Light for motorcycles. It has four modes and a run time in fast flash mode of 96 hours.” While almost everyone offers something for motorcycles, some have been at it longer than others. Baja Designs’ Wes Wheeler said, “The motos are where we got our start. Our roots are in moto racing and Baja, and we have both Universal and Vehicle Specific Kits (VSK) available, which means we can get a light on just about any bike. Our Dual Race Light is what most are running and are easily removable/to install on the fly if needed.” Rigid Industries’ Damon Flippo told us, “Our Adapt XE kit for motos monitors the bike’s electrical system and uses an internal GPS module to alter the distribution of the system’s power depending on speed. Slower speeds deliver more short-range light, and higher speeds create greater long-range light. Fittings are available for most motorcycles, and a wiring harness and custom handlebar switch is part of the package.” APPLICATION ADVICE According to Brandon Nelson, the main difference between a setup for racer lights versus recreational lights is the raw size and output of the lights. “Typically, when talking to racers, our 6.7-inch Vision X light was the smallest we would suggest unless they’re using a large combination of some of our smaller lights. We also have some full-length light bars that shoot out close to half a mile. Racers still need high-output, high-performance lights built to withstand the rigors of a 1,000-mile off-road race.” “For racers, it’s really about lights on the roof, pillars, and bumper for long distance, mid-range, and down low for dust and fog. But not everyone needs the same amount of light. It’s very easy to go overkill on your lighting setup. Our new line of square lights will be ideal for the entry-level market that doesn’t necessarily need 3/16th-inch steel triangulated brackets on their lights. A weekend enthusiast can still have a wall of illumination in front of them and be able to tackle anything they want.” Baja Designs’ Wes Wheeler said, “On our website, we outline what we call the ‘Lighting Zones’ that can help consumers select the right lights for their off-road adventures. The recreational off-roader will want to find products that work to cover at least all the first four zones on our lighting chart. Those are important because that’s going to cover your near, midfield, cornering, and driving zones.” “For the racer, you want to cover those first four zones, but even more important is zone five out in front of you. Our Racer Edition Spots are perfect for that zone five purpose. If you want extra reach, add in some of our Zone 51 Laser Series lights. Keep in mind that near and midfield front light is essential because of the tight sections on a racecourse where your long-distance lights will be shining on the canyon walls and not on the trail in front of you.” One of the latest players in the off-road lighting industry is Nacho Lighting. The company is led by pioneers in the lighting industry with more than 20-years in manufacturing for the off-road industry. The company’s Grande Supreme 100 is a high powered multi-function light utilized for high-performance driving/race applications. Nacho’s Quattro Combo is a SEMA Powersports Product of the Year and is a high-output 4” multi-function light, backed by a lifetime warranty. SJ SOURCES Baja Designs www.bajadesigns.com Hella www.hella.com Rigid Industries www.rigidindustries.com NiteRider www.niterider.com Sylvania Off-Road www.sylvania-automotive.com Vision X www.visionxuisa.com Nacho Off-Road Technology www.nachooffroadtechnology.com/