Musco to Bring The Light of Speed™ to MotoGP Racing

Musco to Bring The Light of Speed™
to MotoGP Racing

Losail International Circuit, Doha, Qatar

History will be made at the Losail International Circuit on March 9th when the opening round of the 2008 MotoGP season takes place under Musco Lights. The inaugural race will become the first motorsports World Championship Grand Prix to take place under floodlights.

Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) President Nasser bin Khalifa al-Attiyah had the dream of night racing on the Losail circuit since the track was initially constructed in 2003. QMMF explored the possibility by testing an alternate lighting system in 2006 without success. With the information gained from this first test, Nasser, along with Losail Assistant General Manager, Salim Charabati, moved forward in early 2007 to develop new performance standards and specifications for lighting the track to host a nighttime MotoGP event. After several weeks of design development and interviews with several supplier/contractor combinations, QMMF decided to award Musco the challenge of undertaking the world's largest permanent venue sports lighting project.

In just 6 months, Musco mobilized to first design this largest-of-its-kind lighting system and then manufacture and ship more than 113 ocean cargo containers and 44 air-freighted crates of equipment to light the track for race day. Special considerations had to be made for the high-speed sport of MotoGP. Eliminating shadowing and reflections was a must, and the riders, traveling in excess of 345 kph (over 200 mph), had to be able to see the warning flags and braking markers. The lighting system needed to accommodate the challenging turns of the MotoGP track, at times a quick 180 degrees, while meeting the lighting requirements for spectators and television. The desert landscape presented additional challenges, including extreme weather conditions and the equivalent of 12,600 meters of rock to trench and drill through for wire and poles.

Last November, five MotoGP riders participated in a night test at Losail to confirm the lights' effectiveness at illuminating the track without dangerous shadows and glare spots. The riders were unanimously in favor of the season's opener taking place at night and had high praise for the lighting.

The main event on March 9th will begin at 11pm Doha local time and will be broadcast live during primetime in Europe.

The Losail International Circuit is located on the outskirts of Doha, Qatar's capital city. The track is a flowing layout of 5.4 kilometers (3.36 miles) surrounded by artificial grass to help prevent the desert sand from blowing onto the racing surface. The track features a main straight over one kilometer (half a mile) in length and a total of 16 medium and high speed corners.

The Losail International Circuit replaces the Daytona International Speedway as the largest permanent venue sports-lighting project in the world. •