If you have never had the opportunity to attend an official drag racing event, you don't know what you're missing. The sounds, the smells, the sheer power of the sport can be overwhelming for the first time visitor but also pure fun. Local NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) and IHRA (International Hot Rod Association) drag racing events have an enthusiastic following of fans and are promoted as family-oriented recreation with unparalleled access to the superstars of this national phenomenon.
"Many of these same factors that make drag racing so exciting also make it one of the extreme environments for electrical and electronic equipment," says Anthony W. Vilgiate, vice president of strategic business development at BivarOpto, the optoelectronic division of Bivar Inc. Two top-fuel dragsters launching from the starting line can produce the equivalent seismic impact of a 3.2 earthquake. Vilgiate says most electronics can withstand a meager 3.2 earthquake, but not many are designed to withstand one every two or three minutes for three days straight, which is how long these events often run.
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According to the NHRA, a drag race is officially an acceleration contest from a standing start between two vehicles over a measured distance, usually a quarter-mile. Races involve a series of two-vehicle, tournament-style eliminations with the winners progressing until only one driver remains as champion. Races are started by a series of timing lights known as the "Christmas tree" due to its combination of multicolored indicator lights. The "tree" has two columns of lights. Each column has two small amber lights at the very top, followed in descending order by three larger amber bulbs, a green bulb, and a red bulb.
"The tree is wired to a series of photocells and electronic timers that allow for the fair starting and accurate timing of events, driven by expressly designed software programmable to the race criteria," says Vilgiate. When both drivers have pulled up to the starting line, the smaller amber bulbs light up and thus indicate that front tires are exactly on the starting line. Once both dragsters are fully staged, the starter activates the tree. Then, each driver shifts all focus to the three large amber bulbs. In pro events, the three amber bulbs flash at once and are followed four-tenths of a second later by the green light. In sportsman events, the three amber bulbs flash in descending order five-tenths of a second apart followed five-tenths later by the green bulb.
Since victory can be determined by hundredths of a second, any inequity at the starting line can change the outcome of not only a single race but a whole team's fortunes. Vilgiate says, "In the past, regular incandescent bulbs were used in the trees to start the races and frequently had to be replaced during the course of a race day. Incandescent bulbs also rely on a fragile burning filament encased in a glass housing to generate the light output. With the severe shock and vibration the tree is subject to race after race, the incandescent lamps are prone to damage and have a significantly reduced service life. This filament also has to warm up, which results in a predictable but inconsistent delay time. This delay has the potential to give one racer a slight advantage over a competitor."
Vilgiate says today's modern trees rely on LED (light emitting diode) bulbs to start the races. An example is Bivar's Infinite-1 LED PAR Lamp. LED bulbs do not have a delicate filament that is subject to shock and vibration but have a solid state diode generating the light.
"Since there is no filament to warm up, the LED bulb has, for all practical purposes, a consistent instant-on characteristic that makes them ideally suited to timing applications. The total light output is monochromatic so there is no wasted light output through filters and lenses," explains Vilgiate. "The difference in power consumption, while not a driving factor for the NHRA, is also to be noted." Up until last year, these trees employed 100-watt flood lamps. The new LED lamps draw from 2.7 to 15 watts, depending on the manufacturer. That is a total minimum energy savings of more than 510 watts.
"As LEDs become brighter and more efficient and the application benefits become more obvious, you can expect to see lamps like those used by the NHRA showing up in your local hardware store available for consumer applications like motion detection security lights, garden accent lighting, or even architectural lighting," predicts Vilgiate. "There really is no end to the applications and possibilities."
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