May 2011 - Illuminating Engineering Society

MEYDAN RACECOURSE
Photos courtesy of Musco
mounting positions for the metal halide luminaires. A visor on each fixture reduces spill light.
The racetrack luminaires in an open (above)
and closed (below) position. A mechanical
visor rotates down in front of each metal
halide lamp. The entire track can go from
illuminated to complete darkness in less than
three seconds.
never been used outdoors, particularly on
this scale,” Johnson says.
Each luminaire contains its own motorized
linear actuator with a control wired
back to the control room. One switch, for example,
can open and close all 889 luminaires
across the grandstand in approximately
two seconds for a full blackout effect. The
showlight visor is an integral component
of the luminaire. When in the open position,
the visor acts as a reflector focusing light
onto the track and reducing light pollution
and spill light. The system is employed up to
12 times on a typical race night.
The entire sports lighting system can
be switched to three light levels of 33, 66
and 100 percent maintaining a uniformity
of 0.4 min/max, 0.6 minutes on average.
A pole with perhaps 10 luminaires, for
example, can be switched so that any of
the three levels are maintained. If only
33 percent of the lights are on, however,
the uniformity of the light is not affected.
This was built into the design so the lighting
staff does not have to run the system
at full power during practices, non-race
nights, or when the facility is used for
other purposes. In addition, the Meydan
lighting system is equipped with a bi-level
dimming transformer that can switch the
luminaire to 50 percent power, reducing
power consumption between races.
The technical performance of the luminaires
was just half the equation. The
other factor was their aesthetic impact on
the hotel. “The hotel was a bigger challenge
in that the client didn’t want lights
attached to the structure—at all,” Johnson
notes. “The solution was to group the
luminaires on masts situated on top of
the elevator shafts of the building. These
masts are attached to a 5-m pole with a
hinged base plate each fitted with a dedicated
hydraulic mechanism that folds the
pole backwards to a horizontal resting position
and concealed from view.”
Finally, some lighting below complements
this lighting above: CD+M designed
LED seating for the grandstand which is
integrated into the underside of the folddown
stadium seats.
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