Rear light for ice racing

In our Street Legal class we are looking for a solution to better visibility in poor condition, white outs, snow fog etc.

We require that they run with their lights on but the tail lights are not bright enough and often get covered with snow.

In the modified class we require a rear mounted halogen light, yellow or blue.

We are going to try running with the 4way emergency lights on. But again they may get covered with snow.

So we are looking for something that could easily be mounted on the roof and won't fall of at 85 mph.

any ideas ?

Harbor Freight?

http://www.harborfreight.com/12-volt-magnetic-led-towing-light-kit-69869.html

http://www.grainger.com/product/GROTE-Mini-Strobe-Light-13W987?functionCode=P2IDP2PCP

Maybe more expensive than you want.

You might want to think of avoiding LED lights and rather going with a large watt and heat producing incandescent bulb.
The heat it puts off may be enough to melt the snow off of it. LED will produce no heat and will be likely to snow-over quickly.

This plus Lamin-x in the desired color?

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200581004_200581004

JohnRW1621 wrote: You might want to think of avoiding LED lights and rather going with a large watt and heat producing incandescent bulb. The heat it puts off may be enough to melt the snow off of it. LED will produce no heat and will be likely to snow-over quickly.

+1 LED's don't like snow/work well in the cold.

You don't want a strobe because it will be too bright and will draw the drivers' eye to it.

92dxman wrote:

JohnRW1621 wrote: You might want to think of avoiding LED lights and rather going with a large watt and heat producing incandescent bulb. The heat it puts off may be enough to melt the snow off of it. LED will produce no heat and will be likely to snow-over quickly.

+1 LED's don't like snow/work well in the cold.

LEDs actually work better in the cold.. but it does take a few moments to get up to operating temperature.

Personally, I would look into a blue light. Blue seems to cut through more than most any other colour. The other alternative would be a strobe of some sort on the roof of the car. Up there it might not get as covered in snow as on the backend

some good options. thanks

Yes the halogen vs LED has been addressed.

We have noted that the blue light works very well

We require a 55watt or brighter light at the rear and must be high mounted on the modified cars. Street Legal is another problem with the mounting of the light. Magnetic is the most likely answer.

Find a bright light of your choice, but mount it on the parcel shelf inside the rear window. Most of the cars will still have a functioning rear window defroster to keep the window clear.

In reply to EvanB:

That light would be great if it were available in color.

An amber/yellow bulb might work.

I used to run an old yellow fog facing backward. I've used the LED type strobe on the golf carts and found the LEDs interfered with the cart's ignition. Fire it up and the ignition cut out until the Cart hits higher RPM.

YMMV.

DeadSkunk wrote: Find a bright light of your choice, but mount it on the parcel shelf inside the rear window. Most of the cars will still have a functioning rear window defroster to keep the window clear.

Might work on sedan/coupe types. Not so good on square backs. we have a lot of them.

iceracer wrote: In reply to EvanB: That light would be great if it were available in color. An amber/yellow bulb might work.

As Evan comments on earlier, Lamin X is a color adhesive film to put over auto lightslights.

http://www.lamin-x.com/Universal-Film-Sheet-Covers-s/1885.htm

Google rear facing fog lights. They are common, maybe even legislated in Europe. Most are an H1 or H3 bulb, so you could even install a 100 watt unit. If you don't see that, you be in deep, deep trouble.

This appears to be a Hella unit for Porsche.

Hijack:

Where, when, and how can I ice race. Always looks fun. Never looked into it...

Thanks Ross

Woody wrote: You don't want a strobe because it will be too bright and will draw the drivers' eye to it.

I hate following someone with strobe lights but I love the ones in my headlights. At night everything moves like it's in an old movie.

You might look at the red led lights that suction cup to the windshield in detective and undercover police cars. Often times they have flash options that include solid on, they can suction cup to the inside of any kind of window, and the knock-off or no-name ones are under $30 on eBay or Amazon. Try a couple different ones, find one you like and either spec it or order enough for everyone at the same time and have the club keep them with the equipment and pass them out during the races.

the rules at one place up in northern MN state that you need to have a light on the roof that is red to the rear, amber to the front... that way people can tell if they are about to hit the rear of a car going the same direction as them or the front of a car that is backwards and stopped on the track.. what i saw the couple of times i was there watching was that people used those cheap trailer lights that are amber in the front and red in the rear bolted to the roof... of course, they didn't have a "street legal" class, so they weren't afraid to drill holes in their roof to mount them..

they've been racing on that lake for over 40 years now, and it seems to work out for them..

Ross413 wrote: Hijack: Where, when, and how can I ice race. Always looks fun. Never looked into it... Thanks Ross

up north, where the lakes turn solid for 5 months out of the year.. i toyed with the idea of starting an ice racing thing in my hometown 40 miles west of Minneapolis, but i couldn't find anyone that wanted to help set it up and run it... so i'm just gonna go out on the lake and race around in circles by myself..

The rule is not the problem. In our modified classes where a light can be bolted on there is no problem. the SMO cars have to run a headlight The problem is with the "street legal" class. they do run with their lights on. These are street driven cars and some may be raced only once. We will be starting our 51st year of ice racing this winter. Our rules work pretty good and we update them every year.

This became a problem last year with so much blowing snow due to the bitter cold temperature

The solution may be an amber fog light and a magnetic mount one of our members found on HF.

magnetic mount.. or something to replace the license plate when on the "track" could work too

Light needs to be higher. License plate gets covered with snow.