The Hindu : Sport : The hand behind the lighting structure

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Monday, Jul 14, 2008
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The hand behind the lighting structure

P. Srinivas Aditya

Singapore City: It is a great sight to watch the state-of-the-art Singapore Grand Prix pit building, which smells of its fresh paint, facing the Kallang River, and the historic Benjamin Sheares Bridge on one side and the ‘Big Brother’, the Singapore Eye, on the other.

In a trip conducted by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), a host of mediapersons were shown the Singapore GP track under lights. The man who was responsible for all this, Valerio Maidli, is very happy these days.

Hailing from Italy, Maidli was requested by the F-1 boss, Bernie Eccleston, to put up the lights at Singapore. A person interested in artistic lighting, Maidli is a known hand in planning the lighting structures of various stadia.

Speaking to The Hindu on his latest challenge, Maidli said he had to keep in mind the drivers’ safety as well as the race marshals and the TV cameramen. In a unique concept, Maidli decided to have 1,500 lights, supported by 12 twin-power generators and the lighting which will be around four-times more than that in a flood-lit football stadium to make it convenient for the drivers while racing.

After a lot of effort and thought, Maidli decided to place the lights four metres apart from each other as it would be easier for the drivers.

After successfully testing the lights at a practice track in September last year in France, Maidli did the same in Singapore earlier this year.

A person who has vast experience in lighting the highways, stadiums and horse racing tracks, Maidli said though the football stadiums have less number of lights when compared to the present F-1 track in Singapore, the power consumption will be more in football stadiums as they use more powerful lights.

After all his hard work, Maidli feels it is one of his best works till date and is waiting for September for the results.

He added he wanted to do some minor changes of the lighting on the track, especially on the first turn. We will have to wait for another two months and hope for the best.

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