[DeTomaso] Indicator lights on race cars?

mikeldrew at aol.com mikeldrew at aol.com
Fri Nov 12 16:10:33 EST 2010



Chuck wrote: 
Several times I have noticed colored lights on the (outside) body of race cars, 
ainly
960's and 1970's vintage cars.
 
Sometimes on the (pit) side, other times on the roof, like Pantera 1189, for 
xample.
 
Sometimes 2 lights, other times 3 (red, blue, green).
 
How are they used?  (Pit signal, oil pressure, etc. ?)

>>>Today, race tracks are lit up all over the place at night; Le Mans looks almost 
like daylight.  But back in the day, it was DARK at night.  There was no pit-to-cockpit
radio communication; instead signalers were posted on the far side of the track (Mulsanne
corner in the case of Le Mans) and would hang pit boards over the walls to communicate
to the drivers.  Similar boards were used in front of the pits.

At nighttime, it was next to impossible to distinguish one car from the next.  The solution
was initially to paint different colored stripes on the noses of the cars (Shelby
Cobras, and later the GT40s used this to good effect).  Later on, various types of
colored lights were used.  Looking down the Mulsanne straight at an endless row
of approaching headlights, one car would appear with a green light on the roof, and
the signalers would know it was their car.

The practice has all but died out now, due to a lack of necessity.

Mike




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