Arden finished second in the overall Team Championship of the inaugural GP2 season last year. The sponsorship emphasises the natural affinity between Arden and A.C. Lighting, with both companies operating at the forefront of new technology in their industry sectors. The company believes the race will provide a dynamic environment for A.C. to network with other sponsors and countries at a business to business level to promote its products and services.
A.C. Lighting's Special Projects division also reports that it supplied a Litec truss grid system and two car lighting pods to Arden International for the team's garage at this year's GP2 motor racing season. Arden wanted to replace its existing car lighting pods with something high-tech and completely different to what the other teams were using, so they approached A.C. Lighting's Special Projects division to provide a new custom pod design.
A.C. had to address a number of technical and aesthetic factors when developing concepts. The design needed to have a space-age, industrial look in keeping with the cars' cutting-edge technology, whilst still providing sufficient light output levels for the mechanics to work under them.
In addition, the lighting needed to have a very low heat discharge to keep the garage temperature as cool as possible, and be of a safe loading weight when suspended from the supporting truss structure.
A.C. supplied a Litec FX30 ladder truss grid system for the new garage structure framework. The two 'bullet-shaped' lighting pods are constructed from Litec TX30 custom truss in matching extruded aluminium material. Encapsulite MT50 and MT70 battens provide the main task lighting.
Solar GB MR16 6W LED fittings provide additional colour-changing inside the trusses to slowly cross-fade between a selection of colours. All cabling is contained in ribbed, flexible conduit, giving the pods an overall industrial look with lots of pipes and bolts.
Race engineer Richard Dent commented: "We commissioned A.C. Lighting to come up with a new concept for our in awning lighting rig. What we received was a stunning, innovative design that was not only radical but functional too. The whole team is very pleased with the end result."
As well as supplying products to over 80 countries worldwide - including revolutionary lighting products such as the Jands Vista and Chroma-Q Color Web - A.C.'s Special Projects division also provides cutting-edge entertainment and architectural lighting solutions to a wide range of clients. The division has contributed to the lighting systems for some of the industry's most prestigious projects, including the current Rolling Stones A Bigger Bang World Tour, London's BT Tower and Victoria & Albert Museum's John Madejski Garden, and the Portsmouth Spinnaker Tower national landmark.
(Lee Baldock)
