Glennm27

Not sure how many will care about this BUT.... I was doing a typical HPDE day last week, just for fun while I was on vacation.

I was running my 08 Z06 at New Jersey Motorsports Park's Thunderbolt Raceway. There was a C5 in the group I was in that had aftermarket LED tail lights. Well, those lights are fine IF you are directly behind the car, but not so if you're not directly behind. The C5 was at the apex of a turn on his brakes while I was 5-7 lengths back approaching the turn and I couldn't see the brake lights. I was taking that turn all day with no brakes at all so to find him in the turn ON THE BRAKES and NOT SEEING HIS LIGHTS was an unpleasant surprise. On the street this won't pose a problem, BUT at the track with the approach rate much higher, it was a shock to say the least.

My point here I guess is to watch out for the cars with LED tail lights at the track....

Oh by the way, there was no contact. (just in case anyone was wondering)

Jason

I learned to not depend on brake lights when there were some prototype cars on track with us at Barber and they did not have functional brake lights. And those cars stop in a hurry.

Glennm27

Many, or MOST drivers at HPDE's are not seasoned racers and they DO look for brake lights. Not all but many do.

My post is a word of warning to those people...

Kubs

Good post. Some doing just HPDEs are not as predictable drivers as more experienced racers. You have to keep a close eye out when your on the track with them.

klasik-69

Good point. I don't recall seeing anyone on the track with LED tail lights but a friend of mine has them on his C5. On the street, they sure appear to be very bright and flash at a faster rate........likely as a result of more draw on the electronic flasher. However, I've never been anywhere but directly behind him when seeing his lights.

mark b

I have halo led tails and been doing HPDE's for years and noone has had a problem.. In fact those lights are brighter than regular brake lights so you would see them even better and at a farther distance. what kind of led's were they?

I think you were just spooked because you thought the guy in front was going as fast as you and he wasnt... when I come up to someone like that I'm patient and wait till it is safe to pass. you know it's not a race

Glennm27

I was not "spooked", I just observed this and have it in my onbaord video that I looked at later that day....

As mentioned, his lights were fine when directly behind, but check any LED, they are not the same from an angle....

When we were going through a right hander I could barely see his passenger side tail light and could not see the drivers side at all.... This is with me maybe 5 lengths behind him.

Again, I posted this mainly for guys that are relatively new to HPDE's so they are aware. There are ALWAYS plenty of newbies out there and those guys ARE looking at brake lights....

This happened to be at an HPDE where the attendance was down and groups were combined. In my first session they had my Intermediate group run with the Green group.

I was later moved out of the Int. group. I signed myself up in an Intermediate group because I was ruinning that day on my street tires..

Anyway, these LED's were definately not as bright when viewed from an angle. You'll see for yourself when you check yours...

GeorgeZNJ

Good post Glenn, thanks for the heads up.

mikahb

Interesting observation and good heads up. I suspect it's unique to the aftermarket LED kit as I had noticed not too long ago - on track - that the LED's were actually easier to see than regular lights in the bright sunlight, even from odd angles.

Jason's advice is good too - don't ever count on taillights to warn you, or especially to affect your own timing. When they're not there as expected, bad things happen!

mark b

do you know what type of led's they were? were they the halo's or the chrome type with the little led lights? those are probably harder to see.

mousecatcher

should've mentioned it to the guy. if my brake lights were not really visible i would be more worried about it on the street than the track. then again, folks that swap out the tail lights for non-DOT lights probably aren't so concerned.