This weekend (July 26 – 27), the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the Belgian Ardennes region is the venue for the Total 24H SPA, the world’s largest endurance race for GT cars with over 60 participating teams. For the second consecutive year, the innovative LUMIRANK system will be used during the classic Belgian race. An LED position display on all race cars informs teams, drivers and spectators about the current position in the race of the car involved. The LUMIRANK position display has been developed by SAS Technologies from Nuremberg, Germany. “After the premiere during the Spa 24 Hours last year, we have improved the system and the second generation will be used in selected cars this year,” says Stefan Sack, owner and managing director of SAS Technologies.

Development of the LUMIRANK system started in 2011, the displays were used for the first time during the ‘City Challenge’ GT invitational race in Baku at the end of 2012. Last year, a co-operation between SAS Technologies and SRO, promoter and organiser of the Blancpain GT Series with the Spa 24 Hours as its season highlight, started. As a result, the entire field at Spa was equipped with the LED position displays for the first time in 2013. Drivers, spectators, team members and media representatives were very positive about the display that provided information about the current position of each car in the race at any given time.

“Especially the fixation at an angle behind the windscreen of the GT cars and the multiple layers of protective foil on the windscreen are a challenge for the system when visibility of the display is concerned,” Stefan Sack explains. “Therefore, from October 2013, we have carried out laborious tests with various LED versions at OSRAM’s optical laboratories, looking at aspects like visibility, viewing angle, brightness, power and temperature influence. Of course, size and weight of all the components were important factors, too. Now, the result is here: the new LUMIRANK display that will be tested in two cars in this year’s race to be ready for the 2015 season. All other cars will be equipped with the displays from last year that have proven their worth in the 2013 Spa 24 Hours and the Nürburgring 1000km race.”

Compared to the preceding version, the new LUMIRANK display is not only brighter, but also a little bit smaller. With 4mm holes in the platines, the display can also be fixed to special mounts on the windscreen. The display is 190 grams light, 225 mm wide and 173 mm high. The current position of the cars in the race is being transmitted by means of a signal from time keeping. By using various colours, the category in which each car is competing can also be identified: white LEDs stand for the Pro class, a display in blue is meant for competitors in the Pro-Am class and when the figures are shown in orange, the car is competing in the Gentlemen class. “We are looking forward to the race in Spa that will be a highlight again this year,” Stefan Sack says.