offroad driving lights recommendations?

[Echo63]

No pre-run for racers big no no. Being local I do have the ability to at least survey the route ahead of time. I don't get a route book till the night before, but stages are usually listed on internet before rally. I try to put them in the GPS with waypoints but changes are made between the internet and publishing route book. These roads are typically open for public traffic because of private residences inside the state forest.

The only pre-running the actual rally racers do is the day before after tech. They hold a parc expo and take local dignitaries for rides on a non stage section. It is a large money maker for the county and various cities always vie for publicity.

Yeah I don't expect to actually see the turn till I am too close. In a planted forest with uniform spacing between trees a larger gap than normal usually means there is a road there. I have had navigator scream TREE a few times. Yeah it is good for a laugh later on. Also most of the roads have tall berms on each side so that is a better clue when you can see ahead and notice a break in the berm.

Wait, your competitors aren't allowed reece to write pace notes ?
we have a series here that is done on the "road book" which is just the intersections, and dangerous spots, they only run the stages during the day, and entry fees are a lot cheaper.
most competitors run the full championship - and get one pass over the stages in the morning at 60kph, to write notes, one competitive run during the afternoon, and one at dusk/night.

CeeBee is right about the Hellas, I have 4x spot Rally4000 compact on my Subaru forester, and they are very good. I do want to change out 2 of the reflectors for the wide beam version, but haven't yet (got an amazing deal on the spot version, but had to buy all 4. I have one wide beam reflector, just need the last one)

 

[Hilldweller]

I've had a running love affair with the Hella 4000s for a decade. But, these days, they suck juice, are heavy, susceptible to vibration.
10 years ago LEDs weren't up to speed. They've jumped lightyears in performance in a short time.

 

[NFT5]

For both of you guys looking for lights - consider Fyrlyts.

In standard form a 150 watt halogen which matches well with halogen headlights. The beam is quite broad but with enough punch to give good light out to around 600m. You might say somewhere between the Hella Rallye 4000 Spot and Euro beams, but with a much higher volume of light and smoother, more even pattern.

They have much better range than most LEDs and the halogen colour doesn't tend to pick up and reflect from any smoke or mist in the air. Colours appear much more natural, meaning that picking up wildlife or breaks in the trees is much easier. Being a reflector design they throw the light a lot further than an LED so you don't get that extreme foreground flood that makes it so hard to pick up things in the distance.

I've used them on my 4WD for around 5 years now and they're ideal for the night runs that we do - so similar needs to what you have. The country around here is mountainous with not a lot of very long, straight roads. I have found these lights vastly better than the pencil beam Lightforce that I had previously. Once out in the flat country they still have enough range that you're not over-driving them, even at speeds up to 130km/h.

There is a high wattage version with 250 watts at 24 volts and 9000 lumens which blows most LED bars out of the water, but it comes at a price. The standard ones sell here for around $500AUD so probably $450ish over there. At this mid-range price point there isn't anything else that I can think of that comes even close in terms of both performance and, importantly, quality..

 

[-Virgil-]

You sounds like you like your Fyrlyt lamps. That's fine, and you have a relatively minor, partially valid point about light color, but a 150 watt lamp (that is 300 watts and 23 amps for the pair!) is just nowhere near reasonable any more, especially not at that level of money.

Also, "They have much better range than most LEDs" is not a statement supportable by facts. Neither is "Being a reflector design they throw the light a lot further than an LED" -- that's as unrealistic as saying "Being cylindrical, a cucumber gives much better home security than a vegetable". Most LED lamps for vehicles use reflector-type optics! And even if the thing about reflectors "throwing light a lot further than LEDs" were true (it's not) or had any basis in fact (it doesn't) or made any sense (it doesn't do that, either), the next statement after that ("so you don't get that extreme foreground flood") wouldn't follow from it.

 

[Hilldweller]

Fyrlyt and Lightforce ---- some people worship them. And they both can take a beating.
They're both pretty thirsty though. I'd use them if I got them for free; I've got a 160 amp alternator...