Reference Project: the Royal Western India Turf Club

Established in 1883, the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC), better known as the Mahalaxmi Race Course of Mumbai boasts not only heritage architecture, but also a glorious tradition of racing. In recent years, however, the sport has declined drastically in popularity, mainly because 8-10 hour workdays leave people with little time during the day to follow racing. And racing has traditionally been a day-time sport, since it requires clear visibility and keen attention.

However, Lighting Technologies (LT) has breathed new life into the sport of horse racing in India, by illuminating a major stretch of the 2.4 km race-track and its environs within the Mahalaxmi Race Course.

This large-scale project by LT India stands out as an example of innovative thinking and out-of-the-box problem solving: Remarkably, LT was not only involved in lighting design but also implementation, being at the forefront in installing, testing and fine-tuning the race-track lighting. The team at LT worked round the clock to ensure that the project was completed in time for the grand opening on 9th Jan 2016.

The LT team successfully used strategic architectural features besides specially constructed towers for placing light fixtures, thereby minimizing the disruptive impact of poles, scaffolds and other mounting platforms on race-track visibility. The project additionally involved illumination of the paddock area as well as the approach from the paddocks to the track – for this, LT used top-of-the-line Adornis® LED luminaires.

Upon completion, LT's project execution standards received the highest testimonial when the quality of lighting and overall night-time racing experience were adjudged highly satisfactory not only by racing aficionados but also by champion jockeys who are veterans of the Mahalaxmi Race Course.