Mark Webber celebrates 200th grand prix in Bahrain - MotorSportsTalk

The 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix holds a particularly special meaning for Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber, as he will celebrate his 200th grand prix today.

Webber made his debut in 2002 for backmarkers Minardi, before spending a couple of years with Jaguar and then moving to Williams for the 2005 season. He found some success with the British team, but he opted to move to Red Bull in 2007 to partner David Coulthard. In 2009, he was joined by Sebastian Vettel in what turned out to be Red Bull’s breakthrough season. Webber won his first grand prix in Germany, and then scored his second win in Brazil on his way to 4th in the championship.

2010 saw Webber win four races, but he missed out on the world championship at the final race, eventually finishing third behind champion Vettel and Fernando Alonso. 2011 saw Vettel run away with the title, and Webber played a support role, claiming just one win in Brazil. However, he was back to his best in 2012 to win for a second time in Monaco, and also win his first British Grand Prix. He could not keep up with Vettel and Alonso towards the end of the season though, and he eventually finished the championship in sixth place.

Webber’s career has seen some spectacular highs, and many regard him as the second greatest Australian driver of all time behind triple champion Jack Brabham. His team honored him this morning with a cake and celebration in the Red Bull garage, and he will be hoping to make it a 200th race to remember despite starting 7th on the grid.

Sebastian Vettel and Helmut Marko did not attend the celebration this morning.

In a continuing effort to help fans keep track of the on track action, SuperMotocross is in the process of developing and implementing leader lights for the unified series.

Currently Supercross (SMX) utilizes stanchions in the infield that are triggered manually by a race official. At least two stanchions are used in each race as a way to draw the eye to the leader, which is especially useful in the tight confines of the stadium series when lapping often begins before the halfway mark in the 22-bike field. This system has been in place for the past two decades.

Later this year, a fully automated system will move to the bike itself to replace the old system. At that point, fans will be able to identify the leader regardless of where he is on track.

The leader lights were tested in the second Anaheim round this year. An example can be seen at the 1:45 mark in the video above on the No. 69 bike.

“What we don’t want to do is move too fast, where it’s confusing to people,” said Mike Muye, senior director of operations for Supercross and SMX in a press release. “We’ve really just focused on the leader at this point with the thought that maybe down the road we’ll introduce others.”

Scheduled to debut with the first SuperMotocross World Championship race at zMax Dragway, located just outside the Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 3D carbon fiber-printed LED light will be affixed to each motorcycle. Ten timing loops positioned around the track will trigger the lights of the leader, which will turn green.

SMX’s partner LiveTime Scoring helped develop and implement the system that has been tested in some form or fashion since 2019.

When the leader lights are successfully deployed, SuperMotocross will explore expanding the system to identify the second- and third-place riders. Depending on need and fan acceptance, more positions could be added.

SuperMotocross is exploring future enhancements, including allowing for live fan interaction with the lights and ways to use the lighting system during the race’s opening ceremony.

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