Xenon headlamps

[Franklyn Berry <us009296@mindspring.com>]

On the subject of lighting improvements, I recently read in _Racecar
Engineering_ about the advantages and problems of using Xenon gas
as a headlamp medium: more natural light with power requirements
well below [other?] halogens [isn't Xenon a halogen?]; and less tolerance
to temperature changes induced by frequent on/off cycles [i.e. flashing].

I lusted after a pair. Given that the ones used on Group A rally cars include
a computer to 'manage' thermal performance, I figured lust would be as close
to the glass as I might get. Those photos of aggressive, braless, stalking
machines, skirts flying, mud everywhere, passengers wide-eyed, laid
sideways, penetrating the dark, rutted swedish forests were
just too ... pornographic ... to ignore {-:

Lo, and behold, I walk into a run-of-the-mill auto store here in St Louis
this morning and amble smack-dab front of a fresh display offering "New"
Xenon gas headlights, with the commensurate marketing-fuzz of "brighter,
blue light" [no mention of the thermal cycling, of course], sold and
[perhaps] manufactured by Wagner!

I dropped the $17/lamp for a pair, just to try them out in a harsh, crude,
environment [no - not among the skinned swedish trees on a wintry night --
but in my lowered, carrera-suspended 914 on St Louis' frozen, cracked,
midwestern pavement {-:]. Has anyone [UrQ-fans?] had a go at these
newfangled lamps? 

Or any stories/trials/rumours/dirt/downright lies to spread about them?

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Franklyn Berry		Lowery Technologies	Metal to Plastic
(314) 725-5050		fax: (314) 423-5005	Conversion Specialists
us009296@mindspring.com		PO Box 50314	St Louis, MO 63105