For motorsport fans around the world, certain events have an enduring allure and appeal that have helped them transcend popular culture and become the stuff of legend: the Monaco Grand Prix, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Paris-Dakar Rally and the Indianapolis 500. This year’s recent ‘Indy 500’ saw some of the world’s best drivers pound their open-wheeled racecars around the famed two-and-a-half-mile oval track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, affectionally nicknamed ‘The Brickyard’. This grueling two hundred lap race is an exercise in precision and endurance, and IMS Productions and Ross Video captured every minute of the action.
In the spring of 2020, IMS Productions worked with Ross to install a Unified Venue Control Solution at the circuit. The refurbished production control room now features the Acuity production switcher from Ross, and over forty-seven different displays and screens inside the venue, including more than thirty new LED boards and the impressive new Pagoda Plaza media board (over one hundred feet long), which are driven by the XPression Tessera and Carbonite Mosaic solutions for graphics rendering and image processing. The entire system is operated using the DashBoard control platform, which includes custom control panels that have been designed specifically to manage the various onboard camera feeds from the cars.
With last year’s event delayed until August and then held without any fans present, the team at IMS and Ross were delighted to be back on the starting grid despite spectators numbers being limited to 135,000 (40% of capacity) due to COVID restrictions.
“We are thrilled to have fans returning to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the greatest spectacle in racing,” smiles IMS Productions Sr. Vice President and Executive Producer Rich Feinberg. “The Ross solution gives us incredible flexibility and control, and the custom DashBoard panels allow us to go straight to wherever the action is happening on track, including our on-board camera feeds, and bring this perspective to our fans immediately. The flexibility ease of use of this system is incredible, and we can effortlessly move between live and pre-recorded content, giving everyone in the venue a seamless and engaging experience.”
Ross VP of Sports & Live Events, Kevin Cottam, said, “The Indy 500 is an iconic race, and the drivers will tell you the crowd definitely plays their part in driving the atmosphere of the event and pushing the competitors on. By using the Ross Unified Venue Control Solution, IMS will be able to deliver exciting big screen content to the crowd, keeping them pumped up and keeping the decibels high. Respected professionals like IMS choose Ross because they know we can help deliver high impact content with high levels of efficiency – that’s how they take the checkered flag!”
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