Community Gives Voice To Formula One

More than 200 Community R-Series loudspeakers provided
the sound for the main spectator areas at the first Formula One race held at
the newly built Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore. The event was the 15th
round of the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship and also the first
night-time event in Formula One history.
The timing of the night event meant that it could be
broadcast live at a convenient time for European TV audiences. The sell-out
event attracted around 110,000 visitors who saw Renault’s Fernando Alonso win
the historic 61-lap race.
Valerio Maioli SPA were contracted to provide the
lighting, CCTV and public address for the event and designed a system using 61
Community R.5-66TZ, 144 Community R.5-94TZ and 12 Community W2-218T to cover
the main audience areas.
“With the spectators only yards from the track,
the loudspeakers had to provide the highest intelligibility with accurately
controlled dispersion at exceptional sound levels,” says Community’s John
Wiggins. “Long experience with R-Series distributed systems at F1, NASCAR,
Indy Car and other race tracks throughout the world have proved them
outstanding, and a reference for this type of large scale, high SPL
application. R-Series also meets all extreme weather requirements, and Singapore
is one of our established test grounds with its high temperature, humidity and
sometimes torrential rain.”
Local construction was handled by Singapore-based
Arina Hogan Builders (AHB) and the loudspeakers were supplied by Community
distributor Spektra Electronics.