Over 450 speakers were positioned track-side
James Ling
THE FORMULA 1 AUSTRALIAN GRAND
Prix in Melbourne is staking its claim
to be the largest pop-up event in
the country. Every year, a temporary
circuit is built in Albert Park and more
than 300,000 people descend on the
venue over the race weekend to get
the season underway.
‘We have six weeks to build a
circuit and essentially four weeks
to dismantle it,’ says Craig Moca,
manager - engineering, Australian
Grand Prix Corporation. ‘We keep the
park open all the time except for the
week of the race, so essentially we
only close the park for seven days.
We’re working around the park users
who are taking their dogs for a walk,
the kids who are playing football –
it’s a very living thing that we work
around. When you’re trying to bring in
34km of fencing it’s quite a big feat.’
During this period 34,000 sq-m
of marquees need to be erected,
38,000 seats arrive and, of course,
there is the partial installation of
the audio and video equipment for
the race, two 40-foot semi-trailers
worth to be precise. It takes a total of
290,000 man hours to get everything
ready, so preparation is key.
‘We obviously only have a certain
amount of time to setup, so we go
right back to the basics,’ says Mr
Moca. ‘We’ve got a lot of cables that
run underground. We’ve got a couple
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86 PRO AUDIO ASIA July–August 2014
the circuit. We’ve got an RF signal
distribution network, we’ve got a
CATV distribution network that runs
around the circuit. So we’ve got a lot
of infrastructure that we use each
year to make the event happen.
‘It does help having all the cables
in the ground. Obviously, being a
functional park we have to expose
them each year and do a fair bit
of work to get the systems up and
running, but we always get them
going and deliver a pretty high
standard event,’ he explains.
‘With technology we have to have
the best quality,’ continues Mr Moca.
‘Our customers come in and they
expect to hear the track audio, so
we have nearly 500 speakers dotted
around the circuit. We have 28 superscreens, covering 700 sq-m aroun d
the place. So we are always making
sure that we give our clients the best
value for money when it comes to
the technology. As technology gets
bigger and better, we try to bring in a
bit more.’
When it comes to supplying the
audio system, the Australian Grand
Prix Corporation has turned to The PA
People for the last four years. Over
this time the company has developed
a number of techniques for avoiding
engineering in place to protect the
installed systems against collisions in
a uniquely challenging environment.