MT Helmets MSI, 2024 Moto2™ team championship winners, wanted its new dual-truck hospitality suite to hold pole position in the MotoGP™ paddock, so approached Audio-Technica, who recommended Optimal Audio and its commercial audio ecosystem. Audio-Technica have close links to the MotoGP™ production, working side-by-side with the media company behind the series, Dorna Sports, to develop & deliver both trackside and on-board microphone technologies for race-day audio capture, and were pleased to be asked to help the MT Helmets MSI team with a solution.
The racing team’s requirement was for a high-quality audio system that would operate across the two-truck demountable build but remain simple to set up and use for the team’s crew and non-technical hospitality suite staff. To link the audio system across the trucks, Audio-Technica created custom-designed weather-proof connection boxes. Mounted beneath each truck for safe transit, the connection points are easily accessible on arrival at a circuit for a quick connection via two custom speakON/XLR/EtherCON weatherproof multicore cables.
Logan Helps, Audio-Technica Brand Development Manager, said, “Optimal Audio met all the client’s needs for a simple to use and simple to set up system, with punchy, high-quality audio. It was a really good opportunity to put the kit through its paces – and this was despite the complexity of connecting audio cables across two trucks different venues nearly every other weekend.”
Race day hospitality must meet the changing needs of racers, sponsors, visitors and staff from morning to night. During the day, the event space is a relaxing area with a central covered terrace, to eat and watch the race action and playback on the suite’s big screens. Once the racing is over the space transforms for the evening into a dancefloor area with a DJ – where those all-important podium positions are celebrated.
Designed as either a three-zone, two-truck set up or as a single truck set up with one internal zone and one external zone, the primary truck housed the catering equipment and the main power inputs. Optimal Audio’s Zone 8P was positioned here to run the zoned loudspeakers and microphones. Truck one featured a ZonePad 4 from where the staff could simply control all three of the zones in the two-truck set up. A ZonePad 1 in truck two enabled convenient control of the single space.
The main audio system for the hospitality suite is comprised of eight Optimal Audio Cuboid 6 loudspeakers, four per truck hung in stereo pairs positioned at each end and directed into the space. These ABS-cased loudspeakers provide background music during the day, clear and high-quality race action and serve as an exceptional entertainment system for the evening. Positioned by the DJ area, a further two Optimal Audio Cuboid 8s on stands and an Optimal Audio Sub 10 provide extra support for the terrace area.
Helps added, “Optimal Audio had everything the client needed at a great price point. The ZonePads made control really straightforward. The integration of the microphones into the Zone 8P was very cool, and even used by some riders for karaoke, and the ability to pre-programme the system ahead the installation made for a very swift set up. It was also a great opportunity to use Optimal Audio’s routines, and we set up WebApp on the phones of both the team owner and the hospitality manager so the right mode is immediately available at the touch of a button.
Manu Durán of M-Sport, a team sponsor and one of the owners of the hospitality unit, claimed, “The Optimal Audio sound system and installation by Audio-Technica has been a big step forward in the evolution of our hospitality, helping us to make our guests’ experience at the circuit unforgettable.
“The audio system has given us a lot of versatility. Whether we want to control one of the trucks or both, the control panel makes it very simple to control the audio system. We can even have music on one and use the microphone for a presentation on the other. Even with loud music when it was necessary to celebrate one of the team’s victories this season! The sound quality of the speakers has been spectacular in all circumstances and the performance has been excellent in all the uses we have given it.”
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