Staged every year - within the grounds of the BRDC Farm - as part of the F1 British Grand Prix weekend, the occasion attracts high-profile members and personalities from the world of motorsport. The main party on Saturday night is held in aid of Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and features an auction of motor racing memorabilia and experiences.
AC-ET, who are a Patron of the British Racing Drivers' Club's Rising Stars Programme, supplied indoor and outdoor effects lighting systems featuring nearly 200 fixtures - including some of the very latest LED technologies from Chroma-Q, ProLights and GLP. The company's in-house production manager, Andy Walne Smith, oversaw the project.
"Our brief was to light inside the two storeys of the BRDC marquee, and the Farm's overall grounds, as well as projecting iconic motor racing images onto the façade of the main Farm building," he says. "With several prestigious events happening over the weekend, including the BRDC Grand Prix party, the lighting effects and video projection needed to add a real 'wow factor' for the guests."
In the Farm grounds and gardens, Andy specified Chroma-Q Color One 100 and Color Force Compact IP65-rated LED fixtures to highlight architectural surfaces and graphic totems. In addition, ProLights Solar IP65-rated washlights were utilised to illuminate the front of the Farm building and the underside of the marquee.
Further fixtures utilised in the lighting design were Chroma-Q Studio Force Compact white LED models and Vari-Lite VL3000 profiles, to highlight sponsors cars in the garden and focus gobos onto the marquee, along with ProLights Ruby fixtures providing beam and searchlight effects.
Inside the marquee, where the DJ booth and stage areas were situated, Andy utilised Chroma-Q Color Force 12, 48 and 72, Studio Force and Color One 100 LED units, to add coloured ambience, and to highlight the bars and food service areas.
Various fixtures from the GLP impression range - including X4 Bar, X4, X4 S, and Spot One units - provided beam and colour effects during the evenings, along with gobo projection to match the garden. ProLights Ruby, Jade and Diamond7 units delivered a strong package of beams and washes from the floor of the stage during the party's band and DJ sets. ProLights Evo 190ETU profile spotlights were used for highlighting the stage's event signage.
Two Jands Vista consoles controlled all of the lighting; the marquee utilised an S3 connected to a PC and two touchscreens, whilst the garden used an S1 connected to a laptop. Both systems ran over ArtNet, with Luminex and Chroma-Q data distribution. AC-ET's Ben Taylor and Jack Moorhouse provided programming expertise for the Vista consoles.
"For the Saturday night Cancer Research UK party, we programmed a mix of blue and pink colours to represent the charity's corporate branding inside and out, and created bespoke gobos to beam their logo onto the marquee," said Andy.
"On the Friday and Sunday nights, we were able to create some really spectacular looks with fixtures such as the Chroma-Q Color Force and ProLights Solar LED units, due to their powerful outputs and huge colour palettes. Specially made gobos also beamed the BRDC logo around the gardens."
In addition to the lighting, one of the most eye-catching features of the event was the projections onto the main Farm building. This year, the team used a mix of still and video moving images from the BRDC archives - including footage of contemporary F1 racing cars - as well as projecting the corporate branding of the BRDC and CRUK.
"To achieve this, we specified a pair of Barco FLM series HDF-W26 projectors, with all content controlled via a Green Hippo Hippotizer V4 Taiga media server. The visuals really captured
