Capturing the sights, sounds and sensation of the Le Mans 24 Hour motor race places unique demands on the team behind the TV production. Ahead of this year's event, TVBEurope talks to WBD's Eurosport's Will Brooks about the challenges they have to overcome
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: June 14, 2024 Updated: June 17, 2024
Capturing the sights, sounds and sensation of the Le Mans 24 Hour motor race places unique demands on the team behind the TV production. Ahead of this year's event, TVBEurope talks to WBD's Eurosport's Will Brooks about the challenges they have to overcome
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> Capturing the sights, sounds and sensation of the Le Mans 24 Hour motor race places unique demands on the team behind the TV production. Ahead of this year's event, TVBEurope talks to WBD's Eurosport's Will Brooks about the challenges they have to overcome
https://www.tvbeurope.com/features/how-eurosport-captures-the-spectacle-of-the-worlds-best-known-motor-race title=Share via Email class=share-email>
For motor racing fans around the world, the name Le Mans is special. Alongside Monaco and Indianapolis, the event is steeped in history and romance, bearing witness to some of the most spectacular performances ever seen on a race track over more than a century of top level automotive competition.
(Photo by James Moy Photography/Getty Images) This weekend, upwards of a quarter of million eager fans will make their pilgrimage, descending en masse on the Sarthe circuit in the north of the lush Loire region. But millions more will watch at home, following the action as the race-worn pack charges on through the night.
For the Eurosport team, there are obvious comparisons to be drawn with the teams who are lining up to contest this 92nd iteration of the 24 Heures du Mans. In every pit lane garage, the men and women behind the cars that will be heading out on track started their preparations as soon as last June's race finished. So, too, did the TV production crew.
It's an ongoing planning operation, Will Brooks, senior producer at Warner Bros Discovery, tells TVBEurope. The team works across a lot of different productions. This weekend, we have Le Mans but we also have World Superbikes at Misano, British Superbikes at Knockhill and Speedway Grand Prix in Malilla, but this is Le Mans. It's something we think about right from the beginning of the season.
The intensity of broadcasting a dynamic, fast-moving event necessitates a pattern of rotating shifts for the production crew, explains Brooks, similar to the stints pulled by the drivers and pit crews. A team of around 30, including the presentation team, five camera operators and audio engineers are on site with an equivalent number in support at WBD's London facility.
At 4:00pm CET, when the waving tricolour signals the start of the race, the rolling pack will begin the charge in earnest. As many as 62 cars will start this year's race, with entrants split into three different categories. The sheer size of the grid makes capturing the spectacle in all its sound and fury a challenge all of its own.
A Le Mans grid is rather large, says Brooks, with amusing understatement. To cover it with two cameras is tricky, so we have three RFs for the start and then we go down to two for the remainder of the race. One camera has full grid plus pit lane coverage and the other has wider paddock coverage to get a bit of the colour of the event.
(Photo by Alessio Morgese/NurPhoto via Getty Images) RF cameras are used, with audio provided by specialists from Tall Audio. On site, the host broadcasters use AMP Visual TV, which WBD is able to tap into. Feeds are brought back by Evertz encoders connected to the Globecast backbone that feeds WBD's colocation based in Paris and London.
In order to minimise delay, the cameras come back using J2K compression. This year the onboards, seven timing pages and heli-cam will be fed back to London using a mixture of Haivision SRT and AMP Let's See Cloud.
In contrast to many other motorsport formats, endurance racing demands the highest performance over a long period of time. Teams must be resilient, able to withstand adverse conditions for hours on end. Once again, stark comparisons can be found in the approach taken by the broadcast operation. To ensure reliability, WBD is adopting a tried and tested methodology, as Brooks explains, Because of the duration we've gone for a robust set up rather than an innovative one. Sony RF cameras, Wisycom audio and AMP handle all the frequencies in conjunction with ANFR. All Intercom on site is provided using a Digigram Iqoya Servlink on direct RTP or SIP.
Further complicating matters, the Le Mans 24 Hour race takes place in part on closed public roads. The infamous Mulsanne Straight, for example, is actually part of the route d partementale RD 338. Overcoming these difficulties is a key consideration for the team.
If we want to go and film anything trackside, we have two options, says Brooks. If we want to go out of range all our RF cameras will record to card and then we can feed whatever we have recorded down the line to London when they're back in range. We also have an ENG kit with us and in the past, we've gone and filmed at night time in the woods, at the back of the circuit. In that scenario, we have a system called Woody which lets us do our ingest over internet. We can ingest to our Grass Valley Framelight MAM and then push to our LiveTouches that we're using for replays and inserts in the gallery.
As the sun slips beneath the horizon, light begins to fade and the unlit sections of the track soon fall into complete darkness. Racing on through the night, the attrition rate grows as the teams battle mechanical failure, an inevitabl
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
06/05/2026
Gravity Media Chief RF Communications Engineer Glenn Willems uses Wisycom RF over Fiber and wireless solutions across major cycling events and international mar...
06/05/2026
A Sennheiser Spectera module is now available in Bitfocus Companion and Buttons, enabling direct integration of Spectera with the two software platforms. The mo...
06/05/2026
Ted Turner, the visionary media entrepreneur whose appetite for disruption helpe...
06/05/2026
Peacock is going all-in on the beautiful game - streaming all 104 FIFA World Cup...
06/05/2026
New pricing tiers for vocal/dialogue restoration tool
NoiseWorks Audio's AI-powered vocal and dialogue processing plug-in is now available in three diff...
06/05/2026
Popular mixing & routing software overhauled
Following a recent public beta test, RME have launched the final release version of the powerful mixing and rou...
06/05/2026
New SOS Video Feature
Focusrites ISA C8X is a milestone product that brings together the companys analogue heritage and their expertise in digital audio. Yo...
06/05/2026
Polands Miecznik-class frigates are part of the largest contract in Polish shipbuilding history. (Image Credit: PGZ Stocznia Wojenna)...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/05/2026
Riedel Communications today announced the expansion of its leadership structure as part of a strategic initiative to strengthen both its operational management ...
06/05/2026
For nearly three decades, Veteran Production Sound Mixer and Five-time Emmy Award Winner Dirk Sciarrotta has helped define the sonic identity of the long-runnin...
06/05/2026
ZEISS CinCraft LensCore: Cinema Lens Looks for Compositing
Brie Clayton May 6, 2026
0 Comments
ZEISS announces the launch of CinCraft LensCore, a nove...
06/05/2026
Wisycom Solves Extreme RF Challenges Across Miles of Live Action for Gravity Med...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/05/2026
Narrative Entertainment has partnered with Encompass to deliver high-quality subtitling of its Great! network content using the Altitude Intelligence AI assiste...
06/05/2026
SipRadius, widely recognized for making content processing and connectivity secure and seamless, is proud to launch a dramatic new approach to AI content creati...
06/05/2026
When the broadband and media industry gathers at ANGA COM in Cologne from May 19 to 21, Big Blue Marble will be at the forefront. The international broadcast an...
06/05/2026
Cinegy GmbH, a leading developer of software-defined television technology, is proud to exhibit at MPTS for the first time. Visitors to the stand will discover ...
06/05/2026
Val Jeanty Receives 2026 Doris Duke Artist Award Jeanty, a composer, percussionist, and turntablist, is the fourth Berklee recipient of the prestigious award ...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/05/2026
When live cycling races and international marathons stretch for miles across cities and countryside, there is no margin for RF failure in live broadcast. As Chi...
06/05/2026
Oberkochen/Germany, May 5, 2026
ZEISS announces the launch of CinCraft LensCore, a novel solution for creating physically based cinematic lens looks for visual...
06/05/2026
06 May 2026
VEON's Kyivstar Authorized to Resell Starlink for Businesses & ...
06/05/2026
UKTV has secured the exclusive rights to the early back catalogue of iconic Australian drama series Neighbours, following a landmark content deal with Fremantle...
06/05/2026
Wednesday 6 May 2026
Sky commissions feature documentary to mark 10th anniversa...
06/05/2026
Wednesday 6 May 2026
Sky and Formula 1 agree long-term partnership across UK, Ireland and Italy
Sky in the UK & Ireland to remain the home of Formula 1 until ...
06/05/2026
Sky Zero Footprint Fund-backed TV campaign launches nationwide, supported by new...
06/05/2026
Wuppertal May 6, 2026
Riedel Expands Leadership Structure, Appoints Marc Engro...
06/05/2026
SAN JOSE, Calif. - May 6, 2026 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced its latest broadband innovations for ANGA COM 2026, highlighting its vision for a new e...
06/05/2026
Statement from Rupert Murdoch, Chairman Emeritus, Fox Corporation on Ted Turner&...
06/05/2026
Friday 8 May on RT One and RT Player
Meet the NSPCA team caring for and protecting animals in need in this six-part series
Fly on the wall, six-part series...
06/05/2026
The race to build the world's most powerful AI factories demands networking ...
06/05/2026
How changes to proteins can alter drug interactions for new precision therapies Scripps Research team maps how chemical modifications to proteins affect drug bi...
05/05/2026
Experts from the world of academia, tech, business, politics and media convened for a Thomson Talks at the Cambridge Disinformation Summit in April. It's th...
05/05/2026
Three phones were hardwired for power and transmission to the truck; camera feat...
05/05/2026
The creative studio behind campaigns for the NBA, Fanatics Sportsbook & Casino, ...
05/05/2026
Nielsen has announced results from a co-viewing pilot program covering February&...
05/05/2026
viztrick AiDi, an on-device AI solution developed by Nippon TV, delivered global...
05/05/2026
ARRI has announced Omnibar, a battery-powered, IP65-rated multi-color LED linear...
05/05/2026
Imagine Communications has announced that France T l visions is the first broadc...
05/05/2026
The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and Bell Media today announced a multiyear agreement to broadcast and stream WNBA games in Canada beginni...
Capturing the sights, sounds and sensation of the Le Mans 24 Hour motor race places unique demands on the team behind the TV production. Ahead of this year's event, TVBEurope talks to WBD's Eurosport's Will Brooks about the challenges they have to overcome
