Seat of its pants: Aurora boxes clever and looks ahead for the FIA as new host broadcaster on the World RX season opener By Heather McLean Monday, June 16, 2025 - 10:54
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Aurora was pushed for time to get the production plan in place for the new World RX season once the series was taken inhouse by new promoter, the FIA
The excitement of rallycross is what the host broadcaster for the FIA World Rallycross Championship (World RX), Aurora, wants to get across to established fans and new viewers. Aurora was pushed for time to get the production plan in place for the new World RX season once the series was taken in-house by the new promoter, the FIA. That plan is now in operation, and the team running the championship is using this season to look at what World RX and its fans want and need to go further, says Matt Beal, director of broadcast at Aurora.
Beal says: I always think if you asked an eight-year-old child to describe a car race, they'd describe a car race from the start to the end that was rallycross; cars bombing around the corner smashing into each other, everything absolutely bananas, skidding and crashes and overtakes! What they're probably not describing is a 24 Hours of Spa GT race. So I think that's why it's quite charming. I think it is quite earnest and it's very passionate and raw and lovely.
We've got a really strong, tried and tested model for this first season, says Matt Beal, Aurora director of broadcast
Tried and tested
There is a solid plan in place for the production of this season. Aurora is working with NEP Finland as technical services provider, Cloudbass Graphics for graphics, and Eurovision in Geneva for distribution.
We've got a really strong, tried and tested model for this first season, says Beal. The truck comes on site, we run four track cameras, six effects cameras, some of which are PTZs. We have four cars with onboards on four looks each, two PTZs in the studio, and a roving RF, and they all spin back to the truck.
Read more Great speed: New host broadcaster Aurora on getting the World RX 2025 season production together with NEP Finland and Cloudbass Graphics
On the truck we have a couple of EVS' in there, and we generate one international dirty feed and a clean feed on the back. From there we back it up on the truck in different ways, and then the SRT feed goes over to Geneva, then it goes to the FIA platform across the platforms of Facebook and YouTube and onto the suppliers, and also back to a Aurora HQ in London where we run the digital clipping as we also run co-run the digital proposition with the FIA. We're creating content back in London for them and creating content to go back onto the shared server in London, the CMS, for digital guys and then the teams and partners to take away.
Away from all that live, there are three predators videographers shooting. They're going around making content for digital content for features inside the show.
What we've learned over the years, and I think World RX is a combination of that, is that digital doesn't live in one silo here, and broadcast doesn't live over here, and streaming doesn't live over here; we're a studio and everyone does a bit of everything.
Because we have to suck the maximum value out of every Euro we spend, one of the videographers will be making content on day one, then day two they become the live RF operator, and then go and make the highlight show afterwards with me, continues Beal. Then the other two videographers are creating digital clips, then creating VTs to go back into the truck. The EVS guys in the truck are in the truck at the end of each session making a highlights package to be re-voiced to go back to London, to go back onto digital.
In year one of the World RX contract, the season has got up and running by the seat of its pants in a very short timeframe of just a few weeks
Seat of its pants
In year one of the contract, the season has got up and running by the seat of its pants in a very short timeframe of just a few weeks. Beal says the team from FIA, Aurora and NEP Finland are going to use this season to make important decisions to take the championships forwards. He explains: This year we're taking the opportunity to look at the model to go forwards. So is that a remote in part? Is that using control services off site? Is that moving to an IP truck? Is that via a 5G network for onboard?
Read more Progressive realism: Aurora on taking up the broadcast reigns for World RX alongside new promoter for the series, the FIA
Overall, Beal says the current setup is, pretty simple and robust and traditional for this year because that got us up and running to a super reliable product, but in the meantime, the team is observing and working out what is required to push the product forwards.
He notes: It's a new chapter in the sport and it's about getting the culture of the sport correct for the fans, for the competitors, free to everybody who wants to get to it, to get every single race out. Then the tech needs to morph to that mandate. It's not the most exciting technological piece in the world; we just want to get the culture correct.
We're going to sit back [this season] and go okay, what does this championship actually need to do to achieve all of this? What we think that is now, will be very different to when we get into the final race of the season, because we will know what the market wants in terms of forecasters, extra streams, etc. Success would look like, perhaps, doing more multiple language, from the next round onwards we're going to do studio shows on Friday night and Saturday night from the paddock as a stream using the OB truck, so the product's going to evolve as well.
Beal says the technology required for the World RX pr
