Rockingham Oval Keeps a VIGIL

A Baldwin Boxall VIGIL voice alarm system has been installed into the first purpose-built racetrack in Britain for over 50 years. Following the phenomenon of Champ Car in the USA, the Rockingham Oval was designed and built so British crowds can flock to see these powerful cars race around a banked track at speeds of up to 240mph. This all-seater circuit required a state of the art voice alarm (VA) system, and ARB Audio & Visual Hire installed Baldwin Boxall’s VIGIL VA equipment. The system, installed prior to the official opening for the FedEx Championship’s visit to the circuit for the Rockingham 500, comprises two 43U racks, housing over 3.5kW of amplification and is controlled by Baldwin Boxall’s market-leading BVR20 ‘Microdrive’. The VIGIL equipment provides VA and Public Address facilities to eight zones, including the Pit area, VIP Boxes, all seating, concourses and fencing seating on the turns.

Following this installation, Rockingham decided to expand the seating so two further zones comprising BV333 amplifiers were added to the system to provide this extra zoning. The equipment is fully BS5839 pt8 / EN60849 compliant due to the whole system being monitored, battery-backed (24 hours in quiescent state then 30 minutes on full power) and has automatic change over of amplifiers. Unlike many Baldwin Boxall VA systems, this project does not require any emergency messages. Qualified personnel carry out all emergency announcements via the BFM08 Emergency Fire Microphone. It is also possible for the commentators or the pit area to make announcements. Paul Goodall of ARB comments on the installation: "This is the first time we have utilised Baldwin Boxall equipment. From the first point of contact to the commissioning date, the company has been professional and courteous, which made the whole project run very smoothly. Our client is more than happy with the reliability and sound quality of VIGIL."

Latest Issue. . .