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LINK Live at Le Mans
Date: 17-06-2008
This year the 24H Le Mans was covered by Visual TV, France, with the support of Link Research. This was the 76th running of the race.
For the first time ever, seamless coverage of the entire race was achieved from a ground level terrestrial COFDM receive system which gave the organisers the ability to use the onboard cameras right through the night. Previously this has not been possible due to the requirement for a helicopter above the circuit. Seven of the cars in the race (three Audi, three Peugeot and a Corvette) were each equipped with three onboard cameras with the ability to switch between the cameras via a UHF link.
The cameras were fed into Link's new on-board transmitter, the XPu, while a 100mW active antenna was used to transmit video and audio to any one of the receive sites around the circuit. Link Research Fibre Systems were used to link receive sites back to the OB van. In order for this to work seamlessly, Link's interchangeable filter / downconverters (L3037) were used which functioned with great success by blocking out any interference caused by 3G and GSM signals.
A total of 13 wireless links were used, one for each of the seven cars, one roaming camera deployed to cover the track, 3 pit lane cameras and a further two used by TF1 and Eurosport.
The coverage was witness to an intense battle between Audi and Peugeot. Against relentless and strong opposition from Peugeot during the 24 hours, Audi won through to take the title at Le Mans 2008. The Ingolstadt based marque secured their eighth victory in nine attempts, this time thanks to the trio Kristensen-McNish-Capello.
For the full press release click here.
For more information on this event or for any enquiries, please contact Link Research.