The final of the Formula E 2024/25 racing calendar is almost upon us, with the penultimate E-Prix in Berlin on 12 and 13 July, followed swiftly by the London E-Prix on 26 and 27 July.
The wheel to wheel action will be taking place once again at London’s Excel, and host broadcaster for the championship, Aurora, has got some brand new augmented reality (AR) tricks up its sleeve to wow the fans at home.
New for the latter end of this season is AR graphics, which, says Westbury Gillett, executive director for the FIA Formula E World Championship at Aurora, “we’ve been pushing quite hard to do AR virtual graphics and also virtual advertising as well”.
Aurora has developed a number of assets using the Ncam and Mo-sys systems that it used first in Jakarta, “but going into the final couple of events, we’ll be leaning in editorially a lot more into the championship battle for the final top three drivers and also top teams as well using AR,” says Gillett.
He continues: “That’s something we’ve been pushing really hard and we formally have now invested [through Formula E] in buying two additional AR systems. We’ve got four systems in total now.”
As to why Formula E made the decision to invest in more AT systems, Gillett, speaking to SVG Europe from Indonesia at the Jakarta E-Prix at the end of June, says it was a decision based on the commercial opportunities for advertising, as well as Aurora constantly pushing for more on the editorial side of the production.
Building tension
Gillett says that Formula E has acquired a new Ncam system as well as a Mo-Sys system, which were put to work first in Jakarta, then for the two final races of the 2025 season in Berlin then London.
“Ncam works on the optical cameras,” says Gillett. Using Vizrt, Ncam enables virtual production through real time camera tracking, providing live previsualisation of environments, set extensions and CGI elements directly in-camera.
“And the Mo-Sys system works on more mechanical data.” Based on Unreal Engine, Mo-sys’ StarTracker Max delivers six-axis tracking with lens zoom and focus for precision blending of photo realistic 3D virtual graphics with real-world scenes and objects.
Aurora has developed a number of assets using the Ncam and Mo-sys systems that it used first in Jakarta, “but going into the final couple of events, we’ll be leaning in editorially a lot more into the championship battle for the final top three drivers and also top teams as well using AR,” says Gillett.
Aurora will use the AR graphics to help ramp that story up and build tension. Says Gillett: “[We want to] bring it home in an entertaining way that’s very visual and striking to the viewer.”
New AR visuals
The Drivers’ World Championship is likely to be decided in Berlin, with Britain’s Oliver Rowland currently leading on 172 points, followed by Germany’s Pascal Wehrlein on 103.
“We will definitely in the off-season be ramping this up. We’ve currently got four systems; I think they’ve got potentially a fifth as well. So we could really enhance the whole programme. There’ll be a lot more AR within the show”
Says Gillett on the Berlin E-RPix and the AR plan behind it: “During the race, in addition to our existing AR graphics, including Attack Mode, Pointers, Laps Remaining, Hero Driver Pole Position, Fastest Lap, Big Screen and Trackside Branding we will be introducing a new Live Drivers’ Championship Standings graphic. This will display visuals of the top three drivers, showing their current championship positions and points as if the race ended at that moment.
“This AR graphic will be integrated into one of our 20 manned track cameras, giving viewers a clear and real time understanding of the title race as it unfolds.
“We will also celebrate the race winner and/or the championship winner with a special AR driver video asset, featuring coloured smoke mines triggered from the roof of the Berlin Tempelhof,” says Gillett.
He continues onto the final: “In London, the final round of the season, if the Drivers’ Championship has already been decided, our focus will shift to the battle for second place and the Teams’ Championship. As it stands, Porsche leads with 203 points, followed by Nissan with 191. AR assets will float above the Docklands Light Railway, which runs alongside the ExCeL racetrack, to highlight these key storylines.
“To amplify the excitement around the championship deciding races, we’ve also designed a bespoke AR graphic showcasing the championship contenders plus a unique event title. These graphics will be featured in the pre-show build-up to enhance anticipation and emphasise the title race.”
Aurora has used AR graphics for Formula E since 2019, with the Attack Mode feature using Ncam and Vizrt. It introduced Mo-Sys and Unreal Engine for Miami in April 2025.
Meanwhile, for Berlin and London the new AR graphics are:
- Event Ident
- Contenders
- Driver Championship Standing (in race as it stands)
- Team Championship Standing (in race as it stands)
- Manufacturers Championship Standing (in race as it stands)
- Finish
- Winner
- Driver Champion
- Team Champions
- Manufacturers Champions
For the championship, Tata runs the connectivity for the broadcast and EMG / Gravity Media is the technical services provider. Meanwhile, Timeline TV is providing all non-cabled equipment such as RF and onboard cameras on site. Finally, Al Kamel is the timing provider.
On how the new AR graphics have been developed, Aurora conceptualised the graphics and created a detailed design, which was then approved by Formula E. Al Kamel then built the assets using Unreal Engine.
For the final, Gillett is planning to bring a flavour of classic London into the AR graphics. He says: “I’ve got permission to go into Big Ben. I’ve got this idea of the clock counting down to the final, so I’m going to go do a site visit at the Houses of Parliament, but the idea is to get in there and just do this element of the clock at the final.”
He adds on further AR graphics for the final: “I think being in London as well is such a colourful place in terms of architecture, so we’re going to have these fun ideas of planting some Formula E helmets and drivers around London. We’ve got some banners falling down from Tower Bridge and stuff like that. Yeah, so we’ve got some nice ideas and features for London as well.”
These AR graphics are set to become a standard feature for the whole of next season, says Gillett. “We will definitely in the off-season be ramping this up. We’ve currently got four systems; I think they’ve got potentially a fifth as well. So we could really enhance the whole programme. There’ll be a lot more AR within the show.”
Remote production progression
Formula E is now in its third season as a remote production since Eric Ernst, technology director at Formula E, brought the host broadcast technical facilities of all its content inhouse as a managed contract.
The set up established in 2023 is based on a centralised remote production model with a small footprint on location, and around 50 staff that were previously on site working from the UK at Gravity Media’s Westworks production centre in London, including people on racking, TV graphics and audio. Under the host broadcast production, the TV compound footprint on site is now around 60% of what it used to be.
Says Gillett on the remote workflow: “We’re still sort of fine tuning all of that, and doing the remote production and bringing everything in from onsite, back to Westworks to EMG / Gravity Media.”
He concludes: “In London we are at the Gravity building at Westworks, and Al Kamel are plugged into that. The graphics operators are all with us in London. On site we have the exec producer, and then we’ve got the producer and the director. So they’re on site putting together the track cuts, which is 20-something track cameras. That feed then goes back to London, then in London we then layer that with the onboard cameras, the RF cameras, the graphics, replays; the final show’s that made out of London.”
