Rally championship marks debut for latest TRIMARAN GEORACING solution

TRIMARAN launched its latest GEORACING GPS-based Virtual Timing solution via  first-ever live demonstration in the world, which was broadcast on CANAL+ and SPORT+ television channels during the last WRC Rallye de France – Alsace held from 3-6 October 2013.

The CANAL+ / SPORT+ live production was made possible with 10 onboard cameras and GPS in the WRC cars, two helicopters, cameras at the starting line, mid-point and arriving line.

AMPVISUALTV contributed its input via a plane making HF video available in the Strasbourg television zone. GPS positioning from each of the ten cars was emitted second by second to Trimaran, which relied on the GEORACING solution. This allowed CANAL+ & SPORT+ to provide the most up-to-date information in real-time, showing the rival positions at the precision of 1/10 of a second.

In addition to the time differences between cars, TRIMARAN offered a 3D visualisation of the rival positions in real time or in virtual mode (creating the feeling that they all had left at the same moment).

François-Charles Bideaux, head of sports programmes for the group CANAL+, comments: “After the 2012 edition, we felt the need to enhance our coverage with geo-positioning graphics linked up to the chronometric times so that our TV-watchers could better visualise the differences in time and space during our special programmes. I had asked Trimaran to develop this additional feature for the 2013 race, as they have provided many similar solutions for sailing events with GEORACING. Trimaran succeeded in meeting the challenge for Canal + and, I must admit, the results far surpassed our expectations.”

Pascal Mathieu, director of the live broadcast, comments: “The Virtual Timing of GEORACING was a great advantage in painting a full picture of the 2013 edition of the Rallye France-Alscace. At any given moment, we had a complete table showing the virtual differences between the cars as well as a 3D representation of the different positions. GEORACING helped us to visualise rival positions during the special programmes and to have a fuller picture of the entire race.”