LONG BEACH, Calif. -- When the Holmatro Safety Team responded to the late-race incident involving three drivers in the Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana on April 12, INDYCAR Race Control personnel were able to apprise the situation from multiple angles.
Each of the three Holmatro Safety Team’s Chevrolet Silverado trucks is equipped with four HD video cameras that provide real-time streaming to a PC in Race Control and tablets in the other trucks and the Honda Pilot command vehicle. A 360-degree camera, mounted under the rearview mirror and operated by the fire controller in Race Control, offers pan, tilt and zoom capability to provide nearly unlimited viewing points.
“The other two safety trucks, as they’re en route to the scene, can view what’s going on from the truck already on the scene. It gives them a really good idea of where they need to go and start doing,” INDYCAR track safety manager Mike Yates said. “Also, you can use it post-race as a diagnostic tool and for ongoing training.”
The system, which was employed in the 2014 season finale at Auto Club Speedway, is made possible by Verizon’s initiative to introduce new technologies in INDYCAR. Digital Barriers of Arlington, Va., installed a 360-degree camera and three fixed cameras (two on either end of the windshield and one in the aft window) in the Safety 1 response vehicle, which included an in-vehicle encoder with wireless TVI real-time streaming of four channels of HD video on the Verizon network and on-board HD recording with cellular and IP communications. The same system will be installed in the command vehicle in May.
“We knew they would be a big asset because it adds another element to what we can see and it provides data for review and reconstruction of an incident,” Yates said. “On our tablets, we can switch from camera to camera and we also have live Timing & Scoring and the ‘marching ants’ graphic of where each car is on the racetrack. Rather than fire control having to call on the radio to get an update, the fire controller can move the 360-degree camera to see what we’re seeing. It frees up radio traffic.”
Communication is via a secure radio channel and an instant messaging system.
“It helps the race director,” Yates added. “In 2013 at Auto Club Speedway, there was an incident on backstraight and from Race Control you couldn’t see the details because it was so far away. This gives Race Control an up-close view of the scene. We’ve talked about a system like this for years, and had data recording for review, but this is a big step forward and Verizon has been a great help in getting us what we need.”
The Holmatro Safety Team for an INDYCAR-sanctioned event, which includes the Mazda Road to Indy series, consists of 18 trained personnel – a trauma physician, orthopedic physician, paramedics, firefighters/EMTs and registered nurses. Individuals have an average of 20 years of experience in their respective areas with local hospitals and fire departments.