Light Fantastic Production Services Revisit Ascot for British Champions Day

Marking the finale to the Flat Season, QIPCO British Champions Day is renowned within the horse racing community. Bringing together leading jockeys, horses, trainers and owners from Europe and beyond to compete in six top-class races, this prestigious event has become a key fixture in the UK sporting calendar.

The 2019 Champions Day concluded with a lively musical celebration for over 500 guests housed in a giant Igloo domed roof structure, provided by Fews Marquees, built directly adjacent to the Ascot Racecourse Main Grandstand.

Returning to Ascot for the second year running on behalf of clients Generate Events, LFPS once again provided full technical support to the exclusive QIPCO closing party. In creating the suitably glittering venue the team handled all aspects of the lighting, audio, video, staging and rigging requirement, along with the design and fabrication of numerous scenic elements built specifically for the show.

As part of the celebrations, the closing party featured an energetic DJ set courtesy of legendary electronic music duo Basement Jaxx. Steeped in dance culture, the headliners were accompanied by a vibrant, club-style installation complete with bespoke DJ
Booth designed around a backlit graphic of the dance legends’ logo. Adding a further dynamic level to the performance, LFPS developed a mixture of custom video, animation and branded motion graphics to accompany the set.

Andrew Maxted, Project Manager at LFPS remarked: “The brief for this years’ closing party was to deliver a truly exciting audience experience to accompany Basement Jaxx. We once again focussed on the staging, creating an animated DJ Booth which the team brought to life using custom-created video content which we were able to manipulate in real-time with the artistic performance”.

LFPS provided all rigging to the event, with a combined weight of over 3.5 tonnes of equipment flown from the structure. The additional production elements rigged above the main stage area featured a mixture of the company’s expansive lighting inventory. ROBE MegaPointe, LEDBeam 150 and LEDWash 600 fixtures provided plenty of colour and movement with a selection of Clay Paky Stormy Strobes punctuating the high energy soundtrack. Twin GrandMA2 consoles took primary and back-up control over the lighting system, operating via an ArtNet network, installed to handle the show’s substantial data
requirement. The all-important audio was delivered via two hangs of D& B V Series line array supported by a complete microphone, control and monitor package.

Commenting on the production, Matt Hudson, MD Generate Events concluded: “We closed QIPCO British Champions Day with a fabulous party featuring an incredible performance by Basement Jaxx. Light Fantastic worked with the Generate Events team supporting us throughout every stage of the production to ensure every last detail was covered. The result was a wonderfully energetic, fabulous looking event that delivered on all fronts.”

www.lfps.co.uk