QIPCO British Champions Day brought together leading jockeys, horses, trainers and owners for one of the most prestigious fixtures in the UK sporting calendar. Light Fantastic provided full technical support to the show, including lighting, audio, video, staging and rigging along with design and fabrication of a host of bespoke scenic elements.
The grand finale to the proceedings, the 2018 event closed with a suitably grand after party for over 5000 guests. The event was staged within a giant Igloo domed roof structure directly adjacent to the main grandstand at Ascot Racecourse. The party featured performances from House of Angels, Ella Eyre and culminated in an epic DJ set from Jax Jones.
Andrew Maxted, Project Manager at LFPS remarked: “Our clients presented us with a really exciting brief for the event, which included a giant boom box as the central theme. With this in mind, we created a high impact stage and lighting design to look like a huge retro portable stereo incorporating all the old-school controls you’d expect, plus the all-important client branding.”
The team installed a number of overhead trusses to support all production elements including lighting, audio, LED wall and scenic elements. Lighting trusses housed a mixture of the company’s ROBE MegaPointe, ROBE LEDBeam 150 and ROBE LEDWash 600 fixtures, plus Clay Paky Stormy Strobes for added sparkle. A pair of MA Lighting GrandMA2 consoles provided primary and back-up control of the lighting system, operating on an ArtNet network that handled the show’s data requirements.
For the stage itself, LFPS designed and printed the giant boom box elements which flanked a central six by three metre LED wall that handled video playback throughout the show. Audio was covered by two main hangs of d&b V series line array paired with a DiGiCo SD10 console for front of the house and a DiGiCo SD12 console for monitors.
Commenting on the production, Matt Hudson, MD Generate Events concluded: “The After Party was a fitting finale to a truly remarkable QIPCO British Champions Day 2018. From the initial meeting, Light Fantastic understood Generate Events’ vision for the party and worked tirelessly with us to create and deliver a standout event. The structure, production and event design were unlike anything staged at a UK racecourse before. In racing parlance; the stakes were high but with Light Fantastic onboard we knew we’d backed a winner, so were confident of the end result.”