Barco LED Display Solution enhances visual experience at Formula 1 Racetrack in Shanghai

This installation is the first major LED project in the Chinese sports market. It confirms Barco’s strength in this market and contributes to the overall success in the worldwide sports market. It shows that Barco is well positioned to capitalize on the expected surge in demand for sports solutions in the China market.

The Formula 1 race track is owned by Shanghai International Circuit Co, Ltd. The track, which is being completed in only 18 months, is a new generation race track for Formula 1 racing, and represents a total investment of 320 million US$. The first F1 race in Shanghai is scheduled to take place on September 26th, 2004.

The LED solution for the Formula 1 in Shanghai has been provided by Barco on a turnkey basis. The solution consists of six SLite 14 outdoor LED displays, each being 25.2m² in size. The displays are all installed at the Grandstand and all Grandstand visitors will be able to follow different aspects of the race on these six screens. The screens will show streaming videos from different locations on the track, close-ups from the pitstops, advertising.

Where Grandstand seats at other race tracks only allow visitors to see very short flashes of passing cars, and hear a lot of noise, at the Shanghai circuit visitors will combine the excitement of being there with the wealth of content that one usually only receives when staying at home and watching the race on television. Watching the F1 race from the Grandstand will suddenly be transformed from an audio to a full visual experience.

To operate the system and schedule content on the various displays, Shanghai International Circuit Co., Ltd. has also purchased Barco’s Signamics software solution for content scheduling and display management.

Barco also supplies a control room solution including a DLP rear projection wall and Barco control software. The system, which will be installed in the central control tower, will be used for surveillance of the complete F1 site: video images are displayed on the wall for monitoring by security operators. Barco is growing strongly worldwide in the segment of surveillance applications; the expanding traffic infrastructure in China offers growth prospects for this activity.

Martin De Prycker, CEO of Barco N.V., is proud to be involved in this great construction project “This proves that our new focus on the China market is paying off. In September this year half a billion people will be seeing Barco displays on their television sets or in their newspapers. We are ready to play a dominant role in the China sports market which will boom in the run-up to the Olympics”.

Barco’s recent strong growth in the China market has prompted the company to commit more attention and investments to this market. In November 2003 Barco started its first production in China through its joint venture Barco Leyard. In future Barco will be supplying LED solutions from its China factory in Beijing. The expansion of Barco in China with industrial presence further strengthens the company’s position to compete for the important investment flows that will come with the 2008 Olympics and 2010 Expo.


About Barco
Barco, an international company headquartered in Kortrijk, Belgium, is active in three key areas of imaging technology. Barco designs and develops solutions for large screen visualization, display solutions for life-critical applications, and systems for visual inspection. Barco has a network of subsidiaries, distributors and agents in almost 100 countries. Barco is quoted on Euronext Brussels and is a BEL 20 and a Next 150 company

For more information, please contact

JP Tanghe
Senior Advisor to the CEO
Barco nv

Telephone +32 56/26 23 22
jp.tanghe@barco.com