One of the largest deployments of GLP LED lighting took place at the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix late last year.
Los Angeles-based creative company DX7 Design, involved in the event since its launch in 2023, used 270 JDC2 IP hybrid strobes supplied by PRG, along with 500 JDC Burst 1 units. This year, their work extended beyond the grid and pit lane, reaching multiple locations across the city.
Under the direction of CEO Tom Sutherland, the team developed a large-scale design spanning from the track and paddock to six fan zones distributed throughout the city.
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Emily Prazer took on the role of race CEO this year and asked us to make the event more immersive without increasing the lighting, audio and video budget. The idea was to bring Formula 1 closer to the entertainment world, and we were given full freedom to develop a design that extended across the city. In practice, it was like combining a festival with a sporting event, explained Sutherland.
GLP’s hybrid fixtures, thanks to their power and versatility, played a key role in different parts of the event, including driver presentations, podium celebrations and fan zones.
The 270 JDC2 IP units were installed at the front of the F1 paddock and used to create colour effects, strobe bursts and display the F1 logo, with enough output for both live audiences and broadcast. According to Sutherland, the ability to integrate the logo was one of the highlights. In addition, thanks to NDI integration, video content could be sent directly to the fixture’s RGB pixels, while the DX7 team also made use of the built-in DigiFX effects.
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DX7 deployed 500 JDC Burst 1 units across fan zones and around the circuit to create themed environments linked to each sponsor (green for Heineken, magenta for T-Mobile, etc.), with activations every 15 minutes. The fixture features a central 12-segment white strobe line, flanked by RGBW LED panels divided into 48 segments of 5 × 5 pixels, enabling high-impact effects.
Explaining the choice of fixtures, Tom Sutherland said: “We first tested the JDC2 at the VMAs last year and, when we showed Formula 1 that we could integrate their logo, they were really impressed”. As for the JDC Burst units, they proved effective in heavy rain and hail conditions during the event, and their high brightness allowed them to stand out even against the intense lighting of the Las Vegas Strip.
We needed the event to stand out against all the lighting on the Strip and have its own identity. At the same time, everything had to be IP-rated. Even so, there were very few issues: the GLP fixtures operated reliably throughout the event without failures, explained Sutherland.
The only elements more exposed to weather conditions were the long cable runs.
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Tom Sutherland was supported by DX7 colleagues James Coldicott (COO), Harry Forster (President) and Hunter Selby (Senior Associate Designer). Programmer Chris Fernandez worked with three interconnected grandMA3 full-size consoles from a control centre operating at full capacity, running all GLP fixtures in pixel mode for maximum visual impact.
Sutherland describes the project as one of the most ambitious to date: likely the largest temporary video, lighting and networking system controlled from a single centralised position, as well as DX7 Design’s biggest project.
The scale of the event and the weather were the main challenges, and it required a highly specialised team to deliver it, both in terms of design and system integration. There were many beams pointing into the sky, but fortunately the FAA raised no objections. Overall, the event was a success and the Formula 1 organisation was very pleased with the new approach.
Technical team:
- Design and production: Tom Sutherland, Harry Forster and James Coldicott
- Associate designers: Hunter Selby, Erik Alkire, Benedict Conran, Aidan Callanan, Dionte Mercado, Anthony Bishop
- Production managers: Chris Roseli, Chris Lopez, Alen Sisul
- Lighting programmers: Will Chandler, Ryan Tanker, Andrew Law, Grey Nicholson, Chris Fernandez
- Screens producer: Loren Barton
- Screens programmers: Joe Bay, Zak Haywood
- PRG Project Manager: Thomas Walls
- PRG Rigging Technical Project Manager: Darren Seagren
- PRG Lighting Technical Project Manager: Luke Pritchard
- PRG Video Technical Project Managers: Joseph Arreola, Eric Geiger
- PRG Chief Innovation Officer: Chris Conti
- PRG Technical Designer: Benjamin Van Brande
- PRG Account Executives: Jeffrey Gainer, Anthony Ciampa
- PRG Production Manager: JT McDonald
- PRG Production Assistant: Emma Perch
- PRG Logistics Manager: Bryan Barry
- PRG Lead Rigger: Zac Cromwell
- PRG Lead Lighting: Yoshi Shinohara
- PRG Lead Video: Mason Braislin
- PRG Lead Networking: Ronald Beal
- PRG Scenic Project Managers: John Silva, Alicia Sapienza
Photo credit: DX7 Design/Getty Images
