Las Vegas Motor Speedway
NASCARsupershop
Las Vegas Speedway A dozen miles northeast of downtown Las Vegas, the glitz fades and desolation begins. Welcome to the high desert of the Great Basin-home to sagebrush, jackrabbits, and underground nuclear tests. It's vast, empty and still. Until... Suddenly, a deafening roar rolls across the desert and rumbles off nearby rocky peaks as a B-1B bomber lifts off from Nellis Air Force Base, afterburners blasting. Then squadrons of fighter aircraft rocket skyward, hour after hour, in a rasping chorus of ambient noise.
Right next door to Nellis, a group of Las Vegas entrepreneurs decided to pour about $200 million into constructing the world's largest (and costliest) auto racing complex: the Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS). When completed, the 1800-acre facility will comprise 24 tracks to accommodate everything from BMX bicycles to Formula One Grand Prix cars. The crown jewel of the complex, a 1.75-mile tri-oval with grandstand seating for 102,000, made its debut with a 300-mile Indy Racing League event in September of 1996. The inaugural race thrilled fans speeds up to 229 MPH, and chilled them with 10 of 28 cars crashing on the fast track.
That same day, the powerful, computer-controlled sound system at the LVMS tri-oval produced levels up to 117dB SPL. It did not crash. But the race to get it designed, tested and installed was a suspenseful story in itself - complete with unprecedented performance expectations, difficult working conditions, and a frenzied construction pace typical of Las Vegas mega-projects.
Initial sound system design was assigned to Ron Sauro of Northwest Audio and Acoustics (Tacoma, WA.), who had referred LVMS owners on the basis of a system he had designed for the Hollywood Park horse track. Once presented with the basic requirements for the system, Sauro realized that he would need help in order to complete a full system design spec in the required time. He decided to concentrate on challenging specifics of loudspeaker coverage, turning over the task of overall systems integration to Brian Gross of A-Com (Chantilly, VA). In the early stages, Gross called on his friend Neil Shaw of Menlo Scientific Acoustics (Topanga, CA) to serve as a key technical advisor. After A-Com was awarded the contract to supply and install the system, Gross enlisted the aid of Josh Thompson of Point Source (Las Vegas and Nashville) to serve installation supervisor, with Chris Potter working as primary on-site coordinator. (Owners and Great Expectations.) The sprawling LVMS complex is the brainchild of owner/operator Richie Clyne, with financial backing from owners of two prominent Las Vegas casinos. In Las Vegas the line between sports and entertainment is a fuzzy one at best, so it's no surprise that the LVMS owners insisted on "concert quality" sound as a prerequisite for all spectator areas of the track. That previously unheard-of requirement eliminated the traditional approach of using large, limited bandwidth horn arrays.
Also, ever mindful of income sources, the ownership wanted a system that could be heard throughout the entire race, so commercial announcements could be clearly audible even when the race was going full bore - something virtually impossible at most other tracks. Since the ambient noise level in the grandstands at an auto race approaches 115dB, the system (even with optimum equalization and processing of the source) must be capable of uniform coverage at the same levels or higher. One more detail: the owners didn't like the way loudspeakers and light poles obscured spectator sight lines at other racing facilities. So, for most main grandstand areas at the LVMS tri-oval, all light poles and speakers would have to be placed BEHIND the spectators - which means the sound must be thrown even further because of the reverse slope of the seating area.
ype of Track 1.5 mi. tri oval & 2.45 mi. road course
Seats 100,000 + 60,000 (future)
Suites . Grandstand - 98, Press Bldg. over pit area - 14
Parking Spaces 67,000 cars & 50 acres for RV's
Pits 44
Garages 4 bldgs. with 20 garage spaces
Banking Front stretch 9°
Turns 12°
Back Stretch 3°
