Technical Partnership Elevates Communication and Emergency Response at SpeedTour Race Events
CHARLOTTE (March 15, 2023) — Flagtronics is the newest partner to join SpeedTour events, adding the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli, Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA), Formula Regional Americas Championship Powered by Honda (FR Americas) and Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda (F4 U.S.) to the growing list of race series who utilize their system to improve safety on the race track.
“We’re very excited to add Flagtronics as a partner and strategic resource for our race series and events,” said Tony Parella, CEO of SpeedTour. “We’ve spent a lot of time testing their products and have seen the efficiencies they can add to our events first hand—improving response time for emergency vehicles and cutting down on wasted time, and allowing more time for green-flag competition.”
Flagtronics products focus on three main areas to increase safety and race awareness both inside and outside the vehicle, including in-car flagging, on-track flagging and race communications. The system considers everyone’s needs—the drivers, the track director and race officials—offering easy-to-install, easy-to-use, compact solutions. The system combines in-car units that detect incidents and alert drivers to full and local cautions, on-track display panels to communicate track conditions that are directly in the line of sight of drivers as they approach each corner, race communications systems like GPS monitoring of all cars and emergency vehicles, and control of both individual flagging and full and local track conditions through the click of a button.
“We’re happy to join SpeedTour and assist with their various events and race series,” said R. Collie King, III, CEO of Monarch Autosport, the exclusive distributor of the Flagtronics Electronic Marshalling Systems. “It’s exciting for us to join new groups and see the impact Flagtronics can make on the product they offer on the track.”
Having spent nearly two years researching similar systems—and ultimately selecting Flagtronics as the company to further engage in testing, Trans Am will require all National Championship competitors to utilize the Flagtronics in-car system in 2023, in addition to using the trackside display panels at events. The series saw first-hand the impact Flagtronics could have on competition during an exceptionally wet race at Watkins Glen International last fall. Rain throughout the day led to borderline race conditions, but the visibility of the trackside display panels and in-car systems provided a flow of information to both drivers and race control to allow the execution of a successful, safe race.
SVRA will employ a portion of the Flagtronics system in 2023, utilizing the trackside display panels, while continuing testing of the in-car systems on the various cars that compete in the series, with an eye towards full deployment for the 2024 season. The implementation of the Flagtronics display panels will allow more efficient and effective communication between series officials and drivers. Not only will the chief steward be able to instantly initiate a full-course yellow or local caution by the push of a button, but the display panels will improve visibility of flags, with the panels placed directly in the line of sight for drivers as they approach a corner.
FR Americas and F4 U.S. mandated a cockpit yellow light system two years ago to alert drivers to full-course cautions, but will move to the Flagtronics in-car system next season. This year, that current system will be paired with Flagtronics’ trackside display panels to improve communication one step further and alert drivers to possible issues in any particular corner. With many FR Americas and F4 U.S. drivers new to racing cars—upwards of 75-percent of the field each year comes out of karting—the systems will help new drivers balance out learning the car, learning new tracks, getting used to racing around other cars, and of course, observing safety flags. Merging the two systems will further enhance safety on the track, while also exposing junior formula drivers to the Flagtronics system, which has become the standard in Formula 1.
Fans will notice the impact Flagtronics has on the track throughout the season. Get tickets for any of the SpeedTour events this season by visiting SpeedTour.net.
About the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli: The Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli is the longest-running professional road racing series in North America. The Trans Am Series was founded in 1966 for racing factory pony cars on iconic road courses. More than 55 years after the series’ launch, Mustangs, Camaros and Challengers continue to be sold today, with Trans Am racing credited as playing a major role in their success and longevity. With five diverse and competitive classes of racecars and both National and Western Championships, Trans Am offers something for every fan and every competitor. SpeedTour will host the professional race series at 19 events nationwide in 2023.
About Sportscar Vintage Racing Association: SVRA is the largest vintage racing organization in the world. A typical event has several hundred vintage race cars representing over 100 years of automotive history on the track. The drivers of these race cars are high net-worth, prominent professionals. In 2023, SVRA will host 20 events at some of the most iconic race tracks in North America, including Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Sebring International Raceway, Watkins Glen International, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Sonoma Raceway and Circuit of The Americas, among others. This nationwide footprint has over 312,000,000 Americans living within 200 miles of our events.
About Formula Regional Americas Championship & Formula 4 United States Championship, Powered by Honda: The FIA-certified Formula 4 United States Championship (F4 U.S.) & Formula Regional Americas Championship (FR Americas) are designed as entry-level open-wheel racing series offering young talent the opportunity to demonstrate their skills on an international platform while keeping affordability and safety as key elements. The Championships align with the global FIA development ladder philosophy of using common components to provide a cost-efficient, reliable and powerful racing structure as drivers ascend through the levels on their way to U.S. or global racing success. The F4 U.S. Champion is awarded a scholarship to compete the following season in FR Americas, while the FR Americas Champion is awarded a Super Formula Scholarship from Honda Performance Development and Honda Racing Corporation.
