AV Case Study: One Raceway
A Bose Professional loudspeaker system and a Sennheiser wireless solution helped get a regional motorsport park out of the pits.
4 June 2025
Motorsport is loud. In fact, the engine noise is part of the appeal. (It’s hard to see EV racing ever taking off… so to speak.)
Wakefield Park Raceway near Goulburn NSW had some upset neighbours who didn’t like the excessive noise. But here’s the kicker: it wasn’t just the engine noise they were sick of, it was also the prehistoric crackly fog-horn type speakers found in great numbers all over the facility. They were everywhere and predominantly pointing down the hill, where noise pollution spilled down into the valley where the neighbours were fuming… so to speak.
Things turned nasty. The EPA got involved. The owners could see no way forward, locked the gate, and walked away.
It turns out the race park was a big contributor to the economy, in fact over eighteen million dollars less per year stopped flowing into the local economy; the hotels, motels, shops, Airbnb’s, cafes, restaurants, etc. all noticed a massive difference.
The local member of parliament felt compelled to act and approached Steve Shelley, the owner of nearby Pheasant Wood Circuit at Marulan – and how he’d feel about taking on another race track?
RACING TO THE RESCUE
Steve subsequently bought Wakefield Park and has since made a major investment and has completely reinvigorated what was a very tired facility. Now known as One Raceway, the second major full-time motor racing circuit in New South Wales is enjoying a complete new lease of life.
Motorsport Race tracks make a lot of sound, including a lot of public address announcements. Ensuring quality Audio from the PA was always going to be part of any change of the guard.
“It was David Haviv from Bose Professional who came to us,” recalls Steve Shelley. “He said they could model the park from an audio perspective, design a loudspeaker system and keep sound pollution to a minimum.”
For David Haviv it was the easiest cold call he ever had to make. He’s a motorsport enthusiast and had spent many weekends fanging his hot Daihatsu around Pheasant Wood Circuit, One Raceway’s sister track.
David introduced Steve to Canberra-based integrator Sound Advice. With nearly 30 years of experience in installed audio and local to the area, Sound Advice was the perfect fit, with Ashley Moors riding point on this project.
THE BUSINESS OF RACING
Steve Shelley didn’t muck around. He and his brothers invested more than $20m into reviving Wakefield – now One Raceway – as a ‘generational business’.
“There was a significant amount of maintenance debt,” Shelley explains. “No stormwater control, no power to the top of the hill, no conduit. It was literally like starting from scratch.”
Everything’s now on the grid: fibre backbone, upgraded electrical, and modern stormwater infrastructure. The venue’s design includes safety-critical features like LED marshalling points controlled in real time from race control, sector displays, and spacious runoff zones. The coup de grâce? The circuit runs in both clockwise and anticlockwise directions – an unusual feat that effectively creates two different track experiences.
SOUND ENGINEERING
A major part of the One Raceway brief was a PA that didn’t upset the neighbours. Enter Bose Professional.
“The old system was old, and ‘all-or-nothing’,” says Haviv. “If you turned up one speaker you turned them all up. There was no control.”
With Bose Modeler, they digitally mapped the circuit for optimal coverage and minimum spill. “We can notch out any frequencies that resonate down the valley and cause complaints,” Haviv explains. “If Steve calls me and says, ‘We had some feedback from a neighbour,’ I can instantly identify what frequency and from where may have created the issue, and promptly respond to it?”
It’s surgical sound design. Each zone is individually addressable thanks to Dante running on an extensive fibre network. “There’s more fibre here than in most universities,” David Haviv quips. “We thought: if we’re going to do it, let’s futureproof it,” counters Steve Shelley.
The system is built around a Bose ControlSpace EX-1280 DSP (64×64 Dante), with PowerShareX PSX1204 and PSX2404D amplifiers.
FULL RANGE DRIVERS
Loudspeakers include Bose Professional FreeSpace units for shorter-throw areas and DesignMax DM6 six-inch coaxials along the spectator hill. “Their full-range drivers really help reduce high-frequency spill,” notes Haviv.
Wesco Anixter, the authorised distributor for Bose Professional in Australia, worked closely with Sound Advice and David Haviv to achieve the optimal implementation of the audio system design at One Raceway.
Commentary is handled by RØDECaster units with Sennheiser headset mics – another nod to the future. “We’re setting up for in-house streaming and live YouTube content,” says Shelley. “One very experienced commentator who first used our new gear said, ‘this is awesome, this equipment is exactly the same as I use in my studio.’ That told us we’d made the right choice.”
A local FM transmitter on 88.0MHz ensures everyone in and around the track (outside the coverage of the loudspeakers) hears the feed — even from their cars.
LOUD, CLEAR & IN CONTROL
On a busy race day, the control room buzzes with eight to 10 people coordinating and marshalling multiple race categories and monitoring the trackside camera feeds. “There could be up to 180 announcements in a day,” says explains Steve Shelley. “And thanks to the Bose Professional system, they’re all clear, intelligible, and well-targeted.”
Spectators appreciate it. “Clear communication is key,” says Shelley. “Good commentary gives you context – why a car may be off the circuit, what’s coming up next, live interviews, etc. without the commentary, the experience is rather flat.”
And the experience is the thing. “You’ve got the smell of fuel, the roar of engines, the sun on your face,” Shelley continues. “It’s visceral. Hearing a car fly by with that 3D spatial effect is totally different to a flat broadcast. It’s very immersive.”
DANTE CONNECTIONS
Behind the scenes, Dante reigns. “We’ve got eight amp racks across the site, all Dante-enabled and all leveraging that amazing new fibre network,” says Haviv. “If Steve wants audio somewhere new, we can do it. That flexibility is why we went with Dante.”
AVE provides outside broadcast support, plugging into patch points at the head end with full in/out access. “They can override the PA with no latency,” says Haviv. “It’s all set up for scalable growth.”
Remote monitoring is also baked in. “Bose Professional’s amps have built-in EQ and protection,” Haviv notes.
A SPECTATOR SPORT
From pit to paddock, One Raceway is a place of connection. On race day most people on site have some kind of connection with the cars on the track. There’s a muck-in, grab-a-spanner community atmosphere.
“This is Australia’s spectator circuit,” Shelley declares. “From almost anywhere, you can see the entire track. A proper PA was non-negotiable.”
But more than that, the AV system at One Raceway is central to its community feel – bringing everyone into the action.
“It’s like a dad’s Disneyland,” Shelley laughs. “Some of the best days of my life have been here.”
THE FINAL LAP
The transformation of Wakefield into One Raceway isn’t just about fresh tarmac and modern drainage. It’s a story of sound: sound designed, sound deployed, and sound strategy.
“Bad sound is worse than no sound,” Shelley asserts. “It creates anxiety. If you’re going to communicate with audio, it has to be done properly.”
CONTACTS
Sound Advice: (02) 6280 8777
Bose Professional: boseprofessional.com
Wesco Anixter (Bose Professional distribution): wesco.com/proav-apac
Sennheiser: en-au.sennheiser.com
SENNHEISER RF REVS UP
Audio source capture at One Raceway isn’t an afterthought. In a motorsport environment where V8 engines, rogue signals, and a million moving parts conspire to make life difficult for any microphone and RF system, the Sennheiser wireless backbone is a solid, stable and scalable presence.
At its heart is a tidy, two-channel Sennheiser EW-DX digital wireless system. Two handheld wireless mics provide roving coverage – equally at home trackside or in the booth – thanks to a directional antenna that locks in solid RF the full length of pit lane. The signal routes to the Bose DSP via Dante for PA distribution across the venue.
Commentary duties fall to a pair of Sennheiser broadcast headsets plugged into a RØDECaster Pro, acting as a submixer and a station for future livestreaming possibilities. The mics are intelligently prioritised in DSP. Gooseneck mic ducks everything, while the roving mic overrides any background music.
The EW-DX system is PoE-powered which enhances its flexibility. It’s scalable and deployable at a moment’s notice. The fact it sits on the network means Sound Advice can remotely monitor any RF gremlins as and when they crop up.
For an AV infrastructure still growing into its boots, the wireless system already has the hallmarks of a futureproof backbone – modular, manageable, and professional.
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