DAYTONA, Fla.–Fox Sports, NASCAR and Racing Force Group have inked a deal to use the leading-edge Driver's Eye micro-camera POV technology for the NASCAR Cup Series events aired by Fox Sports. The racing league began using the helmet camera tech during its biggest annual event, the Daytona 500 over the weekend.
Racing Force Group says its Driver's Eye is the first and only FIA homologated micro camera in the world that can be integrated inside a racing helmet, and the world's most compact camera for live broadcasting: this gives the audience an exact view of what the drivers see in the car during the race. In its latest spec, the camera achieved an impressive size of 0.35x0.35 inches and a weight of 0.003 pounds, according to the company.
The NASCAR deal follows a similar announcement from Formula 1 last month to deploy the POV cameras for the upcoming 2023 Grand Prix season.
Adopting the camera tech is part of NASCAR’s campaign to increase viewership, which had been on the decline in recent years. However in 2022, 3,696,000 viewers on average watched the NASCAR Cup Series events broadcast on Fox and FS1 channels, and across the entire 2022 season, viewership was up 4% and household share was up 10% year-over-year.
Fox Sports' portion of the 2023 season will end with the coverage of the Toyota/Save Mart 350 event at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday, June 11.
"This agreement is yet another landmark for the growth of the Driver's Eye technology in the car racing industry," said Alexandros Miotto Haristos, COO of Racing Force Group in Italy. "Few brands in motorsports are as popular as NASCAR, even outside the United States, and this three-axis partnership with NASCAR Cup Series and Fox is a further proof about our product's quality. We thank both NASCAR and Fox for trusting our system, which is already adopted by other top championships.
"Moreover, Racing Force Group can strengthen its prestige across the American market, where it is already playing a leading role through all its brands, plus an expansion project in place."
