Start your engines!

The Formula 1 circus descended on Bahrain last month for the Kingdom's fifth Grand Prix.

Event organisers employed a cutting-edge communications network to ensure the high-octane racing carnival remained on track. John Parnell reports from pit lane.

The high-tech, high-speed world of Formula 1 is characterised by an attitude of zero-failure-tolerance and the narrowest of margins separating success and failure.

Each Grand Prix event may be dominated by the big name teams and drivers, but in reality there is an army of support staff, safety crews, race officials, strategists and mechanics communicating with one another to ensure the racecars complete each lap as quickly and safely as possible.

Add to this mix the sheer number of staff required to host an event for 40,000 specators and the logistics soon become mind-bending.

Voice communications between key parties is also a major factor, as the cars rocket over the five and half kilometre course at speeds of up to 340kph, creating an implausible amount of ambient noise.

Alexander Keck of Riedel Communications oversees the company's expanding roster of Formula One clients which now includes eight of the eleven teams, and the sport's governing body, the FIA, as well as a host of event staff from caterers to first aid crews, in addition to those working on the support races which fill the remainder of the race-day's itinerary.

"All in all, there are 500 Riedel radio handsets in use around the circuit at any given time. Bernie Ecclestone's company, Formula One Adminstration (FOA), which markets the sport, typically utilises around 170 radio receivers at any given race.

"The BMW Sauber team uses more than 100 as does the Force India team - soon Honda will be using our radios as well," says Keck, Riedel's Formula One rental manager.

Riedel provides its MAX headset designed specifically to cope with the explosive noise that characterises an F1 race. Keck is confident that these technologies, tailored specifically for motorsport, have been one of the contributing factors in the company's growing success in the sector.

"We have more and more people within F1 approaching us to use our radios because we are on site come race-day and they know we can provide the service and support as and when they might need it," claims Keck.

The main radio system that we use is our TETRA digital radio unit, which audio-wise is very good. Even the drivers can hear clearly despite their proximity to the source of all the noise. Previously, it was very easy for a rival F1 team to listen in on another team's tactics.