Motorsports and Realtime Data: Revolutionizing Fan Engagement

Motorsports have always been synonymous with speed, precision, and innovation—both on the track and in the way they engage fans. In an era where digital experiences define audience expectations, realtime data has become the driving force behind deeper, more immersive fan engagement.

Platforms like F1’s Live Timing, MotoGP’s VideoPass, and NASCAR Drive enable enthusiasts to access multi-angle race views, in-car cameras, and live team radio communications—bringing them closer to the action than ever before. Delivering these experiences, however, hasn’t always been easy, especially given the sheer scale and velocity of data involved.

At NASCAR, with 40 cars whirring around the track at speeds of up to 200 mph, reaction times are measured in milliseconds—not just for drivers, but for the technology delivering the action to fans. Each car emits 100 data points at a frequency of 120 times per second, adding up to over a terabyte of high-frequency data per race. This staggering volume translates to 370 million+ messages broadcast during marquee events like the 2024 Daytona 500, with more than 56,000 users simultaneously connected, all demanding seamless access to telemetry, lap times, and race insights in realtime.

Let’s look at how the NASCAR team have tackled the common challenges of reliability and scalability, ensuring fans receive uninterrupted, high-speed data streams that match the intensity of the race itself.

Keeping Pace: The Critical Role of Realtime Infrastructure in NASCAR Drive

NASCAR has always been at the forefront of leveraging technology to enhance fan engagement and NASCAR Drive is a great example of this in practice. It offers an immersive experience where fans can select their favorite driver’s in-car camera, listen to team communications, and see telemetry data like speed, steering angle, and RPMs – a level of access that few other sports provide.

The infrastructure underpinning NASCAR Drive is critical; fans expect seamless access to realtime data, and any failure to deliver could result in lost engagement and reputational damage. 

Speed is everything—not just on the track, but also in the data delivery pipeline. 

NASCAR’s infrastructure ensures that fans get instantaneous updates that mirror the pace of the race, maintaining the thrill and intensity of live motorsport. Any delay or disruption could break the connection with users. 

As Chad Larter,  Managing Director, Infrastructure & Security at NASCAR notes: “Users aren’t typically too forgiving if they’re not able to get the data they signed on to get. They’re going to leave immediately and most likely they’re not going to come back and check later! This underscores the importance of delivering data in realtime, keeping up with the pace of the race, and ensuring fans stay engaged.”

To prevent this, NASCAR Drive is built to handle sudden traffic spikes, ensuring seamless performance even under peak demand. By prioritizing realtime data streaming and optimizing infrastructure, the platform delivers the insights fans crave—without overwhelming the system.

The result? A must-have second-screen experience that keeps enthusiasts returning, race after race.

Architecting NASCAR Drive for Reliability and Scalability

To make this possible, NASCAR has moved away from their long-polling based solution, to using WebSocket-based infrastructure powered by Ably. Scalability was always a pain point – and worry – on race days, as servers had to be spun up and on-call resources were required to respond in case a server went down. 

Now, Ably allows NASCAR to dynamically scale up and down without having to manually provision and manage servers. Using Ably’s channel-based architecture, data is distributed to individual drivers’ channels efficiently enabling updates to be sent to fans that are subscribed to a particular driver, rather than broadcasting all data to everyone. Efficient data streaming is also made possible through the use of Delta Compression – with data only being sent to client devices when there is a delta (or change).

NASCAR also benefits from Ably’s reliability features, like automatic failover and redundancy, to ensure data feeds remain up and running even in the face of infrastructure issues. They can also take advantage of Ably’s SDKs for different platforms (web, mobile, etc.) to easily integrate the realtime data into their various client applications and generally reduce the operational overhead of managing their own realtime infrastructure by offloading that responsibility to Ably. 

How Other Motorsports are Using Realtime data to Elevate Fan Engagement

Other motorsports organizations are also leveraging realtime data to enhance fan engagement and provide immersive experiences. 

For example, the NTT IndyCar Series, in partnership with NTT Data, utilizes over 140 sensors on each race car to capture and analyze more than 8 billion data points during events. Advanced AI and predictive analytics transform this data into realtime insights, allowing fans to track key race strategies, overtaking maneuvers, and race winner predictions.

Similarly, Formula 1’s newly launched F1 Unlocked platform enhances fan engagement by providing exclusive behind-the-scenes content, driver insights, and realtime data analysis. Fans can track sector performances, live leaderboard updates, and team radio snippets, gaining a deeper understanding of race dynamics. The platform also includes interactive features such as competitions, quizzes, and exclusive discounts, fostering a more immersive and rewarding fan experience. 

These initiatives highlight how motorsports are integrating cutting-edge technology to bring fans closer to the sport, leveraging data to create a richer, more interactive viewing experience. But getting the data in the hands of fans, in realtime, is key in each case to the successful delivery of these experiences.

Driving the Future of Fan Engagement—In Realtime

As the demand for richer, more interactive fan experiences accelerates, motorsports continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible with realtime data. NASCAR, alongside technology partners like Ably, is setting the pace—delivering seamless, dynamic, and highly personalized digital experiences that keep fans on the edge of their seats. 

By removing the complexities of realtime infrastructure, Ably empowers NASCAR to focus on what matters most: bringing the thrill of the race to fans everywhere, in the moment, without delay. In a sport where every second counts, the ability to deliver realtime engagement at scale isn’t just an advantage—it’s a game-changer.

Beyond motorsports, the potential of realtime data is limitless. In endurance sports like triathlons, live athlete metrics such as heart rate and pace can enhance engagement by bringing excitement and context to long-duration events. In team sports, realtime tracking and analytics offer deeper insights into strategy, player performance, and key moments, enriching the viewing experience. Even beyond sports, realtime audience data at live events like concerts and festivals can create interactive and immersive experiences, making fan engagement more dynamic and personalized.

The key is to move beyond just displaying raw data—instead, using it to tell compelling stories, create emotional connections, and heighten excitement for fans. Whether in sports, music, or live entertainment, leveraging realtime engagement at scale isn’t just an enhancement; it’s the future.

Matthew O’Riordan is CEO and Co-founder at Ably, a global realtime experiences platform that empowers developers to build highly scalable and engaging applications. Ably’s technology enables applications to exchange data in realtime, ensuring everyone stays on the same page, regardless of location or device. You can find out more here about how Ably helps Tennis Australia and NASCAR.