Vodafone becomes Mark Skaife’s eyes on the road: 4G Streaming

Vodafone Australia made a return to motorsport on the weekend as a key sponsor on the BMW entry at the Bathurst 12 hour, driven by Mark Skaife, Russell Ingall and Tony Longhurst. And before that run at the mountain Mark Skaife got a little taste of the Vodafone network down at Calder Park in Melbourne.

We won’t mention the weekend – other than to say unfortunately the boys weren’t still running at the end of the 12 hours.

Down at Calder Park some weeks earlier Vodafone Australia CEO Iñaki Berroeta took to the passenger seat of the BMW race car with Mark Skaife at the wheel.

The only difference? The windscreen was blacked out.  Instead of a glass window, Mark Skaife would be relying on three Tablet’s in front of his steering wheel to show him what’s in front of him.

On the roof were three Samsung smartphones – both the tablets and smartphones were connected to the Vodafone 4G network and using that link streamed the live video from outside the car to inside in real-time.

“Lapping Calder Park behind screens was one of the biggest driving challenges I’ve ever attempted, it was like driving in an Xbox game – but without the reset button!” said Skaife.

Pretty impressive stuff.

Vodafone’s CEO never doubted his network “While I was slightly nervous of Mark’s driving at first, I never doubted the reliability and performance of the Vodafone network,” said Mr Berroeta.

“This test is yet another example of our confidence in the Vodafone network and willingness to put our money where our mouth is.

Vodafone have done this overseas before, not least in New Zealand and Romania, but each time it’s still a blast to see the skill of the driver as well as the technology itself.

All this is to further push the network, and their 30 Day Guarantee.  Most people still don’t know that you can sign up to Vodafone, and if within the first 30 days of your contract you want to cancel – you can.  No questions asked (I’m sure they’ll ask “are you sure”).