Racing esports team houses are all the rage lately, but how about a former warehouse turned Esports Hub? That’s what Coanda Simsport evolved into last month just before the running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual.
Adding on to their previous Coanda House and the famous Purple Room, the team introduced the brand new veneue to the world during the 24 hour event.
Located in Gronau, Germany, the work area measures a gargantuan 1800 square meters. The new sim racing arena includes a lounge, a presentation area, a dedicated live studio for in-depth talks and interviews, as well as a media production section.
That’s not including the space on the main floor with all the simulators, of course. There are talks to add even more to the facility to accommodate team members, friends and families.
The warehouse area is right next to Coanda’s new media team offices. Back in October last year, Coanda added four full-time media positions in charge of communication, design, marketing, and content production. With the addition of the Coanda Esports Hub to the facility, now the majority of the team is together under one roof moving forward.
“The combination of our sporting and media team in one place is for me just the logical next step,” said Coanda Team Manager Philip Stamm.
“Racing esports and sim racing in particular offer the opportunity to involve the community more than real motorsports. Therefore, we were looking for the best location to bring the sporting world together with the communication world.
“The Coanda Esports Hub works as a melting pot where our team is coming together more than ever before.”
The original Coanda House was put together in 2019. Joshua Rogers, Mitchell deJong, Tommy Østgaard, David Williams, Mack Bakkum, Ayhancan Güven and Stamm have all been tenants at one point or another.
Now with the Hub, they not only have a place to live but also a huge area to compete in some of the biggest sim racing events around the world.
For any serious sim racer, a facility to race in sounds like a dream. Most of us are doing it from our own homes, but Coanda has turned its team into a functioning business model, allowing the team members to sim race for a living. The Coanda team itself is one of the most accomplished in all of virtual motorsports for a reason.
During the opening weekend for the Hub, the team competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual on the 15th and 16th of January.
As many sim racing rigs that they could get their hands on were brought into the studio for the event. The team was also able to host its own 24 hour live stream to compliment the main feed of the race.
Nicole Torregrossa from Porsche Motorsport Marketing and Matthew “Sadokist” Trivett were on-site to cover the action for the Porsche Esports Team #91 and #92 and the Proton Competition #77 and #88 teams that were competing. Most of the drivers and team members that were participating in the twice-around-the-clock event were in attendance at the new place.
When everything calmed down following the 24-hour event, the #91 Porsche Esports Team wound up second overall in the GTE class with the #77 Proton Competition group finishing in third. In the final standings for the entire series, the #91 wound up second, the #88 Proton Competition squad wound up third overall, and the #77 was fourth.
For Coanda, this is just the next step in their sim racing journey. It is hoped that the Esports Hub will be a place to offer many sporting and media production opportunities in the future. What do you think of the new digs for one of the top sim racing teams in the world? Let us know in the comments below!
Images thanks to Coanda Simsport
Chat with the Community
Sign Up To CommentIt's completely Free