WORLD RECORD LOUD. ENGINEERED BY REELCRAFT

---

How do you recreate the feeling of standing next to a NASCAR engine in the middle of Times Square?

You start with the real thing.

ReelCraft Creative had the opportunity to contribute to NASCAR’s World’s Loudest Billboard, a one-of-a-kind experiential activation that brought the unmistakable sound and raw energy of NASCAR racing into the heart of New York City — and ultimately earned a Guinness World Records title.

Our role started long before the billboard ever reached Times Square.

Authenticity was crucial to the project.

Rather than trying to recreate the sound of a race car using stock effects or existing audio libraries, we were granted access to NASCAR’s Research & Development facility to record actual NASCAR engines.

Capturing an engine with that much power presents an entirely different challenge from a traditional recording environment. The sound is incredibly loud, dynamic and aggressive, but simply capturing volume wasn’t enough.

We wanted to preserve everything that makes a NASCAR engine instantly recognizable: the violent acceleration, mechanical texture, deep low-end power and sharp character of the engine as it moved through the RPM range.

The goal was simple:

Make people feel like they were standing next to the real thing.

Recording the engines was only the beginning.

The captured audio was carefully edited, layered and mixed to bring out the strongest elements of each recording while maintaining the natural character of the engines.

When audio is going to be played back at an enormous scale, clarity becomes just as important as volume.

The final mix needed enough low-end energy to physically impact an audience while retaining the detail and definition that makes a real NASCAR engine sound different from simply playing something loud through a speaker.

It became a combination of recording, sound design and audio engineering — taking the authentic source material captured at NASCAR R&D and shaping it for an entirely different environment.

The finished experience eventually made its way to one of the busiest advertising environments in the world: Times Square in New York City.

NASCAR's installation featured a full-scale replica of a Next Gen Chevrolet engine connected to the massive audio experience. Instead of simply seeing another advertisement among the screens of Times Square, pedestrians could experience something much closer to being at the racetrack.

They could hear it.

They could feel it.

And on February 10, 2026, it became official.

NASCAR's activation reached 133.7 dB, earning the Guinness World Records title for the World's Loudest Billboard.

What began with microphones positioned around real NASCAR engines had become part of a record-breaking experience in the center of Manhattan.

The activation didn't stop in Times Square. The World's Loudest Billboard later made its way across the country to San Diego, California, bringing the experience to NASCAR's Qualcomm Circuit at Naval Base Coronado.

Seeing the project move from the controlled environment of NASCAR R&D to Times Square and eventually across the country was a reminder of how far a single piece of creative production can travel.

For us, the journey was especially unique:

NASCAR R&D → Recording Studio → Times Square → San Diego → Guinness World Record.

Video and visuals often receive most of the attention in advertising, but projects like this demonstrate just how powerful sound can be.

The billboard didn't simply tell people that NASCAR was loud, fast and visceral.

It let them experience it.

That's what made this project such an exciting one for ReelCraft Creative. It combined technical audio production with experiential storytelling on an enormous scale.

We weren't creating sound just to accompany an advertisement.

We were helping create the experience itself.

And somewhere between recording those engines at NASCAR R&D and hearing them roar through Times Square, that work became part of a Guinness World Record.

That's a project we'll never forget.