Van Damme & VDC Trading Sponsor Desmond Smail’s Britcar 24-Hour Endurance Challenge

Van Damme, which has long been the cable of choice for quality conscious musicians and performers, in conjunction with VDC Trading has made its debut into the world of motor racing by sponsoring Aston Martin specialist Desmond Smail at this year’s Britcar 24-hour Production Saloon Car event at Silverstone.

Desmond Smail’s team raced a Honda Integra Type R and got off to a flying start in this endurance epic, which took place at the famous Northampshire circuit.

“We were leading the class at the start but unfortunately we collided with another car and spent over two hours in the pits sorting out the damage,” says Smail, who was one of four drivers on the Desmond Smail team. “We rejoined the race in 50th position and ended up 23rd overall, which was quite an achievement. Without that collision, I’m sure we would have been up for Top 10 place.”
Desmond Smail’s Honda Integra was fitted with a two-way radio system cabled entirely with Van Damme. The company has long been an advocate of Van Damme cable because it is durable and flexible and has the ability to deliver very high quality audio.

VDC’s Managing Director Niall Holden says: “We were delighted to be involved with Van Damme with the sponsorship of Desmond Smail’s car at this year’s Britcar event.

He is a long-standing customer who has used Van Damme cable very effectively in many prestigious cars, including such icons as the Aston Martin DB7 and Vanquish.

“From Van Damme’s point of view, the association with the world of motor racing is key to new product development. Van Damme are currently at the design stage with ‘Street’, a new range of cable that will specifically target in-car entertainment and audio systems. These interconnect and speaker cables will be very slim and lightweight so that they can be easily incorporated into new cars and retro-fitted into vintage cars where the owners want the very best audio performance.”



Van Damme plans to launch its new range in early 2008 and has acquired an Ultima Spyder sports car with a Chevrolet engine and a Porsche gearbox. The Van Damme Street car’s two-way radio and entertainment system will be entirely cabled with Van Damme and it will be used to promote the brand at key motor racing and corporate events.

“We specify Van Damme cable for all our Aston Martin in-car audio and entertainment system installations,” says Smail. “Van Damme was particularly well-suited to the Honda Integra because it has incredibly strong sleeving, which makes it extremely tough, even under endurance race conditions.”

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1920's, 30's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.
Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no kebabs, pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway.
Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on Sundays, somehow we didn't starve to death!
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner shop and buy fruit tingles and some crackers to blow up frogs with.
We ate cakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and cubby houses and played in stream beds with matchbox cars.
We did not have iPods, Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on satellite, DVD’s, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents.
Only girls had pierced ears!
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross buns at Easter time.......no really!
We were given BB guns and sling shots for our 10th birthdays.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them! Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!
Footy had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
Our teachers used to belt us with big sticks and leather straps and bully's always ruled the playground at school.
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
Our parents got married before they had children and didn't invent stupid names for their kids like "Kiora" and "Blade"

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!
The past 70 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good. And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

Product focus on:
Van Damme AVI series audio video composite multicore LSZH 278-006-043

In audio-visual installations the criteria for choosing a cable type is a balancing act between cost of materials, function and ease of installation. Paying more for a cable can sometimes be more economical in the long term if it saves you money in other areas.

All installations need to consider the cost of physically pulling the cable through its chosen route – the “per metre/ per man/ per pull” factor. With this Van Damme LSZH composite multicore installers can specify one cable type to cope with a wide range of signals; the overall diameter of 13.9mm means that the cable is easy to install in most situations and the overall braid construction offers an excellent degree of protection against damage that could be caused during the pull. As the cable is fully LSZH it is suitable for installation in public buildings and other situations requiring Low Smoke Zero Halogen cables.

This cable comprises 6 precision RG179 type 75 Ohm video coaxials, 4 AES/EBU 110 Ohm individually jacketed screened twisted pairs and 3 20AWG tracers.

As an example for a small lecture theatre installation this cable could provide RGBHV coaxes for projector VGA signals, an additional coax for composite video, left and right balanced audio feeds for any commentary playback and an additional 2 microphone lines for live use. The 3 20AWG tracers are also available for use with RS232 signals where no handshaking is required – just TX, RX and 0V – which can be used for projector remote controls.

In addition the AES/EBU low capacitance audio pairs will carry balanced analogue audio, AES digital audio, RS422, midi and DMX512 signals giving true flexibility of data control functions within most installations.

Order code 278-006-043

Splitline
A new product from Lewden that make 16A Ceeform power distribution simple. A one input 3 output IP44 16A 240V Ceeform splitter optimized for entertainment industry use.

• Light weight & compact matt black body for discrete rigging
• Scalloped locating points on body with cable tie fixing point for secure truss fixing
• 16A maximum overall load
• Temperature range -25 to +40 degrees C

T line
The T-Line incorporates both an IP44 16A 240V plug and socket in a compact moulding with a rewireable glanded cable outlet. This innovative product allows for simple and neat daisy chaining of a secondary 16A device without the need for an additional splitter.

• Matt black body for discrete rigging • Saves time and space
• Supplied unwired – please contact Sales for a quote on wired versions

Switchcraft D9FF panel coupler
Order code 314-030-000

Switchcraft Hi-D15FF panel coupler
Order code 314-030-000

Switchcraft SVHSFF panel coupler
Order code 314-030-000

Due to the overwhelming success of our previous offers and with the deaded end year stock take looming, we are offering a great opportunity to grab yourself a deal on our remaining limited stock of the follwing cables.
*Please note the following stock will be sold as a minimum length of 10 meters per order and on a first come first served basis.

Van Damme Black series As live consoles moved up from 24 channel to 32 channel to 48 channel it seemed like a logical step to introduce a 64 pair in anticipation of yet larger desks. However shortly after introduction of the 64 pair the widespread use of digital consoles made this cable somewhat redundant. We can therefore now offer this cable at a clearance price. We strongly recommend that it is used for installations only and not live use.

Van Damme 64 Pair Black Series Per meter (RRP £37.12 +vat) £10.00 +vat
Order code 268-164-000 Minimum order quantity 10m

AVI series audio/video composite multicore provides an elegant solution for the transmission of analogue audio and video signals from source to destination within the same jacket and has also been tested successfully with serial digital video over 50 metres.
Applications
• Transmission of analogue audio and video signals within one jacket
• Combinations to suit most video formats up to 5 coaxials for RGBHV//VGA
• Standard coax type proven with serial digital video up to 50 metres

Van Damme AVI 2 Video Per meter (RRP £8.18 +vat) £2.50 +vat
Order code 268-375-202 Minimum order quantity 10m

Van Damme Green series UL version AES 110 Ohm multicore has been specifically designed to comply with standards laid down by an organisation called Underwriters Laboratories (hence UL). This cable is a close equivalent to standard Van Damme green series 4 pair 268-414-050, with the main difference being that each pair is colour coded red and black.
Applications
• Transmission of digital audio signals in installations,,multipin cables,XLR looms and single XLR cables
• RS422, RS485, DMX512, Midi and timecode applications
• GPO, bantam and XLR patchbay wiring for digital audio signals

Van Damme AVI 2 Video Per meter (RRP £9.92 +vat) £1.50 +vat
Order code 268-414 UL Minimum order quantity 10m