COVERING THE SCOTTSDALE AUCTION: Swisstrax Tiles Add Up to an Impressive Undertaking

January 16, 2024
Posted by Barrett-Jackson

There is no denying Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale Auction site at WestWorld is massive. It’s so big that, in 2014, The World’s Greatest Collector Car Auctions set two official Guinness World Records: One for the Largest Marquee (435,656.95 square feet) and one for the Largest Single-Unit Marquee (351,210.33 square feet). Since then, the auction site has continued to grow as new features have been added, which has extended its total footprint to nearly 1 million square feet.

If you have attended the auction in person, you might have noticed a unique tile that covers the floor of the 40,000-square-foot Sponsor Pavilion (the area you enter as you pass through the entry doors) and the staging lanes, where the auction cars are prepped before they cross the block. The flooring is Swisstrax, a type of modular flooring originally developed in Switzerland.

Swisstrax made its American debut in 1998 with tiles used for Grand-Am and Petit Le Mans Series racing pits and hospitality areas. Since then, the company has continued to grow and develop different variations of tiles that can be used for any occasion. Swisstrax even developed special tiles offering realistic hardwood grains and patterns that can be used for dance floors. American-made and manufactured in Dalton, Georgia, the tiles are composed of a strong and durable polypropylene copolymer material engineered with an advanced channeling system that allows for easy removal and easy cleaning.

But here’s the question we really wanted to know the answer to: How many Swisstrax tiles does it take to cover the Scottsdale Auction site?

Each tile measures 15.75 by 15.75 inches, slightly larger than one square foot. Swisstrax covers 85,000 square feet of the auction site for Barrett-Jackson, which means it takes roughly 64,762 tiles. That said, many other exhibitors and sponsor displays also use Swisstrax, so the actual number is much higher. To put things in perspective, the 1-million-square-foot auction site equates to 15 and a half football fields and could accommodate 1,634 semi-trucks. It would take approximately 761,905 Swisstrax tiles to cover it all.

Join us in Scottsdale this January to enjoy exploring the acres of amazing vehicles and activities – and remember to look down from time to time and give a little salute to Swisstrax for flooring the auction.