08.12.2009
CET
'Daring to dream'.
On Tuesday, at BMW Welt in Munich, BMW held a technology workshop allowing over 50 international media to meet the BMW ORACLE Racing team's designers and speak about the technology featured in the 33rd America's Cup.
Coincidentally, the day marks the two month countdown to the first race of the Match.
BMW ORACLE Racing CEO Russell Coutts (NZL) opened the workshop with a speech entitled 'Dare to dream', speaking about how the team has overcome the challenges of this Deed of Gift America's Cup Match.
"This America's Cup has been an extreme test of our experience and imagination," he said, referring to all of the 'unknowns' the team was forced to confront when it started to design and build its trimaran, the BOR 90. "We did not know the venue, or the expected weather conditions, so the initial concept had to cover a large performance space."
He went on to speak about the subsequent modifications that have made the boat that last sailed in San Diego over 20 per cent faster than the boat which was first launched a year ago in Anacortes. Specifically, Coutts said, the addition of the wing sail has been a game-changer.
"The wing sail is the biggest single transformation of a boat I have ever seen," he said. "It has turned an astonishing boat into something spectacular."
Other speakers at the workshop included Design Team Coordinator Ian Burns (AUS), Joseph Ozanne (FRA) the leader of the wing project, Thomas Hahn (GER) and Christoph Erbelding (GER), both are structural and aeronautical engineers with the BMW Group who have worked with the AC design team since 2004, and Francesco Pozzi, an expert in hydraulic systems and winches who led the engine project which saw the installation of a BMW engine on board the boat to power the winch systems.
The media, with representatives from eight countries, were given an inside look at how the wing sail project was developed, as well as insight into the state of play of the event just two months ahead of the first race.
Meanwhile, in San Diego, the shore crew continues to work on packing up the base and preparing the boat for shipping to Valencia.