The world’s best sailors are gathered on the south coast for Round 8 of the world’s premier annual sailing competition
SailGP’s managing director Andy Thompson believes the sport can grow and learn from another elite touring race series beloved in the UK – Formula 1.
As the world’s best sailors gather in Portsmouth this weekend for Round 8 of the world’s premier annual sailing competition, all of the boats and technology have come from SailGP’s technology headquarters in Southampton. But following in the footsteps of the world’s oldest ongoing sporting competition, the America’s Cup, F1 engineers have been recruited to further sailing’s success.
Thompson said: “There are many parallels. Ultimately, we’re a racing series and we go to iconic destinations around the world. There are a lot of fans that would watch an F1 race and watch a SailGP race. There are so many similarities there in terms of the racing and in terms of the engineering side of it.
“There are a few tie-ins with the America’s Cup last time with Ineos and Mercedes, and I think that started a bit of a crossover. There are a lot of similarities between a race car and a boat. Both of them want to go fast. Both of them want to be in control, and both of them want to win.”
Fast is an understatement. In SailGP, boats exceed 100km/h in close-to-shore, stadium racing. Emirates GBR are reigning world champions – and will be looking to get a home win in front of a sold-out crowd on the South Coast. The F50 boats, which rely on hydrofoil technology to fly above the water’s surface, are manufactured centrally, giving all 13 teams equal machinery to operate across the 13 or 14 races across the season, depending on qualification for the Grand Final.
Thompson said: “There are certainly mechanical engineers and designers who are designing cars and designing boats. There are very similar skill sets across those two. There are composite builders who build cars and build boats. There are electronic engineers and a lot of our control systems on the boat are very similar to Formula 1 control systems.
“We’ve learnt a lot from that industry. There’s quite a lot of crossover between all of the engineering behind an F1 car and an F50. It’s great to get people who have had that experience in that industry.”
Australia’s team occupy top spot in the standings before this weekend’s race, with the British boat sitting in third place.
Thompson said: “The other thing that we’re learning a lot from motor racing is the operations and logistics around the whole thing. Formula 1 has been going for 75 years. They’ve learnt that they’re going to a track on Tuesday and they leave on Sunday night. We’ve got people in our logistics team that have come from that world now to really help us mature in that area and deliver the boats to the start line in one piece, but also in a timely fashion.”
The Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix returns to Portsmouth on 25-26 July. Limited tickets are still available via //SailGP.com/Portsmouth.