America's Cup: Oracle flies higher with Airbus
The European aircraft company will provide technical advice to the America's Cup holder.
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Hawke’s Bay
Larry Ellison has pulled off another engineering coup to further the chances of his Oracle Team USA holding on to the America’s Cup.
Earlier this year, Jimmy Spithill and his crew mates used a wing sail and hydrofoils to overturn an 8-1 lead by New Zealand in the series.
Now, Oracle has announced a technology partnership with France-based aircraft manufacturer Airbus that will give the yachting design team access to engineers and other experts.
"I think this will give us a competitive advantage," Spithill says of the deal.
"When you look at tech groups and companies, this is a perfect fit. We both fly – we fly above water – and we both build wings. They build composite fuselages and our platforms are composite. This will be a really cool project."
Oracle will have access to 15-20 Airbus experts in areas such as aerodynamics, instrumentation and simulation, composites, structures, hydraulics and data analysis.
"This is a completely new endeavor for us," Airbus President and CEO Fabrice Brégier says.
"By taking on an extreme technology and sports project of this magnitude we stretch our competencies and further boost our agility. There are so many similarities between the America's Cup yacht and our aircraft design, that each partner benefits from an excellent platform not only to learn and grow but also to win."
The 2014 used 72ft catamarans were powered by 131ft mainsails that looked and performed like jetliner wings.
Both hulls literally “took off” at speed on to hydrofoils and flew across the tops of the waves.
The 2017 America's Cup entrants will be reduced to 62ft but are expected to be as powerful as their predecessors.
The foils on the bottom of the rudders are like the horizontal stabilisers on the tail of an airplane. The foil on the daggerboard, shaped like an L or J, is like the upturned winglets on the ends of jetliners' wings.
It sounds like Emirates Team New Zealand should be on the blower quick to Boeing in headquarters in Chicago.
Nevil Gibson
Sat, 01 Nov 2014
Sat, 01 Nov 2014
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America's Cup: Oracle flies higher with Airbus
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