Prodrive joins Sir Ben at BAR
03 Aug 2015
The Prodrive deal will be a valuable asset to Land Rover BAR
AMERICA’S CUP: Prodrive is a company well known to motorsports followers, having won six World Rally titles, four British Touring Car Championships, four Le Mans titles and many others…
Now, the company – led by ex-Aston Martin chairman David Richards – has just secured a £6m growth capital investment from BGF (Business Growth Fund) and is to become a technical partner to Sir Ben Ainslie’s Land Rover BAR America’s Cup team.
The Milton-Keynes based Prodrive Composites employs nearly 200 people and sales hit £13m last year.
A team of over a dozen engineers has been allocated to the America’s Cup project, both at Land Rover BAR’s headquarters in Portsmouth and at Prodrive’s new headquarters alongside the M40 in Banbury.
The brief for Prodrive is to help the team develop electrical, electronic and hydraulic control systems.
“I am a firm believer there is a huge amount we can learn from other sectors of the British design and engineering industry and, by using these skills, we can create the most competitive America’s Cup challenger,” said Mr Ainslie.
“When I visited Prodrive and talked to David Richards, it was immediately clear to me that they had the right technical skills, resources and competitive instinct to make a real difference to our programme.”
Prodrive started working on the project in June 2014 and has already developed the hydraulic control system for the foils on the first prototype boat, which lift the 45 foot catamaran hull clear of the water.
The company will now work on other areas of the final design, as well as manufacturing unique components for the yacht, including its lightweight aerospace specification wiring harnesses.
“Our engineers are used to working in a highly competitive sporting environment where, only by analysing and optimising every aspect of a racing car, can we produce the most competitive package,” said Mr Richards.
“We are bringing this motorsport approach to Ben’s already exceptional team of marine engineers to ensure that Ben and the team have the best opportunity to bring the America’s Cup home to Britain for the first time.”