Engineers in Stone will be playing their part in helping four-time Olympic gold medal sailor Ben Ainslie bring the America’s Cup to Britain for the first time.
Staff at Renishaw’s 3D printing operation in Stone will be providing their expert knowledge to optimise the design and construction of critical, 3D-printed metal parts of the British team’s race boat.
Land Rover BAR is the British challenger and Ben Ainslie, winner of four Olympic gold sailing medals, is the team principal and skipper. Renishaw has joined Land Rover BAR’s Technical Innovation Group (TIG) as an official supplier.
[box type=”shadow” ]Ben Ainslie said: “We don’t underestimate the challenge ahead of us. We are a first-time challenger for the America’s Cup, and only one challenger has ever won it at the first attempt. We want to leave no stone unturned in our search for new technologies that will help us to bring the Cup home. That’s why we have developed the Technical Innovation Group and are pleased to have the support of Renishaw with its heritage of over 40 years of breakthrough innovation.”[/box]
The America’s Cup is the oldest international trophy in world sport, pre-dating the modern Olympics, the Ryder Cup and the World Cup – and Britain has never won it. It’s the world’s premier sailboat racing contest, and the 35th edition will be held in Bermuda in 2017.
The Land Rover BAR Technical Innovation Group was formed to bring together the best of British talent and industry. The goal is to find advanced technologies and develop them to give the team a competitive edge. The TIG complements the existing Land Rover BAR design team and allows it to rapidly develop, test and prove these technologies.
[box type=”shadow” ]Robin Weston, marketing manager of Renishaw, said: “As a British engineering company with core skills in precision and performance, combined with expertise in position encoding and metal 3D printing, we are delighted to have the opportunity to make a valuable contribution to the TIG and help Land Rover BAR bring the America’s Cup back to Britain.”[/box]
