Composite design and manufacture specialist Caterham Composites has been involved in the refit of Alex Thomson’s Vendée Globe challenger. Caterham has helped design and develop several components to improve the boat’s reliability and performance.
Caterham Composites CEO, Mike Gascoyne, joined Alex during the recent Monaco Grand Prix on board the boat: "We have applied the same composite industry-leading expertise we bring to our racing and road car operations to Alex’s Vendée Globe boat and I believe we will see how that will help improve both reliability and outright performance as he takes part in the forthcoming Vendée Globe."
| All too often sailing syndicates head into competition without applying the same rigorous standards to composite design, manufacture and testing that are common place in F1 and that is something Caterham Composites has been able to do immediately. |
| Mike Gascoyne, Caterham Composites CEO |
“One specific area of interest for us has been to look at improving the durability of certain key areas of the boat’s composite items. All too often sailing syndicates head into competition without applying the same rigorous standards to composite design, manufacture and testing that are common place in F1 and that is something Caterham Composites has been able to do immediately. The sailing industry can learn huge amounts from the many years of expertise F1 has built up in this area and this is why our partnership with Alex Thomson Racing is such a positive step forward for both Caterham Composites and AT Racing.”
Thomson will soon be heading across the Atlantic for more extensive trials before the Vendée Globe starts in November 2012.
"As we move closer to the Vendée Globe the focus for the whole team is ensuring that the boat is fully tested and all systems and structures are as reliable as they possibly can be," notes Stewart Hosford, Managing Director of Alex Thomson Racing.
"We strongly believe that is the key element to being successful in this race. During our scheduled maintenance period in Barcelona recently it was great to have members of the team from Caterham Composites working alongside our technical team."
