INEOS Britannia reveal new ‘T6’ test boat in partnership with Mercedes-AMG F1 Applied Science.
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- LEQ12 test boat ‘T6’ revealed from winter training base in Palma, Spain
- The design and build has integrated F1 and America’s Cup expertise
- T6 will provide a platform to validate their design tools as they go into designing their new AC75 race boat.
T6 is an ‘LEQ12’ test boat designed and built in compliance with the rules of the 37th America’s Cup Protocol.
Once the AC37 rules were in place and the playing field – Barcelona, Spain – had been defined INEOS Britannia began to develop, design, and build a new test boat called T6 (short for Test boat 6).
The team restructured in alignment with with Mercedes-AMG F1 Applied Science, a division of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team. Design and operations moved to Brackley UK, the home of Mercedes F1, and the team built a temporary base operation in Palma, Spain.
T6 was built at Carrington Boats in Hythe and then transported to Brackley for its fit out. It was then transported to the Ineos Britannia winter training base in Palma.
T6’s work will commence with an extensive testing period, primarily aimed at validating the team’s design tools and testing key componentry ahead of the design deadline to start the build of the team’s AC75 race boat.
On the question of why design and build an ‘LEQ12’ test boat when they already have an AC40 (a one design LEQ12) arriving, Ben Anslie explained . . .
There are three key reasons why we designed and built T6 and they’re probably all equally valid.
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- Firstly, we have this new partnership with Mercedes-AMG-F1 Applied Science.
It’s a big deal trying to bring two design groups together and define common working practices and everything else that goes into designing a successful America’s Cup boat.
We had the opportunity to do a dry run with T6 before we design and build the race boat for the Cup, and it was really important to us to take that opportunity. It’s highlighted a number of areas where we’ve been able to modify our approach and the overall structure of the team for the better.
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- Secondly, we came out of AC36 lacking confidence in our design tools.
Ultimately, we made key design decisions in the last Cup using our design tools and our simulation, and they weren’t accurate enough.
This was borne out in the end result, across our hull, foil designs and performance.
T6 is a fantastic opportunity for us to be able to validate our design tools and have more confidence in them, as we go into designing the key components for the race boat for Barcelona.
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- Lastly we wanted to control our own destiny.
We wanted full control over our own testing platform and not be reliant on a third party to provide that platform, so we had control over our testing strategy.
T6 will operate throughout the winter from the team’s base in Palma de Mallorca.
Live test data and results will be streamed back to the design, engineering and performance teams at the team’s UK headquarters in Brackley, where work is already underway on the research and design of what will become the team’s AC75 race boat, competeing for the 37th America’s Cup.
Three campaigns in and still 100% committed to bringing the Auld Mug back home to where it first started, Ben and the British team know the challenge ahead will not be easy.
“This is definitely the challenge of a lifetime. We’re committed to getting the job done, it’s totally all consuming. On a number of fronts; the intensity, the technical challenge, the resources that are required, it never stops.”
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