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Sp80 unveils final boat design in pursuit of the world Sailing Speed Record

• SP80 is ready to show the world the final design, which is set to reach 80 knots (150km/h) powered by the wind.
• Under construction since the summer of 2021, this futuristic 10 by 7 meter boat will feature two pilots.
• The “sea rocket” will be launched at the end of the year, with the first record attempts planned for thesummer of 2023.
• Already sponsored by the Swiss watchmaking brand Richard Mille, SP80 is launching a campaign to identify a final group of sponsors.

From concept to reality Established in 2018, SP80 has been coordinating the critical stage of the boat production over the last 6 months. This spaceship-like sailboat has been designed to reach 80 knots (150km/h), shattering the world sailing speed record. Limited by confidentiality requirements, the Swiss company has so far only shown a the concept that allows viewers to understand the boat’s operating principles, without revealing any definitive design elements.

Today, the construction has advanced to the stage where the team feels ready to reveal the final design. While the principles remain the same – an extraordinary sailboat towed by a kite – the boat will be bigger than the initial concept (i.e. 10m long and 7m wide). With a sleeker shape and stretched, aggressive lines, other elements have also been refined to increase the stability of the structure; a key point in the record-breaking strategy defended by SP80. The young Swiss company is on its way to redefine the architectural codes of the sailing world.

A cockpit with room for two Freshly finished by the renowned shipyard Persico Marine, the main hull will arrive in April to SP80’s premises in Renens (Switzerland). This first part reveals a crucial element of the cockpit: it can take two pilots on board. One will pilot the kite while the other will steer the boat. “Very early in our development phase, it was clear that being alone on board was not an option to accelerate safely up to 80 knots.” – says Benoît Gaudiot, co-founder and pilot. “At 150 km/h, it is essential to be focused on one task!We will thus have a pilot steering the kite, while a co-pilot will ensure the boat’s trajectory. However, at low speeds, that is around 30 knots, the boat can be sailed solo, which will allow us to welcome passengers onboard to experience something extraordinary !” At 80 knots, it is critical to ensure maximum safety for the pilots. The cockpit has been designed to withstand accelerations of up to 50G! It has also been reinforced with Kevlar® to protect its occupants from possible carbon shards in the event of a crash. As a boat sailing at 150km/h on water is equivalent to a Formula 1 on land, the drivers will be equipped accordingly: bucket seats, 6 point-harnesses and helmets. In case of emergency, they will also have oxygen masks at their disposal, something that has never been seen before in the sailing world!
Calendar and next steps While the shipyard continues the construction of the beam and floats, the SP80 team will take over the main hull and integrate all the mechanical systems. The final assembly of the boat is scheduled for next autumn with an official launch before the end of 2022. After a few months of optimisation and testing, the first record attempts will take place in summer 2023 in the south of France.

Guided by strong values, the company has already secured several notable partnerships. The team is currently beginning its final partnership search campaign. Investigations are focused on Swiss brands, with the goal to create collaborations that go beyond sponsorship agreements.

“Thanks to our current partners, we have been able to realise this revolutionary boat with a launch date later this autumn.” – says Mayeul van den Broek, co-founder and project manager.
“2023 will be a decisive year, with the final preparations to break the 80 knots record and make sailing history. We are currently looking for the last financial and technical partnerships to take the adventure to the finish line. The whole team is so proud to see this concept becoming a reality and we can’t wait to finally unveil and test our final design on the water! ”

The intense crash test program for the global homologation of Rimac Nevera is finally complete after four years, thousands of digital simulations and nine complete vehicles destroyed. In total, Rimac Nevera prototypes were subject to 45 separate physical crash tests, and many more static passive safety tests – all necessary to ensure customers throughout the world can safely experience Rimac’s next-generation all-electric hypercar on the road.

The final test, which took place end of January, was the demanding side pole test, conducted at 32km/h and simulating a side impact with a lamppost. With very little of the car’s body and chassis between the pole and the occupants, and very little energy absorbed by the pole, it’s one of the most difficult tests a car can be subjected to. The structure of the Nevera proved to be so effective at distributing the crash energy that the door on the impact side could still be opened after the test. This test was the last passive safety US-homologation test, while European homologation tests were completed in 2021.

Passive safety for the Nevera has been developed by the in-house team at Rimac, initially using High Performance Cluster computers, capable of digitally simulating in near-perfect detail the effects of a crash test impact on every single component of the Nevera. Despite a physical crash test impact taking just 80 milliseconds – less than a blink of an eye – to simulate a test takes the computers 20 hours of processing time. Only once engineers have achieved the desired results digitally do they make adjustments to the physical cars and subject them to ‘the wall’.

The Nevera was designed from the very beginning to be extremely safe, built around an advanced carbon fibre monocoque extending between the front and rear suspension attachments. As a result, the Nevera is the stiffest production car ever created, with a torsional rigidity of 70,000 Nm/degree – a regular supercar will be around 40,000 Nm/degree. The monocoque also forms part of a very stiff survival cell that helps to dissipate energy around the occupants in the case of a crash. The roof of Nevera can resist more than three times the weight of the car.

Throughout the crash test program since 2019, Nevera prototypes were subjected to the most extreme of conditions. During this latest side pole test, the occupant – a 200,000 eur crash test dummy – experienced up to 25 g of lateral acceleration, but have been subjected to 41g during the frontal wall crash test at 56km/h. The highest impact speed Nevera experienced during the process was in the US-market rear crash test, completed at 80km/h. Furthermore, the last crash test resulted with the dummy’s load results being all green with high margin.

Rimac has been transparent with the crash test process, publicly sharing everything from the early materials tests, the prototype developments and these final crash tests. Members of the media have been actively welcomed in throughout the entire journey of creation for the Nevera, too, offering unrivaled insight into the development of a transformational all-electric hypercar from the ground up.

“The Nevera was designed to excel in every area, with each component scrutinized and carefully engineered to deliver the best possible performance. For four years now we have been applying that same painstaking attention to detail to the safety of Nevera, with engineers working tirelessly on thousands of digital simulations and modifications to prototype vehicles, just to see their work destroyed during the crash testing process. All of their efforts has been absolutely crucial to the development of Nevera, and as this latest test concludes the Nevera crash-testing program, which brings us close to finally being able to hand over our next-generation all-electric hypercar to its first owners throughout the world.”

Mate Rimac, Rimac Group founder and CEO

Designed, engineered, and built in-house at Rimac Automobili, the Nevera is limited to just 150 units. Made possible by its 120kWh, 6960-cell battery producing 1914hp and 2360Nm of torque, Nevera achieves a top speed of 258 mph (412 km/h), a 0-62mph (100km/h) time of 1.85 seconds, and a 0-100 mph (161 km/h) time of 4.3 seconds. It has been indep

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Sp80 unveils final boat design in pursuit of the world Sailing Speed Record

Sp80 unveils final boat design in pursuit of the world Sailing Speed Record

Rimac Nevera Completes Final Crash Test

Rimac Nevera Completes Final Crash Test