The Ultimate Sailing Machine; BMW Dives into America's Cup.(Revs)

Byline: JAN TEGLER

Here's a riddle. What is a German auto manufacturer doing helping an American sail team challenge the Swiss defender of sailboat racing's biggest prize?

Two words-structural optimization.

The BMW you know-builder of benchmark sedans, heavy hitter in Formula One, and participant in sports and touring car racing-dipped its toes in sailing's equivalent to F1 in 2002, sponsoring billionaire software mogul Larry Ellison and his Oracle Racing team. Finishing third in its challenge for the 31st America's Cup behind Team New Zealand and winner Alinghi, Oracle will contest the 32nd America's Cup in 2007. This time around, BMW is more deeply involved.

"Our goal was not to just be a sponsor for this campaign but to be technically engaged in the yacht design,'' says Raymond Freymann, BMW Group's director of research and technology. "We are responsible for the lightweight construction of the yachts, for structural optimization.''

Structural optimization is critical to the design of the two race boats BMW Oracle Racing will field for the Louis Vuitton Cup (the series of races pitting the team against 10 challengers for the right to take on Alinghi), and it's where automotive design technology is making an impact on sailing. Think of it this way: Just as BMW Sauber works to maximize the performance of its F1 chassis by locating its center of gravity as low as possible, BMW Oracle Racing is working to optimize the center of gravity of its racing boats. BMW engineers help boat designers trade weight ...