BMW News

June 2016 marks the halfway point in the current America’s Cup cycle—the 35th regatta competing for the world’s oldest continuously awarded sports trophy. As technology partner of Oracle Team USA, BMW hopes to cross the finish line in June 2017 as an America’s Cup champion once again, having helped Team Oracle win the world’s most prestigious sailing race in 2010.

In the category of the most visible corporate presence in the world’s most prestigious sailing race, BMW may already be the winner. BMW is a “Global Partner” of the America’s Cup Event Authority (ACEA), the event organizer. As such, the familiar BMW roundel logo will be seen almost everywhere—on all the boats, on all the course markers, and even superimposed on the water during television coverage. It will, of course, be even more prominently featured on the Team Oracle USA boat.

“BMW was an important technology partner for us when we won the America’s Cup in Valencia in 2010,” said Jimmy Spithill, the winning skipper of the last two America’s Cup events. “We know that BMW engineers are the best in the world and can contribute to making our boat go faster and giving us a winning edge.”

Fans of BMW cars often ask, “Why sailing?” Ian Robertson, member of the BMW AG Board of Management for BMW sales and marketing, explained, “The America’s Cup features many elements which are also part of BMW’s DNA, such as pioneering spirit and a readiness not to shy away from any challenge. A passion for innovation, engineering skill, and teamwork are crucial for success and all of these things drive BMW too, which is why we are expanding our commitment to the pinnacle of sailing.”

The America’s Cup finals that will pit Team Oracle USA against the winner of the challenger rounds, will take place in June 1917 off the coast of Bermuda.

Check out this video. We realize these are boats not cars, and they will never approach an even electronically limited top speed 155 miles per hour like their four-wheeled fellow roundel wearers, but man, can they fly!—Scott Blazey

[Photos and video courtesy of BMW Yachtsport.]