Gold Coast based Maritimo Offshore Racing is headed into its busiest year ever with new boats, upgraded designs and motors and a goal to be on top of the podium at events from Bowen in North Queensland to Key West in the USA.
Race team manager and engine builder Kurt Davies said the team has an action packed year ahead.
He said Maritimo would be running three boats in the Australian Offshore Superboat Series including one new boat and two reconfigured boats. The series starts in July and there will be races in Bowen, Mackay, Coffs Harbour, Gosford, Lake Macquarie and Hervey Bay.
“We will use the Australian series to test the boat that we will be taking to Key West for the world championships,” said Davies.
“The boat we take to Key West will be shipped at the end of September and it will compete in the Superboat Unlimited category.
“We did not have a good showing at the worlds in Key West last year and that was largely because we did not have enough time to test and refine our competing boat,” he said. “This year is different and by using the Australian series to test our boats we will have plenty of opportunity to refine and improve on our performance.
Davies said Maritimo’s founder, Bill Barry-Cotter was heavily involved in the race team and the design and construction of the race boats.
He said Barry-Cotter had a lot of input into what the team does to the boats like the all important engine configurations.
“We have the capability of reaching speeds up to 220 miles per hour, but in a racing environment we would normally be looking at reaching speeds of 180 miles per hour in the first few laps and then settling back to around averaging 160 miles per hour depending on how hard the competition is running,” he said.
“The race boats are exposed to some of the highest stresses in motor racing and because the races in Key West are run over a whole week we try to race as hard as we need to but with double points up for grabs on the last race it’s important to keep the boats competitive all week.
“With Bill heavily involved in the decision making, we have intense discussions on how we can maximise our engine performance.” The race team designs, builds and tunes all the race engines in house. ”
Maritimo Sales and Marketing Manager Greg Haines said the experience gained at the coal face of international offshore racing was invaluable in the design and performance of the company’s production cruisers.
“No other Australian manufacturer , and actually very few internationally, have the benefit of the learnings we gain from serious offshore racing which can be ultimately be inbuilt into our production boats.” he said.
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