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#Post#: 43--------------------------------------------------
Re: Creating The Fastest Boat
By: Porsche 917 Date: January 28, 2017, 8:52 am
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Yes, the Porsche 917 was a real beast, and my favourite of all
time. They only raced in the World Sportscar Endurance
Championships for two years (1970 and 1971) but won both times,
and several are featured in the 1971 movie 'Le Mans' starring
Steve McQueen. It's worth a look! A British guy called David
Piper (who drove a 917 in the film and had a monster crash doing
it) today owns two 917's and still races them occasionally,
though he must be about 80 now.
#Post#: 44--------------------------------------------------
Re: Creating The Fastest Boat
By: James Date: January 28, 2017, 8:56 am
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Very interesting and relevant points from the car world!
#Post#: 45--------------------------------------------------
Re: Creating The Fastest Boat
By: Jacqui Date: January 28, 2017, 9:33 am
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Hi there! I just came out of a meeting with the Project Team
Leader and two of the Team Members, so here's some answers to
the questions you guys and girls have been asking:
I'm told that the first step for the Team was to spend a couple
of days simply defining the many things that would need to be
done if the project was to succeed, and in setting up the ways
in which Team Members could co-operate to a common purpose
without overlaps or gaps in their work. I get the feeling that
this co-operation is working well.
Sponsorship will probably be related to progress, and the Name
Sponsor will need to be satisfied that their money is being well
spent. It's going to take a couple of months before the deals
are done and contracts signed, and 'very intensive discussions
are ongoing'. This is usual in any business relationship of this
kind.
Finding the right venues is likely to be controlled by safety
issues. At the moment about ten possible sites in England have
been identified as 'possibles' and the next stage is to do
research into the microclimate of each one and to do a risk
analysis of the kinds of accidents that might happen.
Preliminary discussions with insurers, local authorities and the
owners of the sites are starting next week.
The design of the rocket propulsion system currently favours a
three-stage system, with a total of five rockets. I'm hoping to
get some more details within a few days. The guy working on this
has got a pile of calculations about power outputs, burn times
weights and all sorts of other rocket data, which I tried hard
to understand...
The current navigation system is planned to be part of the
communications network between the control team and the boat.
The most likely arrangement will be to suspend radio beacons
above the centreline of the course at about one mile intervals,
and these will guide the craft in a similar way to the radio
navigation systems that enable airliners to land in fog.
The deceleration system for the boat will probably use
airbrakes, controlled by the AI. The Team think that stability
in slowing down could be just as tricky as during acceleration.
And finally, the question of how large the boat will be is still
being worked on, and many design ideas are being looked at. The
minimum size might be dictated by the dimensions and weights of
the rockets, or by stability considerations. This is going to
take some time to sort out.
So there's the news, straight from the Team! They've also said
they will send some more info through later today, which I'll
post on the Forum as soon as I can.
Jacqui
#Post#: 46--------------------------------------------------
Re: Creating The Fastest Boat
By: Roadrunner Date: January 28, 2017, 9:40 am
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Thank you Jacqui! You're doing a great job!
#Post#: 47--------------------------------------------------
Re: Creating The Fastest Boat
By: Starchild Date: January 28, 2017, 9:45 am
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I agree! The team seem to be making really good progress on a
very complex set of problems!
#Post#: 48--------------------------------------------------
Re: Creating The Fastest Boat
By: Jacqui Date: January 28, 2017, 9:59 am
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Hi people! Here's the latest news straight from the Project
Office, following on from my talk with the Team Leader and two
of the Team today. It mostly looks at management and sponsorship
issues:
"The key to running a successful project like this isn't the
technology, it's the people you employ. We started less than two
months ago by assembling a team of six, men and women who are
not only proficient in their specialities, but also have the
intelligent approach we need for understanding the big picture,
and how they will all need to co-operate to succeed. And then we
appointed a team leader to motivate, guide and manage the
others. Casual and informal approaches do not work in this
environment, so a disciplined and structured personnel strategy
was the first step. Once we had that in place, the next step was
to prepare a detailed financial plan."
"A patron stepped forward to fund the Feasibility Study. This is
someone with whom we have a long business relationship and was
fascinated by the concept we had put forward. But the objective
of this stage is not only to produce an outline design a fast
boat, but also to attract a substantial sponsor for the
following stages. And that is far more difficult to achieve than
many people suppose. Considering the financial problems that
many Formula One motor racing teams are currently having in
finding (and keeping) sponsorship, and it is clear that an
original and very risky concept such as ours will not be easy to
fund. And we are not volunteers, so no cashflow means no fast
boat."
"We needed to prepare a preliminary design for our craft, one
which addressed all the key technical areas of the project. We
were confident we could do that, but it would only represent the
first step in a long evolutionary process. So far, the main
weight of the work has fallen on the shoulders of our Marketing
and Sponsorship consultant, whose first task was to draw up a
list of potential major sources of funding. Around 80 firms made
the cut, and we drafted a framework for the first version of the
Feasibility Study between Christmas and New Year. We couriered
personalised versions of these documents to the 80 'possibles'.
65 said 'Thanks, but no thanks'. The remaining 15 we had
face-to-face meetings with earlier in January. Just six of the
businesses showed real interest, and now we're in serious
negotiations with the front-runner. We'll need to have a deal
signed and sealed by Easter, or the whole project stalls."
"Major sponsorship agreements these days are usually made by
successful fundamentally conservative businesses led by Baby
Boomers who know exactly what they are doing. They tend to have
a shrewd 'risk versus reward' approach and need a lot of
convincing that a sponsored project has a good chance of
success, will bring them good publicity, and will create
profits. They know all there is to know about marketing. Egos
are a big factor. An executive who backs the wrong horse can
damage their career, or worse. So our Feasibility Study has to
be thorough, convincing and professional."
"Many technical ideas for the boat are being examined. There are
about a dozen original and radical possibilities under
consideration for the hull design, for example, and more are
being added every week. About twenty configurations for the
propulsion system have been examined, ranging from one to seven
rocket units, and none are quite right yet. Our Software
Specialist is knee-deep in ideas for the AI. Weird-looking ideas
for the air- and water-stability devices are being thought
through. And our Locations Scout has been on a road trip around
England to see a variety of possible test sites with her own
eyes. By late March all of this should be coming together in a
cohesive whole that gives us everything we need to convince the
Sponsor to formally back the project. Then the real fun begins!"
Wow, this is complicated! But I like it!
Jacqui
#Post#: 49--------------------------------------------------
Re: Creating The Fastest Boat
By: SWAT Date: January 28, 2017, 10:11 am
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Great work the Team are doing, and Jacqui's reporting is really
well done!
#Post#: 50--------------------------------------------------
Re: Creating The Fastest Boat
By: SteamShovel Date: January 28, 2017, 10:15 am
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Yes, very informative Forum that really puts us 'on the front
line' of the project!
#Post#: 51--------------------------------------------------
Re: Creating The Fastest Boat
By: Flake99 Date: January 28, 2017, 12:06 pm
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Getting sponsorship these days is so hard. It must be very
difficult to maintain optimism in the face of so much rejection.
I've just read that despite great efforts by the Administrators,
the Manor Formula One Team has been declared bust because,
although they made great improvements to their performance last
year, it just wasn't enough to attract the necessary sponsors.
So I hope this new 'Fast Boat' project manages to succeed in
raising enough funding to make things happen in 2021!
#Post#: 52--------------------------------------------------
Re: Creating The Fastest Boat
By: James Date: January 28, 2017, 12:10 pm
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Very true, Flake 99. It doesn't matter how good your project
idea is, unless you've got the business skills to get the
necessary money you won't get anywhere. This kind of work
demands professionals, and professionals don't work for free.
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