The Australian Class 1 powerboat team is facing a race against time to keep its 2003 championship season alive.
The Australian Class 1 powerboat team is facing a race against time to keep its 2003 championship season alive.
In the wake of the crash that destroyed their race boat at the Austrian Grand Prix two weeks ago, team owner Bill Barry-Cotter has struck a deal with Khalfan Harib, managing director of the UAE Victory Team, to purchase the boat used by Saeed Al Tayer and Mohammed Al Marri last season.
“Khalfan Harib has made a most generous and sportsmanlike offer for us to buy the team’s spare boat which ran as Victory 1 last year,” said Bill. “We are now in a race against time to see if we can rig her for Qatar.”
The driver of Maritimo Offshore, Peter McGrath together with team manager, Ann-Marie Cook, are now in Pisa, Italy, where work to re-rig the ex-Victory boat has already begun.
“It’s a big job and time is tight. But we have other members of the team on their way over to help and I am sure we will be ready in time,” said McGrath. “We will strip the old boat and then set about trying to replicate the set-ups that Bill and I have been using this season.”
The task facing the Maritimo Team will include installing their own wiring loom, dashboard systems, steering, drives and engines by Friday, 3 October when the Class 1 fleet is due to be shipped to the Middle East. Round 6 of the Superfund Class 1 World Powerboat Championship is scheduled to take place off Doha, Qatar, on Saturday, 25 October.
To see Maritimo Offshore‘s spectacular accident view the video via the link on Motor Boat & Yachting’s homepage.
