Caterham Composites into sailing

F1 team to work with optimisation of Hugo Boss in build up to the 2012 Vendee Globe

Sports marketing firm Fiveº West today formally announced their performance partnership with Caterham Composites. The partnership will see Caterham Composites, a division of the Caterham Group, working with Fiveº West ‘s grand prix yacht racing campaigns.

Caterham Composites is the design and performance specialist division of Caterham Group, the parent company of the Caterham F1 Team and Caterham Cars. Caterham Composites will lend their expertise in building technology solutions for carbon fibre structures in the motor-racing and airline industries to Fiveº West’s ocean racing campaigns.

The partnership is an unprecedented move in competitive sailing, combining great British ocean racing talent and the technology and performance management expertise of Caterham Composites. Alex Thomson Racing will be the first to benefit from the partnership. Following his recent 2nd place finish in this year’s Transat Jacques Vabre and 4th place completion of the Transat B to B, Alex Thomson now has his sights set on being the first British sailor to win the solo, round-the-world Vendée Globe, which starts on 10 November 2012. The partnership with Caterham Composites will facilitate the performance optimisation of Thomson’s IMOCA 60 yacht Hugo Boss using advanced research and methodology not previously available to sailing teams.

"We are very excited to be sharing our research and the outstanding expertise of our technical team with Alex Thomson and the 5ºWest team," said Mike Gascoyne, CEO of Caterham Composites and Chief Technical Officer of Caterham F1 Team. "This is a great opportunity to apply our knowledge to a different sport and to test our systems, while working with Britain’s best solo ocean skippers."

"Formula 1 and ocean yacht racing teams face many of the same challenges," said Stewart Hosford, Managing Director, 5ºWest. "Reliability, performance, weight and safety are all similar concerns and like all high technology sports it is about having the best team and realising that the decisions you make six, and 12, months in advance of a big race are as important as those made on the race course itself."

5ºWest - in case you are wondering - is an offshoot of Alex Thomson Racing and describes itself as 'a leading sports marketing organisation, redefining associations in global sports arenas and international yacht racing.  Five West is recognised for delivering ‘Best in Class’ campaigns across competitive Grand Prix yacht racing and providing 360° marketing service to brands and sports governing bodies. Five West has delivered campaigns on behalf of  leading brands, linking brand values to a global stage creating a powerful association. Five West’s representation of professional solo yacht sailors connects sports talent to global brands that demonstrate the will and commitment to associate with performers who are pushing for the podium.'