This is the fastest Land Rover on water

Land Rover Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) has launched a cutting-edge America’s Cup Class cat a little over 100 days out from racing begins for the Auld Mug.

Set down for 2017 in Bermuda, the 21st British Challenger for the America’s Cup will race on a tightly defined course of just a few miles at speeds that could reach 100km/h.

There will only be six men onboard, the boat will fly over the surface supported by high-tech hydrofoils, and while there will be just 67m of rope on this cat, there will be 130m of hydraulic pipes, and more than 1200m of electronic and electrical cabling connecting 190 sensors and four video cameras – all in a 15m boat!

Ergo, this is no longer just about naval architecture, the design and engineering war in the new America's Cup is fought on all fronts: systems, electronics, hydraulics, computers and software.

AMERICA'S CUP WINNER?
The Great Britain cat, touted as one of the fastest and most technically advanced craft on the water, has been developed with Jaguar Land Rover engineers with one aim: to win the world's oldest sporting trophy.

Britain has never won the America's Cup in its 166-year history, but this cutting-edge carbon 15m cat is being touted as a game changer.

The menacing, matt black boat represents the combined efforts across three years of a 120-strong BAR team and their partners. Four test boats, 85,000 hours of design and build, on the water testing and painstaking construction crystallised into the boat code-named R1.

Launched in Bermuda, the 15m flyer has now named Rita by Sir Ben Ainslie's wife Lady Georgie Ainslie and daughter Bellatrix. The name has a winning pedigree – Sir Ben has used it throughout his career.

BAR shared the engineering skills used by Jaguar Land Rover to create its newest models. Aerodynamic, self-learning car, artificial intelligence and virtual-modelling technologies are said to be helping the boat to go faster all the time.

More on the Land Rover BAR Americas Cup campaign.