BMW Plant to manufacture Keel Fin

BMW ORACLE Racing, the Challenger of Record for the 32nd America's Cup, counts on technology expertise from Thuringia.

The path to the America’s Cup in Valencia 2007 leads through Eisenach, stopping at the BMW Tool Manufacture. For the next three months, the expert design team, usually responsible for the manufacture of large compression moulds and design prototypes, will co-write a chapter in the history of the America’s Cup. In January 2006, one of the most significant yacht components for the current BMW ORACLE campaign, the keel fin, will be manufactured in the BMW plant Eisenach / Thuringia. The new racing yacht inclusive of the new keel fin may debut as early as May 2006 at the Louis Vuitton Act 10 starting 11 May. The production of the keel will play a vital role as the 32nd America’s Cup challenger takes on titleholder Alinghi in Valencia 2007.

US61, BMW Oracle's exhibition boat in the airport of Munich, home city of BMW
Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

"With its series production for BMW, the BMW Plant Eisenach draws on a host of experience in the manufacture of tools and the processing of major component parts. Placing the production in the Eisenach Plant is, once again, an indicator that BMW is consistently transferring technology competence gained in automotive research to the sport of race yachting," says Professor Dr. Raymond Freymann, Director BMW Group Research and Technology, and responsible for the supervision of the BMW engineers in the BMW ORACLE Racing Design Team. "The Eisenach Plant provides a high international standard with regard to precision and quality. BMW will prove this once more with the manufacture of the technologically very sophisticated fin. The new yacht will benefit from this." In the course of the manufacture, the crew will closely cooperate with the BMW ORACLE Racing Design Team.

The fin’s manufacturing in the BMW Plant Eisenach is yet another example of BMW's technology proficiency in the field of high-performance race yachting. With an overall weight of a little over one ton, the fin is three metres in length and consists of ultra high-strength steel, the same material used in crash-relevant structural fields in BMW vehicles. The fin is the important connecting piece between the hull of the boat and the keel bomb in the "Formula One of Yachting."

The BMW Plant Eisenach was officially put into operation in 1992 and employs 250 personnel. The plant is housing the BMW Tool Manufacture and made its mark with the production of design models and prototype component parts.