3/11/2013

Volvo Penta – Official Volvo Ocean Race supplier

By Volvo Penta

Standard engines from Volvo Penta deliver diesel power to the world’s toughest and most extreme round-the-world races - the Volvo Ocean Race.

The 2014-2015 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race is the fifth race with Volvo Penta as official engine supplier.

During a nine month journey that covers over 39,000 nautical miles, the Volvo Ocean Race boats, crew and engines will meet some of the toughest challenges in round the world sailing.

The Volvo Ocean 65 is a new generation of race boats with standardized and unique design - and with a new set up for the diesel power onboard.In previous races, all boats have been equipped with two diesel engines, but this time the boats will have only one engine for both auxiliary and propulsion, the Volvo Penta D2-75 with S-drive.

This puts high demands on both reliability and performance for the D2-75 engines.

“The main stress to the engines comes from the enormous G-forces induced by the very high speeds and violent motions of these race boats. These forces sometimes correspond to those that military aircrafts are exposed to. This is well above what sailboats and engines are normally exposed to”, says Jan Dahlsten, project manager of technical support to Volvo Ocean Race

The 75 horsepower Volvo Penta D2-75 will cover the following needs onboard the race boats:

Auxiliary
a. Electricity: Here the engine´s task is to produce electricity to the communication equipment, computers, lights and heating onboard. Electricity is also powering the “Water maker” that converts salt water into the life essential drinking water for the crew.

b. Keel movement: The canting keel, which is providing extra counterweight when sailing, is moved by powerful hydraulic cylinders which are powered by an engine driven hydraulic pump.

Propulsion
Here the engine is used in emergency situations or for motoring in and out of harbors or transporting the boat between venues.

Volvo Penta´s engines have more than well met expectations in previous races:

“All the teams evaluated our engines after the last race, and they were very satisfied with performance, reliability and service support”, says Magnus Gedda, Volvo Penta´s Service Manager for Volvo Ocean Race.

Since the engines and drives used in the race boats are all in Volvo Penta's standard range, the Volvo Ocean Race is a good opportunity to verify the product features of these under extreme conditions. This is valuable information that is used to make future products even better.