Leading Formula One icon Adrian Newey reveals all in Oyster Yachts documentary
by Oyster Yachts 9 Feb 2024 18:45 UTC
New Oyster Yachts documentary charts Adrian Newey's experience building his new Oyster 885 © Oyster Yachts
A fascinating behind-the-scenes documentary film, Adrian Newey, Building my Oyster, showing the build of Red Bull Racing Chief Technical Officer's Oyster 885, is now available for public viewing.
The short film follows Newey and Oyster Project Manager Matthew Townsend, as they develop design solutions to build Adrian's dream sailing yacht, with the ambition to one day sail around the world.
With a wish to operate a vessel that minimises generator use, Newey collaborated with Oyster's in-house design team to create a hard top bimini. This retains the elegant design and wind efficiency of the Oyster 885 and is lined with solar panels for the generation of clean energy.
In the film, Adrian also shares his experience, insights and learnings to help future Oyster owners through the process of building their own yacht, commenting: "The absolute key to the Oyster experience is the relationship between the owner and the project manager. Matthew's wealth of knowledge, plus his enthusiasm to embrace some of the suggestions and come back with counter suggestions, has been one of the most satisfying and unexpected bonuses of the whole experience".
Project Manager Townsend, who has been an instrumental part of the build process, comments: "Although a Formula One car and a cruising yacht seem poles apart, the desire to improve efficiency and aerodynamics are holy grails in both motor racing and sailing.
"Adrian's enthusiasm for detail and efficiency, combined with his pragmatic view of what is achievable, makes him a pleasure to work with and, at times, the differences between 200mph and 12 knots is not as great as you think!
"He claims that he is new to sailing, but with his obvious passion for speed I can absolutely see that he why he enjoys the task of coaxing an extra knot out of a 70-ton cruising yacht, and I can see him becoming a very accomplished sailor as a result!"
A world away from his current high-octane life, Newey adds: "The beauty about motor racing is that there's only two things that count - how quick it is and whether it's reliable or not. Building a live-aboard sailing yacht is much more subjective in terms of the overall pleasure versus performance and usability."
For more information or to watch the full documentary, visit here.