This year the opening event of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series saw nearly 250,000 spectators head to Portsmouth and cheer Team Land Rover BAR led by Sir Ben Ainslie on to victory.
Despite bad weather forcing the second days racing to be cancelled, the event demonstrated perfectly how competitive the AC racing is, with just a single point between Emirates Team New Zealand in 2nd place and Team Land Rover BAR who took 1st place. Just 2 points behind Emirates Team New Zealand were Oracle USA.
On Tuesday we went to the impressive Land Rover BAR headquarters in Portsmouth where the team spoke proudly of the huge economic impact the event and Land Rover BAR has had on Portsmouth and the UK.
KPMG’s economic impact report said the event this year brought £47m (in Gross Value added terms) to the UK, with a media value of £59m and 730 jobs created across the country.
Sir Ben Ainslie said ‘Land Rover BAR’s primary goal has always been to bring the cup home to Britain. At the same time, we set ourselves the goal of building a long-term sustainable, diversified business, creating a Motorsport Valley effect to bring technology, innovation and high quality jobs to the UK. It’s great to see from the KPMG report that we are really starting to have a positive economic impact within the UK.’
A huge thankyou to Paul Wyeth who captured these stunning shots.
Solent Events sister company Solent Rib Charter are pleased to be once again the Official Rib Supplier to the The America’s Cup World Series Portsmouth for 2016.
Dates for next years event – 21st – 24th July
