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Victory
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New Headquarters for Victory Team |
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VICTORY TEAM LOOKS TO THE FUTURE
With all the recent
developments enveloping the city of Dubai, it comes as no surprise that the
UAE’s most successful sporting ambassadors are set to lead the way in a new
project that is sure to raise the art of boat building to a new plateau.
In what seems to be a
natural progression for the team that has accumulated 14 World Championship
titles, plans were announced of a new facility that is to be completed by
January 2002. With Victory Team leading
the way as the undisputed victors of the Middle East in power boating, it
comes as no surprise that they have announced plans to begin to use this
expertise to their commercial advantage. The new 2.16 hector
headquarters located just 300 meters from the old site in Jebel Ali will boast
the latest state of the art high tech equipment, giving it the distinction of
being the only such facility with such high capabilities in the region, the
new location heralds Victory Teams move into commercial entity. “The shift in location
will ensure enough space for the new headquarters. The concept for the new
location will be the construction of new boats and developing our engineering
capabilities” said a member of the Victory Team management, “all our
departments will be resized and restructured in order that the new facilities
meet certain commercial requirements”. Victory Teams future
commercial focus will be aimed towards a very specialized niche; the coast
guard, the rescue services and of course high performance race boats.
“Although there is also the potential to work with large pleasure boats,
this is more of a long term plan and may be incorporated into the next phase.
“As our expertise is in
high technology race boats,” he said “we are neither aiming nor can we
expect to compete for normal pleasure boats. Our area of focus will be high
tech; we aim for a very specialized niche in the market”. “Currently in Dubai we
have the capabilities to test only petrol engines due to size limitations
placed on the Dyno (a machine that is used to test and prove the engines). “This limits our potential
to fully develop our engines. With the new facility we will have two large
Dyno rooms, featuring the latest state of the art technology, where we will be
able to test and more significantly further develop both diesel and petrol
engines. With the busy calendar of
race events taking place in the Emirates, there is the definite potential in
the market for the type of services offered by the Victory Team, “We are
able to help in the local region commercially in two ways; firstly with the
rebuilding of boats engines. With
the Class II and Class III race boats we are able to rebuild engines straight
from the customer and on location.” Going on to add, “This will prove not
only more convenient to the customer but will also serve to reduce the costs
such as freight and time spent in shipping.” The second way would be in
the actual construction of race boats. Having already sold two of the older
victory fleet to both Damas and Highlander and a commission from Spirit of
Norway and K.R Racing, a USA racing team owned by Kjell Rokke for another two
boats, Victory Teams competitors are set to become the customers, a sure
testament to The Victory Teams capabilities when it comes to boat
construction. One of the main concerns for
the new headquarters is that it must be both environmentally and ecologically
friendly. With enhanced insulation, energy conservation, filtration of dust,
water conservation, smoke and noise mufflers, the Victory Teams Headquarters
will not only be kinder to mother nature but will boast the very best working
conditions for the team. Boat building and high tech
composite material shop work shops will boast precise state of the art
temperature controls to ensure air is maintained at an exact temperature.
“We will be using new techniques in laminating such as vacuum bagging and
the use of pre-impregnated carbon to ensure that race boats built by our team
are lighter yet will still retain their strength”. As a testament to past
victories and a tribute to the worlds most successful powerboat racing team,
the new headquarters also plans future to feature The Victory Team Museum. “We have a lot of
followers of the Victory Team coming to Dubai as well the everyday tourists
who would like to see our headquarters and the boats”. An accolade to the past, the
museum gallery will offer a chance for visitors to journey through the teams
inspiring progress throughout the years; a chance to catch sight of the older
boats that have taken their occupants to the unparalleled success in years
gone past and paved the way for new accomplishments. Looking to the future,
Victory Team Management wants to introduce more UAE nationals to the Team,
notably the engineering and development side of operations.
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