XCAT Racing explore new safety options

Sport360 staff 15:23 16/12/2015
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  • XCAT boats in action.

    While all eyes were on the final two rounds of the 2015 UIM XCAT World Series in Dubai and Abu Dhabi last month, there was plenty going on behind the scenes with a view to next year’s series.

    International safety expert, consultant and author of several powerboating books Bob Wartinger, representing the UIM Medical and Safety Committee, conducted a series of tests with XCAT organisers to ensure the best possible safety practices were being carried out.

    As a former powerboat world champion himself, the American has veritable inside knowledge of the sport and knows exactly what it takes to protect the drivers in the event of an incident on the water.

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    Wartinger spent his time in the UAE meeting with the UIM officials, XCAT Racing’s Sport Department and Medical and Safety crews as well as all the teams and drivers to put in place plans to move safety forward.

    And there was no better illustration of just how important these measures are than when the world witnessed the boat of Matteo Nicolini and Tomaso Polli do a submarine dive during the Dubai GP – footage of which went viral on social media.

    “It stopped within a boat’s length so that’s about 10m when they were doing 140 or 150km/hr. That is a tremendous load on the human body,” explained Wartinger.

    “So we need to get the head and neck restraints on – we’ll see those for next year. We’ll see seats that hug and support the body better, and there may be some discussions about helmet improvements that will be agreed on as a standard.

    “XCAT racing has a good safety record but I believe the drivers can perform better and have less fatigue with slightly better seats, seat belts and better belt placement for example.

    “We have several ideas for sure – some will become mandatory and some will just be recommendations for the future, like better air systems inside the masks and full face helmets.

    “Most of these changes are easy to implement – and will make a big difference to the safety aspect of this extreme sport.”

    Wartinger added that future testing will also be done to better understand the forces on the boat during racing to be able to check the strength of the structure of the boats accordingly.

    Meanwhile, CEO of the WPPA Ronan Morgan was particularly pleased with the progress that was made during Wartinger’s two-week visit.

    “As a thrilling, high-speed sport, there are, of course, always risks involved and that is why we have the safety of our drivers as a top priority. Bob is the leading expert in this field and we will certainly take his recommendations on board moving forward.

    “It’s no use being reactive in these sorts of matters, so the UIM & the promoters of XCAT racing, are being proactive in constantly striving to improve on every aspect of driver and event safety and we are very proud of our impeccable safety record.”

    In Abu Dhabi, the XDubai team of Arif Al Zaffain and Nadir Bin Hendi were crowned XCAT world champions as the 2015 season came to an end.

    XCAT racing is now looking forward to its 2016 calendar, with the introduction of the 4-stroke Mercury ROS engines from March next year.

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