Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) was launched on June 10th 2014 in the presence of Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge. The team was conceived by four times Olympic gold medalist and 34th America’s Cup winner, Sir Ben Ainslie, with the long-term aim of challenging for Britain and bringing the America’s Cup back home to where it all began in 1851. Ben has developed and will lead a British entry capable of winning the prestigious trophy, something Britain has so far never managed to achieve.
Land Rover BAR is a commercial sporting team, with a number of individual private investors alongside corporate partners. The team is made up of some of the best British and international sailors, designers, builders and racing support.
Sports teams represent key role models in society. This privileged position is not taken for granted at Land Rover BAR. The team believe our influence should extend far beyond the race course, and have put sustainability at the heart of operations since launching the team with Exclusive Sustainability Partner 11th Hour Racing in 2014.
The team have built a new headquarters in the centre of Portsmouth, the 74,000 sq ft. building houses all the team’s activities, and will welcome the public into its Tech Deck education centre.
The 1851 Trust is the team’s official charity, and HRH The Duchess of Cambridge is its Royal Patron.
Portsmouth hosted two Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series events, one in each of July 2015 and 2016. Almost four hundred thousand spectators enjoyed the action in Land Rover Bar’s home port, cheering the home team to back-to-back victories.
It has been an extraordinary season, with consistency the key. In nine events, the team has only been off the podium twice, recording four event wins (Portsmouth x 2, Oman and Fukuoka), bolstered by a second (Chicago) and two third places (Gothenburg and Toulon). The World Series win means that the team will take two vital bonus points into the next round of the competition, the America’s Cup Qualifiers, starting 26th May 2017 in Bermuda.
