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Class One superboat Maritimo will be the team to watch in this Sunday’s inaugural Sydney Superboat Grand Prix.
Boldly marked with number 11, Maritimo is leading the Australian Offshore Superboat Championships, having won every race this season. What’s even more impressive – the 13.5-metre, 5-tonne, near 2000-horsepower catamaran is driven by a teenager!
Nineteen-year-old Tom Barry-Cotter and co-pilot Pal Virik Nilsen seem an unstoppable force as they consistently push the twin Lamborghini-engine vessel to its limits at speeds well in excess of 220km/h!
Despite his seemingly young age, Gold Coast-based Barry-Cotter made his Australian Class One offshore powerboat racing debut in 2006 and has since competed all over the word. The son of boat-building legend and seven-times Australian Offshore Powerboat Champion Bill Barry-Cotter, it appears as if Tom truly is a ‘chip off the old man’s block’!
Virik Nilsen hails from Norway and has travelled to Australia to race with Barry-Cotter this season following the pair’s success in the World Powerboat Championship, where they raced throughout Europe and the Middle East. A member of the Norwegian motorsport pro-team, Virik Nilsen’s racing history reveals over 140 races in both offshore and circuit categories.
Maritimo #11
Boat length: 13.5m
Boat width: 3.7m
Boat weight: 4860kg (no fuel)
Engines: Twin V12 Lamborghini 8200cc
Combined horsepower: 1880hp (940hp each side)
Fuel: 95 Octane (premium unleaded)
Normal max rpm: 8200rpm
Normal race speed: 217km/h (135mph) race rigged
Fastest recorded speed: 250km/h (155mph)
Driver: Tom Barry-Cotter (Australia)
Throttle: Pal Virik Nilsen (Norway)
Further information: Maritimo Offshore Race Team Manager, Ann-Marie Cook – 0419 700 918
(7 March 2008)
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