Nigel Macknight is the initiator and leader of the Quicksilver World Water Speed Record Challenge project, and he will also take the controls of the craft for its trials, development runs and record attempts. Jon Severn discussed with him some of the management issues that arise when leading a project that breaks many of the rules normally applied in the field of engineering.
Conventional engineering projects have fixed budgets and teams of engineers to undertake the design and see it through prototyping, development and production. Some individuals are able to secure lucrative sponsorship for world record projects and, therefore, can follow a similar route. However, the Quicksilver World Water Speed Record Challenge, led by Nigel Macknight (Fig. 1), is more typical in that there is no set budget, just very limited financial resources. And rather than a team of full-time employed engineers, individuals give freely of their spare time, and companies donate expertise and other resources - referred to by Macknight as 'support in-kind'.
This situation introduces difficulties beyond the usual engineering problems; for example, progress can only be as fast as the limited resources allow, which restricts planning to little more than defining the critical path, and Macknight has had to manage the transition from one chief designer to another - which resulted in a major redesign. Furthermore, given the current state of the world economy, support in-kind is more difficult to source.
Nevertheless, Macknight remains appreciative of what Quicksilver has received, saying: "Without contributions of components, materials and services from companies, free of charge, as well as contributions of expertise from private individuals, we could not operate. We would need a Richard Branson budget - and I'm not Richard Branson! - nor do we have a wealthy benefactor hovering in the wings to pick up the bills. We are a small, independent team of volunteers reliant upon offers of design and engineering assistance, however small.
"The design and engineering support we have had thus far ranges from people undertaking CAD/CAE design work, to large firms such as BOC doing thousands of pounds' worth of TIG welding. In between those two extremes, small and medium."[Page Break]
Finding funding
Although the Quicksilver project benefits enormously from support in-kind, there are always things that need to be paid for. Even with overheads kept to an absolute minimum, Macknight describes the financial side of the project as a roller-coaster ride. "The fundamental problem is that there is no model that I have ever seen which creates profit-making circumstances for a speed-record team. The very large companies, with the very large promotional budgets, don't tend to opt for speed-record bids as platforms. There are so many variables in what we do, and so much uncertainty as to the ultimate outcome, that the big budgets tend to go, instead, to activities and sports more likely to deliver a predictable outcome and a positive result. Second place in a major tennis tournament or in the F1 World Championship - or even third place - is a decent outcome. But there is no second place, nor third place, in the speed-record world. You either win Gold, or you win nothing.
"What has been our saviour is the Quicksilver Corporate Club - our official supporters' club. This is a low-cost sponsorship package for small and medium-sized enterprises and self-employed people. It costs a one-off fee of £395 to join, and for that they get their name on the boat, a framed membership certificate, and free access for themselves and their guests at the special events we stage at regular intervals. We now have 350 members, and although the revenues we generate from that are tiny if applied in the real world, to us, in the world we inhabit with a small and very lean voluntary organisation, it is a significant input."
On the subject of finances, Macknight makes a clear distinction between the project - the roots of which extend back some 20 years - and the company that was formed in support of it: "The recession took its toll. With already limited revenues falling rapidly as a result of the financial squeeze, the original Quicksilver company could no longer maintain its overdraft facility with the bank and it ceased trading in 2008. The Quicksilver project itself went on regardless, because it had existed as a project in its own right long before the company ever came into being, just as it continued more-or-less uninterrupted after the company's demise. The company was a management company which handled certain tasks for the project - primarily the fund-raising aspects. It did not actually own anything to speak of, either physically or intellectually. It provided a service to the project, and when it could no longer provide that service, the project did without it and found other ways to get the same jobs done."[Page Break]
Design dilemmas
Because of the separation between the project and the company, the design work was virtually uninterrupted by the demise of the company. However, the team underwent major changes earlier in the new millennium. Ken Norris, Quicksilver's chief designer, had worked with Donald Campbell, co-designing his Bluebird record-breaking cars and boats, and had created a concept for a new configuration of boat to reclaim the World Water Speed Record. Norris then joined Macknight and developed his concept into Quicksilver's initial design. However, after 12 years of working together, Macknight parted company with Norris at the beginning of 2001.
The new team made some major changes, such as moving the craft's centre-of-gravity much further forward, which resulted in a fundamentally different configuration to maintain static and low-speed buoyancy and high-speed stability, though some of Norris's concept remains.
Collaborative working
Assembling and managing a team for this type of project can be difficult, with the individuals almost inevitably located in different parts of the country and using diverse tools for computer-aided design and engineering. Macknight says: "Of course, there is any number of ways a dispersed team of people can work together electronically these days. All of the design work we do is pooled together in one place, regardless of its point of origin. We have a master CAD file of the boat held on a secure site that can only be accessed by accredited individuals, and then we use Skype and emails as required. And then finally - there being no substitute for personal eye-to-eye contact from time to time."
Team members usually share design data via IGES and STEP files, with PTC's Windchill ProjectLink collaboration software making the process as seamless as possible. But while the design is still fluid, the ease with which it can be changed can tempt engineers to fine-tune their ideas continually in search of perfection. Having been through all the changes and undertaken the redesign of the boat, Macknight is eager to push ahead to a successful conclusion.
Much of the boat's hardware, including the hull frame, engine and fuel cell, are ready (Fig. 2), and a great deal of design work has been completed in preparation for further fabrication and assembly work (see panel for specifications). The aim is to get a 'Dash 1' specification boat ready and tested, ideally in the UK, at speeds of up to 200mph (322km/h), after which it will be upgraded to 'Dash 2' specification for high-speed trials and a record attempt (Fig. 3). Currently the record is held by Ken Warby and the Spirit of Australia, which achieved 317.60mph in 1978, whereas Quicksilver's theoretical maximum speed is 400mph. But when does Macknight think this will happen? "The actual date for the boat to go on the water in Dash 1 guise? Don't ask ... I don't know!"
