Commemoration by design
Designers often find inspiration in the strangest of places – but the Volvo Ocean Race, one of the world’s toughest sailing competitions, makes perfect sense. Ahead of the race’s kick off, Volvo Trucks is introducing the Volvo FH and FH16 in a specially designed version inspired by the event.
“These are exclusive trucks with a high ‘wow’ factor for hauliers who take particular pride in their vehicles and who want to identify with the excitement and competitive edge of the Volvo Ocean Race,” says Nigel Atterbury, designer at Volvo Trucks.
The special edition FH and FH16, available in all cab variants, features what Volvo calls “The Splash” – special Volvo Ocean Race graphics – on the cab sides, as well as a Volvo Ocean Race Globetrotter sign, Volvo Ocean Race emblems outside and inside and specially designed floor mats. There are also two specially selected cab colours to choose from – the dramatically named deep blue Dark Knight Pearl, and a white Millennium Silver Metallic.
As for the inspiration for this special edition truck, the Volvo Ocean Race gets underway on October 4, 2014, in Alicante (Spain) and ends on June 27, 2015, in Gothenburg (Sweden).
There are port stopovers in Cape Town (South Africa), Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), Sanya (China), Auckland (New Zealand), Itajaí (Brazil), Newport (the United States), Lisbon (Portugal), Lorient (France) and The Hague (Netherlands).
The competitors will cover a total distance of 38 729 nautical miles – around 71 725 km.