The New Formula 360 CBR - Is A New Star Born?
Formula CEO, and Porter family ringleader, Scott Porter, told us that he didn’t really want a veteran boat designer to replace retiring John Adams. “We ran some ads, and got response, but we really didn’t want a boat designer,” Porter told us.
When John was hired in 1971, he had no boat designing experience, something everyone had forgotten except the Porters. Adams had served the brand very well for 50 years; now, Formula needed a new visionary.
Scott and his siblings, most of whom work in top management at the company, wanted someone who could bring new ideas to Formula, someone who was not steeped traditional boat design, someone who could see out of the box -- and think carefully about going there, just as John Adams had done for 50 years.
Change Can Be Good or Bad
“We believe in change,” said Scott Porter, “but evolutionary change, not revolutionary change. I’ve seen too many boat companies fail by going too radical.” He might have added that he’s also seen a number of boat companies go six feet under because their designs got stale, and out of touch with where the market was going.
Yesterday, we reviewed some of his predecessor’s achievements, and in the process, it became clear that Formula’s new designer has some mighty big shoes to fill. (See Passing the Torch at Formula.)
It was also clear that to be successful at Formula, the company’s chief designer must both lead --and be careful not to get too far in front of his constituency.
Who is Michael and Where Does He Come From?
Like John Adams, Michael Young is a Midwesterner who graduated from a local design college, both in Ohio. And, like John, Michael is soft-spoken, and self-deprecating, something that plays well with most anyone. Both seem to let their work do the talking.
Scott Porter told us that he thinks Michael Young, a family man with two kids, is a good cultural fit with his family, which sealed the deal.
Le Mans to the Baha 1000
Perhaps 35-year-old Michael Young is best known for his design and styling work for Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus, a custom car builder specializing in exotic sports cars and off the road vehicles. He was the head designer and stylist there, and designed automobiles for the 24-Hour of Le Mans and the Nurburgring Classic.
Michael told us, “It has been over 50 years since a car made in America has won 1st Overall at Le Mans, so when we a got 3rd in 2022, we felt pretty good about it.”
We might think of Young’s styling as “futurist” as all of his product designs -- from race cars to jet drones to modern vacuum sweepers – have soft flowing lines like a Brancusi sculpture.
It wasn’t long ago that he was working on five car projects with Jim Glickenhaus, in tandem with Podium and Armada Engineering to design a fully hydrogen-powered race Boot to compete in the Baja 1000. Jim, a car collector, has preserved Steve McQueen’s Boot in his garage, and showed it to Young to give him some inspiration for his own Boot design.
Referring to Steve McQueen, Michael said, “I wish I was that cool! As far as my process relative to other designers, I work pretty heavily in 3D CAD and usually start with realistic proportions, drivetrain, and passenger packaging on it.”
“I use Rhino which can create top-notch final surfacing but also allows for rough free form adjustments during conceptualization. I typically go back and forth between 3D and sketches, and Rhino is so fast that I can quickly iterate and try ideas roughly in three dimensions, similar to how a clay modeler would work.”
Young: “I've been training with John Adams, the creative mind that has built Formula boats to what it is now. He and I first worked closely together on his vision for the 387 center console, then he looked over my shoulder as I designed the 457, its big sister.
“With the all new 360, he took a fully hands-off approach while still being accessible for any guidance and answers to any questions I had for him. This has been really my first opportunity to begin to carve out and define what is going to be the look of Formula's sportline moving forward.”
“I'm very excited about bringing what I have learned about form and shape in race car design, to the world of boats and blend them together.”
Young’s Design Philosophy: “When designing the exterior of a performance car, it is all about using form to suggest the function and power of the car within, all while creating a dynamic forward moving feel. If it’s a bull, it should be leaning forward ready to charge. If it’s a fish, it should look like it’s going to leap out of the water,” Young said.
“We use terms like "gesture" to suggest the movement of the form -- where the visual weight of the design is leading, and how all lines work together under that vision.”
The New 360 Crossover Bow Rider by Michael Young
The all-new Formula 360 CBR, first announced June 5th, replaces the 350 which was one of Formula’s most popular boats the last 10 years – and it’s all Michael Young’s design.
Young: “A lot of thought went into what the character of the Formula sportboat line should be moving forward. We have a strong heritage in performance speed boating.”
Porter: “Our FASTech line and race boats enabled us to develop a trademark hull shape and high-performance qualities that we now carry with us and bring into all of our boats. Simply put, we make boats that are fun to drive, no tall cabin cruisers plowing the water here.”
Young: "I really wanted to carry Formula’s character and heritage through into this boat, but bring some ingenuity to the amenities in the deck and cabin. Many layers of prototypes and mockups were used to refine, and refine again our cabin and deck as I worked with Formula’s entire team to clarify the final vision.”
Industrial Design on the Water
There is a lot more to designing a Formula boat than drawing some sleek lines on CAD software. And, it is the awareness of that which has always set the brand apart from many other builders in class. In our discussions with Michael, he outlined with broad strokes the processes and considerations--
First, consumer needs, expectations and emotional connections for the boat must be carefully dissected with an eye to practicality, technical requirements, commercial viability and production capabilities, he told us. A design trend analysis must be made, and styling options must be decided upon. Doing it right, is not easy, nor is it inexpensive.
Second, creating good product experiences requires understanding users at all levels of interaction with the product, and developing the boat with those users in mind. This is accomplished by engaging users, mapping experiences, and recognizing positive interactions and pain points.
Michael Young explained to us that he drew on the experience of the whole Formula team when conceiving the new 360 Super Sport Crossover. “The Formula team has a long institutional memory, and as I sat with the Porters discussing the 360, I realized that there was a lot of wisdom in the room,” he said.
Third, the design concept must be translated into tool-ready data that specifies wall thickness, attachment details, mating components and tolerances for mold release, among other things. This is where the sophisticated software Michael uses, saves hundreds of hours of tedious work.
Simultaneously, parts must be tested in prototype to discover failure points, design optimization, and longevity quality. Formula makes full scale mock-ups of every boat they design to make sure what looks good on the CAD screen, is ergonomically-correct in practice.
Porter: “When designing a boat the size of the new 360, there are too many design details for one person to create in a reasonable period of time. We have a whole design and engineering team at Formula that works with Michael, executing many of the details.
“Once the design is complete, we send it to a naval architect that we have used for many years, to make sure that the weights are distributed in such a way to maximize efficiency, and the bottom will perform as we intend.”
Once all of this is done, tooling is made, material sourcing is started, and equipment, parts and supplies are ordered.
If you’ve ever wondered why Formulas are so expensive, now you know why. It’s not simply a matter of adding a few feet to the transom – as some builders sometimes do – and calling it a day.
The New 360 Helm
Young: “At the helm dash, I am excited that the new 360 harkens back to the sporty feel that existed at the previous FASTech helms.
“If you picture the helm of a two-seat, go-fast boat slicing through the water, both occupants can take part in the excitement of the boat’s operation. The large sweeping touch screen monitors and controls extend all the way across the helm area, so companions can be part of the action.”
“The whole team at Formula has done an incredible job crafting this boat, engineering the performance stepped hull, the fully composite grid structure within, and the many quality elements and accents across the boat. I can't wait for it to be experienced on the water,” Young told us.
Michael is the exclusive designer for Formula, much like the gentleman’s agreement the Porters had for over 50 years with John Adams. Michael told us, “Formula has been gracious enough to plan a little time for me to work on car projects every year. I have a race car in the works for another company right now, but it’s a small amount of time and just enough to scratch the itch.”
“There are many similarities between the two types of vehicles, he said. “I kind of think of boats as upside down race cars, if you think about how hydrodynamics work.”
In the photographs we've seen of the new 360 CBR, at first sight she looks like what we’ve seen before from John Adam’s drawing board. But, if you look more closely, Michael’s touch can be seen: a crease here, a cut-out there, a bit more rake to the windshield. We can't wait to get abord and test her, then go over every detail.
But we already know the most radical thing about the boat can't be seen in the running pictures.
Stay-tuned tomorrow, for a closer look at Formula’s new 360 CBR -- and it's surprise below.