Water speed record
The World Unlimited water speed record is the officially recognised fastest speed achieved by a water-borne vehicle. The current record is, achieved by Australian Ken Warby in the Spirit of Australia in 1978.
The record is one of the sporting world's most hazardous competitions. Two official attempts to beat the 1978 record resulted in the death of the driver; despite this, there are several teams working to make further attempts.
The record is ratified by the Union Internationale Motonautique.
Before 1910
Until 1911 the world water speed records were held by steam-powered, propeller-driven vehicles.- 1885, Nathanael Herreshoff's Stiletto:
- 1893, William B. Cogswell's Feiseen:
- 1897, Charles Algernon Parsons' Turbinia:
- 1903, Charles R. Flint's Arrow:
1910s
In March 1911, the Maple Leaf III, which is powered by two twelve-cylinder motors producing 350hp each, set a new water speed record of at The Solent.
Beginning in 1908 Alexander Graham Bell and engineer Frederick W. "Casey" Baldwin began experimenting with powered watercraft. In 1919, with Baldwin piloting their HD-4 hydrofoil, a new world water speed record of was set on Bras d'Or Lake at Baddeck, Nova Scotia.
1920s
In 1920, Garfield Wood set a new water speed record of on the Detroit River, using a new boat called Miss America. In the following twelve years, Wood built nine more Miss Americas and broke the record five times. Increased public interest generated by the speeds achieved by Wood and others led to an official speed record being ratified in 1928. The first person to try a record attempt was Wood's brother, George. On 4 September 1928, he drove Miss America VII to on the Detroit River. The next year, Gar Wood took the same boat up a waterway Indian Creek, Miami Beach and reached.1930s
Like the land speed record, the water record was destined to become a scrap for national honour between Britain and the USA. American success in setting records spurred Castrol Oil chairman Lord Wakefield to sponsor a project to bring the water record to Britain. Famed land speed racer and racing driver Sir Henry Segrave was hired to pilot a new boat, Miss England. Although the boat wasn't capable of beating Wood's Miss America, the British team did gain experience, which was put into an improved boat. Miss England II was powered by two Rolls-Royce aircraft engines and seemed capable of beating Wood's record.On 13 June 1930 Segrave piloted Miss England II to a new record of average speed during two runs on Windermere, in Britain's Lake District. Having set the record, Segrave set off on a third run to try to improve the record further. Unfortunately during the run, the boat flipped, with both Segrave and his co-driver receiving fatal injuries.
Following Segrave's death, Miss England II was salvaged and repaired. Kaye Don was chosen as the new driver for 1931. However, during this time, Gar Wood recaptured the record for the U.S. at. A month later on Lake Garda, Don got the record back with. In February, 1932 Wood responded, nudging the mark to.
In response to the continued American challenge, the British team built a new boat, Miss England III. The design was an evolution of the predecessor, with a squared-off stern and twin propellers being the main improvements. Don took the new boat to Loch Lomond, Scotland, on 18 July 1932, improved the record first to, then to on a second run.
Determined to have the last word over his great rival, Gar Wood built another new Miss America. Miss America X was 12 metres long, powered by four supercharged Packard aeroplane engines. On 20 September 1932 Wood broke the 200 km/h barrier, driving his new boat to. It would prove the end of an era. Don declined to attempt any further records, and Miss England III went to the National Maritime Museum in London, where it remains on display. Wood also opted to scale down his involvement in racing and returned to running his businesses. Somewhat ironically, both record-breakers lived into their 90s. Wood died in 1971, Don in 1985.
Boat design changes
Wood's last record would be one of the final records for a conventional, single-keel boat. In June 1937 Malcolm Campbell, the world-famous land speed record breaker, drove Blue Bird K3 to a new record of at Lake Maggiore. Compared to the massive Miss America X, K3 was a much more compact craft. It was 5 metres shorter and had one engine to X's four.Despite his success, Campbell was unsatisfied by the relatively small increase in speed. He commissioned a new Blue Bird to be built. Blue Bird K4 was a ‘three pointer’ hydroplane. Unlike conventional powerboats, which have a single keel, with an indent, or ‘step’, cut from the bottom to reduce drag, a hydroplane has a base with two sponsons fitted to the front, and a third point at the rear of the hull. When the boat increases in speed, most of the hull lifts out of the water and runs on the three contact points. The positive effect is a reduction in drag; the downside is that the three-pointer is much less stable than the single keel boat. If the hydroplane's angle of attack is upset at speed, the craft can somersault into the air, or nose-dive into the water.
Campbell's new boat was a success. In 1939, on the eve of the Second World War, he took it to Coniston Water and increased his record by, to.
1940s
The return of peace in 1945 brought with it a new form of power for the record breaker – the jet engine. Campbell immediately renovated Blue Bird K4 with a De Havilland Goblin jet engine. The result was a curious-looking craft, whose shoe-like profile led to it being nicknamed ‘The Coniston Slipper’. The experiment with jet-power was not a success and Campbell retired from record-attempts. He died in 1948.1950s
On 26 June 1950, Slo-Mo-Shun IV improved on Campbell's record by. Powered by an Allison V-1710 aircraft engine, the boat was built by Seattle Chrysler dealer Stanley Sayres and was able to run because her hull was designed to lift the top of the propeller out of water when running at high speed. This phenomenon, called ‘prop riding’, further reduced drag.In 1952, Sayres drove Slo-Mo-Shun to, a increase on his previous record.
The renewed American success persuaded Malcolm Campbell's son, Donald, who had already driven Blue Bird K4 to within sight of his father's record, to make a further push for the record. However, Blue Bird K4 was by now 12 years old, with a 20-year-old engine, and Campbell struggled to reach the speeds of the Seattle-built boat. In late 1951, it was written off after suffering a structural failure at on Coniston Water.
At this time, yet another land speed driver entered the fray. Englishman John Cobb, was hoping to reach in his jet-powered Crusader. A radical design, the Crusader reversed the ‘three-pointer’ design, placing the sponsons at the rear of the hull. On 29 September 1952 Cobb tried to beat the world record on Loch Ness but, while travelling at an estimated, Crusader's front plane collapsed and the craft instantly disintegrated. Cobb was retrieved from the water but had already died of shock.
Two years later, on 8 October 1954, another man would die trying for the record. Italian textile magnates Mario Verga and Francesco Vitetta, responding to a prize offer of 5 million lire from the Italian Motorboat Federation to any Italian who broke the world record, built a sleek piston-engined hydroplane to claim the record. Named Laura III, after Verga's daughter, the boat was fast but unstable. Travelling across Lake Iseo, in Northern Italy, at close to, Verga lost control of Laura III, and was thrown out into the water when the boat somersaulted. Like Cobb, he died of shock.
Following Cobb's death, Donald Campbell started working on a new Bluebird, K7, a jet-powered hydroplane. Learning the many lessons from Cobb's ill-starred Crusader, K7 was designed as a classic 3 pointer with sponsons forward alongside the cockpit. She was designed by Ken and Lewis Norris in 1953-54 and was completed in early 1955. She was powered by a Metropolitan-Vickers Beryl turbojet of thrust. K7 was of all-metal construction and proved to have extremely high rigidity.
Campbell and K7 set a new record of on Ullswater in July 1955. Campbell and K7 went on to break the record a further six times over the next nine years in the US and England, finally increasing it to at Lake Dumbleyung in Western Australia in 1964. Campbell thus became the most prolific water speed record breaker of all time.
At the time Campbell set the absolute record, the piston-powered propeller-driven record was held by the George Simons' Miss U.S. I at. This record was set at Guntersville, Alabama in 1962 by Roy Duby and stood for 38 years.
1967
Donald Campbell's Bluebird K7 had been re-engined with a Bristol Siddeley Orpheus jet rated at of thrust. On 4 January 1967 he tried again. His first run averaged and a new record seemed in sight. Campbell applied K7's water brake to slow the craft down from her peak speed of clear of the measured kilometre to a speed around. Rather than waiting for the lake to settle again before starting the mandatory return leg, Campbell immediately turned around at the end of the lake and began his return run. At around, just as she entered the measured kilometre, Bluebird began to lose stability and 400 m before the end of the kilometre, Bluebird's nose lifted beyond its critical pitch angle and she started to rise out of the water at a 45 degree angle. The boat took off, somersaulted and then plunged nose-first into the lake, breaking up as she cartwheeled across the surface. Campbell was killed instantly. Prolonged searches over the next two weeks located the wreck, but it was not until May 2001 that Campbell's body was finally located and recovered. Campbell was buried in the churchyard at Coniston on 12 September 2001.Lee Taylor, a Californian boat racer, in Hustler during a test run on Lake Havasu, was unable to shut down the jet and crashed into the lakeside at over. Hustler was wrecked and Taylor was severely injured. He spent the following years recuperating, and rebuilding his boat. On 30 June 1967, on Lake Guntersville, Taylor and Hustler tried for the record, but the wake of some spectators' boats disturbed the water, forcing Taylor to slow down his second run, and he came up short. He tried again later the same day and succeeded in setting a new record of.
1977
Until 20 November 1977 every official water speed record had been set by an American, Canadian, Irishman, or Briton. That day Ken Warby became the first Australian holder when he piloted his Spirit of Australia to 464.46 km/h to beat Lee Taylor's record. Warby, who had built the craft in his back yard, used the publicity to find sponsorship to pay for improvements to the Spirit. On 8 October 1978 Warby travelled to Blowering Dam, Australia, and broke both the 480 km/h and 500 km/h barriers with an average speed of 511.11 km/h. As he exited the course his peak speed as measured on a radar gun was approximately 552 km/h.Warby's record still stands as of 2019. There have only been two official attempts to break it, both resulting in the death of the driver.
1980s
Lee Taylor tried to get the record back in 1980. Inspired by the land speed record cars Blue Flame and Budweiser Rocket, Taylor built a rocket-powered boat, Discovery II. The long craft was a reverse three-point design, similar to John Cobb's Crusader, albeit of much greater length.Originally Taylor tested the boat on Walker Lake in Nevada but his backers demanded a more accessible location, so Taylor switched to Lake Tahoe. An attempt was set for 13 November 1980, but when conditions on the lake proved unfavourable, Taylor decided against trying for the record. Not wanting to disappoint the assembled spectators and media, he decided to do a test run instead. At 432 km/h Discovery II started to become unstable. It has been speculated that it may have hit a swell. Whatever the cause, the boat's unstable lateral oscillations caused the left sponson to collapse, sending the boat plunging into the water. The cockpit section with Taylor's body was recovered three days later. The cockpit had not floated as intended and Taylor drowned as a result.
On 9 July 1989 Craig Arfons, son of Walt Arfons, builder of the world's first jet car, and nephew of famed record breaker Art Arfons, tried for the record in his all-composite fiberglass/Kevlar Rain X Challenger, but died when at 7:07am, less than 15 seconds into his run, the hydroplane somersaulted at more than. The cockpit remainded intact underwater with Arfons remaining inside upside down. Two divers from a rescue team reached Arfons, who was still inside the wreckage and extracted him within three minutes of the initial incident. While Arfons still had a pulse after CPR was administered he did not respond to the medical personnel. He was taken to the Highlands Regional Medical Center but was pronounced dead at 8:30am, 1 hour and 23 minutes after the initial incident.
Current projects
Despite the high fatality rate, the record is still coveted by boat enthusiasts and racers. While a number of projects aiming for the record have been started, currently just those below appear to be active:''Quicksilver''
The British Quicksilver project is managed by Nigel Macknight.The design was initially based on concepts for a rear-sponsoned configuration by Ken Norris, who had worked with the Campbells on their 'Bluebird' designs. The design is of modular construction with the main body consisting of a front section with a steel spaceframe incorporating the engine, a Rolls-Royce Spey Mk.101, and the rear section a monocoque extending to the tail. The front sponsons are also modules, one of which contains the driver.
''Spirit of Australia II''
Ken Warby is working with his son David on a new boat, powered by a jet engine taken from a Fiat G.91, to break the record. The team currently conducting a series of trials had, as of 31 August 2019, increased the speed to 407 km/h. Earlier in 2003, Ken Warby had built another boat, Aussie Spirit for a record attempt.K777 Team for Great Britain
The K777 Team is a combination of engineers, boat racers, boat builders, gas turbine specialists and Members of Windermere Boat Racing Club. They built a controversial visual copy of Donald Campbell's Bluebird K7, though during its sole public appearance on Coniston Water in 2011 it failed to plane, partially sank, and ultimately collapsed its air intake trunking. A test on Loch Ken, in south-west Scotland, in October 2014 was also unsuccessful; although the boat did not sink, it was again unable to plane.Dartagnan SP600
Daniel Dehaemers was the Belgian challenger for the absolute water speed record. The SP600 is of full carbon composite construction and is powered by a Rolls-Royce Adour 104 turbojet engine. The boat was planned to be tested during 2016. However, after finishing building the boat he died of cancer in 2018 before he managed to trial the craft.Alençon jos restarted the project in 2019 and is now finishing the project. expected enginetest mid. 2020.