Water speed record

The current unlimited record is 511.11 km/h (317.59 mph; 275.98 kn), achieved by Australian Ken Warby in the Spirit of Australia on 8 October 1978.

Two official attempts to beat Ken Warby's 1978 record resulted in the pilot's death, with Lee Taylor in 1980 and Craig Arfons in 1989.

[2] In 1911, a 12 m (40 ft) stepped planing hull, Dixie IV, designed by Clinton Crane, became the first gasoline-powered vessel to break the water speed record.

[citation needed] In March 1911, the Maple Leaf III, which was powered by two twelve-cylinder motors producing 350 hp each, set a new water speed record of 57 mph (92 km/h) on The Solent.

[4] 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 114.0 km/h (70.86 mph) was set on Bras d'Or Lake at Baddeck, Nova Scotia.

In 1920, Garfield Wood set a new water speed record of 71.43 mph (114.96 km/h) on the Detroit River, using a new boat called Miss America.

[6] The next year, Gar Wood took the same boat up a waterway Indian Creek, Miami Beach and reached 149.86 km/h (93.12 mph).

Famed land speed racer and racing driver Sir Henry Segrave was hired to pilot a new boat, Miss England.

Miss England II was powered by two Rolls-Royce aircraft engines and seemed capable of beating Wood's record.

[9] On 13 June 1930, Segrave piloted Miss England II to a new record of 158.94 km/h (98.8 mph) average speed during two runs on Windermere, in Britain's Lake District.

In response to the continued American challenge, the British team built a new boat, Miss England III.

[clarification needed] Determined to have the last word over his great rival, Gar Wood built another new Miss America.

Unlike conventional powerboats, which have a single keel, with an indent, or 'step', cut from the bottom to reduce drag, a hydroplane has a concave base with two sponsons fitted to the front and a third point at the rear of the hull.

If the hydroplane's angle of attack is upset at speed, the craft can somersault into the air or nose-dive into the water.

However, Blue Bird K4 was then 12 years old, with a 20-year-old engine, and Campbell struggled to reach the speeds of the Seattle-built boat.

On 29 September 1952, Cobb tried to beat the world record on Loch Ness but, while travelling at an estimated 338 km/h (210 mph), Crusader's front plane collapsed and the craft instantly disintegrated.

Travelling across Lake Iseo, in Northern Italy, at close to 306 km/h (190 mph), Verga lost control of Laura III and was thrown out into the water when the boat somersaulted.

Learning the many lessons from Cobb's ill-starred Crusader, K7 was designed as a classic 3-pointer with sponsons forward alongside the cockpit.

Campbell and K7 went on to break the record a further six times over the next nine years in the US and England (Coniston Water), finally increasing it to 444.71 km/h (276.33 mph) at Lake Dumbleyung in Western Australia in 1964.

Donald Campbell's Bluebird K7 had been re-engined with a Bristol Siddeley Orpheus jet rated at 4,500 lbf (20 kN) of thrust.

Lee Taylor, a Californian boat racer in Hustler during a test run on Lake Havasu on 14 April 1964, was unable to shut down the jet and crashed into the lakeside at over 161 km/h (100 mph).

Still, the wake of some spectators' boats disturbed the water, forcing Taylor to slow down his second run, and he came up 3.2 km/h (2 mph) short.

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 (288.6 mph; 250.8 kn)[14] to beat Lee Taylor's record.

Warby, who had built the craft in his backyard, used the publicity to find sponsorship to pay for improvements to the Spirit.

Inspired by the land speed record cars Blue Flame and Budweiser Rocket, he built a rocket-powered boat, Discovery II.

The 40-foot (12 m) long craft was a reverse three-point design, similar to John Cobb's Crusader, but of much greater length.

Its unstable lateral oscillations caused the left sponson to collapse, sending the boat plunging into the water.

[21] Ken Warby, now working with his son David, began build on a new boat powered by a jet engine from a Fiat G.91 to break the record.