READY FOR RACE.

Auckland Star, 2 September 1933, Page 9

READY FOR RACE.

MOTOR SPEED BOATS. British and U.S. Contestants for Harmsworth Trophy. NOTHING LEFT TO CHANCE. <United P.A.—Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Received 10 a.m.) ALGONAC (Mich.), September 1. Mr. Gar Wood, holder of the Harmsworth Trophy, the world speed boat laurel, is not taking Mr. ScottPaine's challenge lightly. "He may have something," Mr. Wood said. "You know the late Sir Henry Segrave's boat was small and light, but certainly gave a good account of itself." Mr. Wood has practically rebuilt his boat Miss America X., adding 100 horsepower to each of the four motors. He has also greatly strengthened the sides, adding laminated wood. There is no back seat for the driver. Mrs. Brenda Scott-Paine will leave the race strictly to the men folk, notwithstanding the two speed boat trophies she owns in her own right. "Of course I'm going to cheer for 'Fuzzy,' but I am not going to advise him or take the credit or discredit of his winning or losing," she said. Kipling's Fuzzy Wuzzy, she explained, is the name she calls her husband, but she does not explain the comparison between this large, grinning Englishman and the savage, little, black warrior. Mechanics to-day finished the work on the challenger and' challenged, with Mr. Wood and Mr. Scott-Paine declaring that the boats were in first-class shape awaiting Saturday's gun. Horace E. Dodge, the noted builder and present holder of the Gold Cup, has announced that if his Delphine can make 95 miles an hour in the trial to-day he will enter as a third competitor. "Mr. Wood has much the fastest boat so far known," he said, "but whether v Miss America X. can swing round the sharp turns without losing a great deal of speed, or whether Mr. Scott-Paine can turn his little craft as he claims, is a question that has not yet been answered. A 95-mile-an-hour boat that could run turns at 75 or 80 miles has an equal chance, experts feel, with a 125-mile-an-hour boat which must slow to a comparative crawl."