Speedboat Racing A. Johnson And J. King Set New Records

Press, Volume CI, Issue 30007, 17 December 1962, Page 20

Speedboat Racing A. Johnson And J. King Set New Records

Two New Zealand records were broken, two new records established; a record-holder was unable to get his boat across the starting line, and a driver was catapulted from his outboard when the New Brighton Power Boat Club held kilimetre time trials on the Estuary on Saturday. J. Keig. of Ashburton, in Moonshot, won the New Zealand B class outboard hydro title at 66.974 miles an hour A. B. Johnson, in Atom XI. set a New Zealand 75 cu in. V-bottom record at 54.827 miles an hour. J. Peverill, in Grey Angel, established a New Zealand record of 37,28 miles an hour in the new 75 cu. in. sidevalve, V-bottom class In the new, 75 cu in., side-valve, hydro class, B. M. Andrews, in Rockett, set a South Island record of 48.84 miles an hour The weather was excellent. Gusts of the nor-easterly breeze only ruffled the water The tide was full and the course was strewn with seaweed and debris after the southerly squall on Friday, which made the speed runs hazardous G. White, in Vulcan, an outboard hydro, had the misfortune to set a new kind of record —tipping out at the slowest speed. White was cruising up towards the Pleasant Point bridge near the west bank, in preparation for a speed run. at 15 to 20 miles an hour Suddenly, Vulcan stopped White went on ahead, without his boat, for about 30ft He regained Vulcan and when he and his boat were towed to the jetty it was discovered that a 2ft piece of wood had jammed in his propeller Keig had excellent runs, south and north, over the course, in Moonshot, with his B class Konig motor. He raised the record, held by R. Prattley, in Downbeat, from 65.793 miles an hour to 66.974 miles an hour. In a later run, with a C class motor, Keig had a poor run south but was doing more than 70 miles an hour on the return journey. His average speed was 65.793 miles an hour. Keig now holds the New

Zealand B class and C class <70.01 miles an hour) records for outboard hydros in Moonshot, and the Australian and New Zealand record for the B class outboard V-bottom class in Ting-a-Ling. at 57.5 miles an hour. Prattley, whose B class record Keig broke, was one of the first to congratulate Keig. Both drivers come from Ashburton. Prattley has had one of the most unlucky years a speedboot driver could experience. On Saturday his Konig motor was not burning the alcohol fuel properly and the spark plugs oiled four times. In one burst of 200 yards he was doing more than 70 miles an hour but the plugs again oiled up and Downbeat slowed to a halt. Johnson, in Atom XI, had trouble with the head gasket of his motor but raised the record set by R. Calvert in Susie Too from 54.16 miles an hour to 54.827 miles an hour. Record speeds have to be raised by 1 per cent, in order to be recognised, and Johnson achieved this by the barest possible margin. The V-bottom boat bucked and twisted in one area of tidal rips on the course. Ting-a-Ling. a V-bottom outboard, driven by J. Keig junior, also bucked and twisted alarmingly over the same patch, but the hydroplanes handled the patch smoothly. Andrews and Peverill established record speeds in the new side-valve 75 cubic inch classes. It is probable that both these recors will be raised later this season.