MOTOR BOAT RACES

Evening Star, Issue 17542, 23 December 1920, Page 5

MOTOR BOAT RACES

INTERNATIONAL CONTEST. AMERICAN BOATS FIRST AND ,■ SECOND. Unusually fine weather and a moderately calm sea were factors which made the final day’s racing for the British International Trophy an event of interest, and a large number of craft were to be seen in Osborne Bay on the occasion. While it is a matter for regret that we failed, to retain the Cup, the American boats wens unquestionably superior under the prevailing conditions as regards speed, and it was acknowledged in all quarters that they thoroughly deserved to win; in any case, it may reasonably be expected that the capture of the trophy by America will have the effect of stimulating progress in this country, especially in the hull design of racing craft, a point on which turns a good deal of the probability of success. Mr Coatalen’s Despujols boat, although outclassed as regards .speed, showed up to advantage hy taking the water in clean style and leaving little wash, and her engines were noticeably quiet, provoking favorable comment from many watching the progress of events from the committee boat. Both the' Maple Leaf boats showed signs of undue pitching, especially in the case of Maple. Leaf VI., and it was obvious that this craft lost speed accordingly. . iShe worked up a regular series ot periodic “ jumps,” thus indicating that some modification is called for as regards her hull formation and stepping. The wonders expected of Maple Leaf V., with her 1,800 h.p. engines, did not mature, and although she is over double the horsepower of the Anerican boats, she failed to make good. THE START OF A MOMENTOUS - RACE. Unless we set to . work very seriously upon improvements in design, the trophy will be hard to wrest from its captors, and "before the start of the second, and the last, race many of those who were witnessing events from a technical more than a spectacular standpoint were possessed of gloomy forebodings that the writing was already on the wall! Despujols IV. exercised great caution at the start, and apparently worked on the theory that “ fools rush in where angels fear to tread”; the consequence being that Mr Coatalen’s boat was piloted, over the starting line 19sec after the gun, taking up the position she maintained throughout the race—last, to wit. Maple Leaf VI. got away promptly, and crossed the starting line just ahead of Miss Detroit V., 7sec after the gun, while Miss America followed 2sec later. An interval of 4sec elapsed before Maple Leaf V. started on the lap, but she overtook her sister craft, and secured third place before completing the round. Miss America, steered by Mr Gar. Wood, made the record for the day in the first lap, her speed being 56.31 seamiles per hour. The following table shows the times and speeds of the five competing boats, and refers to the first round only : Time on Speed in Lap. Sea-miles min. sac. per hour. Miss America* ... 7 ? 56.31 Miss Detroit V.* ... 7 27 55.29 Maple Leaf V.t ... 7 43 51.44 Maple Leaf VI. + 8 28 46.89 Despujols IV.t ... 8 50 44.94 Distance, 6.517 sea-miles per lap. ‘American. tßritish. A REMARKABLE EXHIBITION OF CONSISTENT RUNNING. Excepting for a few minutes at the start, when the boats were settling down to their stride, the relative order as regards position was unaltered throughout the race, and the conclusion of each round saw Miss America leading, Miss Detroit V. second, and Maple Leaf V. third, while Maple Leaf VI. and Despujols IV. maintained the positions of fourth and fifth respectively. The last-named craft improved her time on each lap, running the last round in 7min 58sec, and actually making better time on this lap than Maple Leaf VI. However, she was unable to overtake her, finishing exactly' 6sec behind the fourth boat. The lowest-powered competitor in the race, she put up an excellent performance, and. we hope, will prove a forerunner of speedier and higherpowered craft of the same type. The third lap was perhaps of special interest, as Miss America’s time had increased to 7min 24see for the round, while Miss Detroit V. and Maple Leaf V. both made the distance in 7min 32sco; similarly, Maple Leaf VI. and Despujols IV. . completed the lap in Bmin Bsec. Again, in the fourth round, the second and third boats occupied tho same time over the distance, thus making it fairly clear that there was little to ’choose between the larger of tiie two, American craft and the Sunbeam-engined Saunders boat. The former appeared to he misfiring slightly, and this peculiarity was noted on several occasions. AVERAGE SPEED 55.42 KNOTS. Tlie final lap was devoid of excitement, for the simple reason that not only the winner, but the order of finishing of each boat was, almost, if not entirely, a foregone conclusion. . The appended table shows tho total time occupied over tho complete course by each boat, together with the fifth, and final, lap times - Time on sth Lap. Total time, min. sec. min. sec. Miss America ... 7' 22 37 g Miss Detroit V. ... 7 35 37 43 Maple Leaf V. ... 7 53 37 59 Maple Leaf VI. ... 8 5 40 59 Despujols IV. ... 7 58 41 5 The average speed of the winning boat, Miss America, works out at 55.42 seamiles per hour, but it appears probable that the craft can exceed this figure without difficulty. It would appear that Miss America had a good deal in hand, for the engines were running at . about 1,400 r.p.m. the whole time, whereas the designed speed is no kss than 2,000 r.p.m., so that the claim of the owner that the boat would do something in the neighborhood of 80 miles per hour does not seem altogether outrageous. It is particularly significant to note that this boat -was able to round tho mark buoys with the engines rummy at 1,375 r.p.m., whereas in Maple Leaf V. it was necessary to. throttle down to in the neighborhood of 4CO-SGO r.p.m. Needless to say, a considerable loss occurred in the larger boat on account of this. Three of the cylinders of one of the engines of Miss America were missing practically during the whole of the secoim race, which was no doubt due to the sooting up of plugs, since heavy taxi-bus spirit was used. Possibly, had it been necessary for Miss America to have Iren opened up to the full, more plugs wou'd have become sooted up, and the result would not have been much better. Some special fuel was sent over from America but it arrived only the day before the race, and the owner would, not take tho risk of using it.—From the ‘Motor Boat ’ London. '