Spirit of Australia (World’s Fastest Powerboat) 1974

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Arturo
Posts: 723
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2012 8:11 pm

Spirit of Australia (World’s Fastest Powerboat) 1974

Post by Arturo » Wed Mar 25, 2015 9:13 pm

Spirit of Australia is a wooden speedboat built in a Sydney backyard, by Ken Warby, that broke and set the world water speed record on 8 October 1978.

Ken Warby designed, built and drove Spirit of Australia to a phenomenal 511 km/h in the 1970s...and his world record stil stands today. Built in a Sydney backyard in the 1970s the world's fastest boat Spirit of Australia is now a permanent feature at the Australian National Maritime Museum.

On 8 October 1978, Ken Warby drove the Spirit of Australia on the Tumut River near the Blowering Dam in Australia to a speed of 317.596 mph (511.11 km/h). She was powered by a Westinghouse J34 jet engine. The engine was developed by the Westinghouse Electric Company in the late 1940s and was used for jet fighters and other aircraft. The Spirit of Australia is displayed permanently at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney, New South Wales.

Starting in the early 1990s, Ken Warby built a second jet boat Aussie Spirit powered with a fresh Westinghouse J34, but he never made a record attempt with it. As of 2013 Ken and his son Dave are working on a new boat Spirit of Australia II with plans for an attempt at the water speed record. This time they acquired two Rolls-Royce Orpheus 803 jet engines which are both lighter and more powerful.

By 1974 Spirit of Australia was launched and he was ready to start his first trials. Warby climbed into the cockpit and proved he had a great success - setting an Australian record of 267km/h, but a long way short of the 458.98 km/h world record.

Warby continued to trial his boat, gradually increasing his Australian record. On 20 November 1977 he first succeeded in breaking the world record, with a speed of 464.44 km/h, but shy of breaking the 500 km/h barrier he was ultimately seeking.

It wasn't until a year later, on 8 October 1978, that Ken smashed his own world record with an amazing time of 511.11 km/h on Blowering Dam near Tumut, NSW - setting a new world waterspeed record which has never been beaten.

Since 1978 there have been a number of attempts at breaking Warby's world waterspeed record. None has succeeded, some have been fatal.

Antigua 1987, S.G.?, Scott: 1025.

Source: Wikipedia.
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aukepalmhof
Posts: 7771
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

Re: Spirit of Australia (World’s Fastest Powerboat) 1974

Post by aukepalmhof » Wed Aug 28, 2019 8:39 pm

Antigua and Barbuda 1987 10c sg 1100, scott1025
Barbuda 1987 10c sg 950, scott 8735
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