In November 1977 Ken Warby in Spirit of Australia set his first World Water Speed Record on Blowering Dam, N.S.W Australia, 40 years on from Ken’s first World Record, Spirit of Australia II with David Warby at the wheel took to the water on Blowering Dam for the boat’s second outing on the World Record Course.
Unfortunately the first day of testing on Saturday, the 18th of November testing was cancelled, due to the high winds & rain making it unsafe to run the boat. The Team returned on Sunday the 19th, the rain had stopped, however the wind was still a concern to the team, as it was not consistent, affecting the water on the 10km course in some area’s.
The Peak speed for the day was 172mph one way, this run was on track to be Spirit of Australia’s first 200mph run, It was not to be, the run had to be aborted as the boat hit a rough patch of water, which moved the boat around to much. As always safety comes first and the run was aborted but not before much needed data was obtained which will allow some “tweaks” to be made prior to the next set of trials.
Apart from running the boat, the team also practiced “on water” refueling & servicing, as this will need to be done at the far end of the course during the World Record runs, to have the boat ready and safe for the return run through the measured Kilometre.
On the Sunday night. the team & family, rescue crews, Tumut Rotary Club, Local, federal politicans and local residents all gathered at the Tumut Bowling Club to celebrate Ken’s 40th Anniversary holding the World Water Speed Record. Few records in history have stood for this long and was cause for celebration.
Warby Motorsport and the team will now look to test Spirit of Australia II in February 2018 , this time at Taree NSW. The purpose of the Taree testing is to focus on safety, communications and team systems practice. Taree is close to the Team’s homebase of Newcastle. N.S.W and as such is a convenient place for this type of testing to be done. This venue is also an ideal location for spectators to see the boat run close up and see the team in action.
Warby Motorsport would like to thank Mr Haggin, Gencom, Norglass, Penrite, the Tumut Rotary Club, Maritime NSW, Snowy Valleys Council, Tumut SES, Rural Fire Service, Tumut local Police, Roddy Engineering & Talbingo Tourist Caravan Park for their assistance in making the weekend of testing possible.
