Introduction The races that took place in Bristol’s Floating Harbour between 1972 and 1990 have left their mark on a sport that never really got the recognition it deserved. Circuit powerboat racing, Bristol style, was the most exciting motor sport spectacle anywhere in the world.
and camaraderie amongst its followers and competitors.
Unfortunately, time and tide wait for no one and 25 year’s on, those that organised, sponsored and took part in this iconic event have largely been forgotten, except by those that were there to witness and take part in those 19 years’ of extraordinary powerboat races. For those that are too young to have been there or are not fans of powerboat racing it is impossible to put into words what it was like to see craft travelling at up to 120mph racing in the confines of the Bristol Docks. The smell of burnt fuel as it drifted on the breeze after a dozen or more F1 boats were unleashed from the start pontoon. To wait in anticipation to see who would be the first to appear round the SS Great Britain turn, and to marvel at the skill of those who took part. There was absolutely nothing that could prepare you for the first time you saw that amazing sight. There wasn’t another circuit in the world that required so much of a race driver, in skill, tactics and courage. There had never been a circuit like it before and there hasn’t been one like it since. It was often described as the Monaco Grand Prix of powerboat racing but unlike Monaco, there wasn’t enough desire by those involved, to make sure it survived. When the chequered flag dropped on that last race on June 10th 1990, circuit powerboat racing lost its most iconic event and with it, a huge number of people, who otherwise would have never seen the sport that triggered such enthusiasm, passion
Roy Cooper Chairman; Fast On Water
The Embassy Grand Prix – Bristol 1982 It has often been described as the greatest circuit powerboat race ever. Some, not many, may contradict this but if you were there on that weekend of the 5/6th June, 1982 you would probably be in agreement. By 1982 the ON and OZ camps had gone their separate ways. It hadn’t started like that back in the late 70s, when the two big engine manufacturers were fighting it out for supremacy; OMC with their 3.3 litre, 235hp V8 and Mercury with their 370hp T4. It took some skill to handle a catamaran with that level of power on the back. It was in 1980 that the big split came between OMC and Mercury Marine with Mercury deciding to withdraw the T4 and go with the 2 litre class. It was assumed that Outboard Marine Corporation would follow suit but following the last race of the 1980 Canon Trophy Series, OMC announced their intention of producing an even more powerful OZ engine for the 1981 season. A 3.5 litre 400hp V8. The 1981 3.5 litre OZ season was given a tremendous boost when the John Player Special brand, already sponsors of the Lotus Formula One motor racing team, announced a three year contract for sponsorship of the OZ series. In that same year the founder of the Bristol races, Charlie Sheppard, decided along with WD and HO Wills, that the Embassy Grand Prix and the Duke of York Trophy would be contested by the 2 litre ON class with no OZs racing at Bristol.
At this point the ON class was renamed Formula One. As 1982 dawned the ON class had been renamed – not Formula One but Formula Grand Prix and the OZ class became Formula 1, as was right and proper for the leading class in the sport. There was only one event during the 1982 calendar where the FONDA Formula Grand Prix World Series and the John Player Formula One Series happened over the same weekend. It was the weekend of June 5 and 6 at Bristol, then the premier event of the sport – the Monaco of circuit powerboat racing. So what made that event so special? Besides the fact that those who were there got to see many of the best powerboat racers in the world through all classes – The John Player World OZ Series; The FONDA World ON Series; The Aspen World OE Championships and the World Monohull Championships, plus rounds of the Formula three and four National Championship. What more could you ask for squeezed into a weekend’s powerboat racing? What more indeed. The final vital ingredient was an American powerboat racer, already the darling of Bristol, having won the Duke of York Trophy a record four times.
Billy Seebold had stayed loyal to Mercury and their desire to limit their racing to the 2 litre class. Only on this particular weekend Bill was determined to make a point with regard to sticking to a 2 litre maximum for the top class of powerboats. He had decided to compete not only in the FONDA World ON Series but also in the JPS World OZ races. Not for Bill a 3.5 litre OMC but a Mercury bored out to 2005cc, which would allow him to race alongside the unlimited OZs. Bristol was a tight winding circuit, which meant the mighty 3.5 litre boats were not able to get the most from their powerful engines, giving Seebold a degree of an advantage in his more nimble ON rig. Even allowing for this, the exhibition of driving prowess that Seebold gave the spectators over that weekend had them cheering in the aisles. Of course, Bill’s ace mechanic, Leo Molnlyke, played a vital role in getting powerheads swapped in time for each heat. The following piece was kindly put together by Charlie Sheppard’s daughter, Penny. ‘The first of the ‘modern’ powerboat races held in Bristol Docks was in 1972. Sponsored by WD & HO Wills, makers of cigarettes in Bristol for almost a century at that time, it was a real family affair. Dad, Charlie Sheppard, had been building racing powerboats for several years and had been the Cotswold Motor Boat Racing Club’s RYA representative. In that capacity he had attended Union International Motonautique’s assemblies in Brussels to help govern the way the sport was moving and progressing both in Europe and overseas. He was a busy man, running his own fully-functioning boatyard as the day-job as well. How did the Bristol Docks Race become so famous, so exciting, so memorable and so
crammed-full of racing? Like all good things it had a massive back-up team, good ambassadors within the Bristol City Council and it was a constantly-evolving format. Dad and his team had always listened to and responded to the drivers’ concerns and suggestions, the sponsors’ requirements and the media’s requirements. In the early years there had been races for monohulls of every class and catamarans from E class upwards, then the format of which race went where in the programme changed so that the water wasn’t too ‘cut-up’ by the monohulls when the catamarans raced. The media interest brought about the need for the races to be run back-to-back – this created logistical problems for safety cover, fuelling up and craning in and out of the water. Sponsorship deals rested to a great extent on ‘continuous’ racing - not really possible anywhere, certainly not in Bristol Docks – but the nearest we could get was back-to-back races. Sometimes this meant that those boats which had broken down or crashed at the far end of the course – the Cumberland Basin end – had to be left until the end of the next race to be brought back or it would have delayed the next start. We did enjoy the packed programme but it was, as they say, a logistical nightmare with scarcely a moment for refreshment or comfort breaks! More races also meant that the burgeoning Health & Safety lobby insisted that spectators needed to be protected from such things as the unlikely possibility of a catamaran taking off and landing amongst them. There were some very serious incidents which resulted in the injuries and deaths of drivers and safety crew. From each of these the Management Team of the races learned and improved whilst striving to maintain that essential closeness of spectator to sport which had become so very important. There were so many things that were a direct result of the races in Bristol – floating stretchers,
improved crash helmet design, spine protection, driver break-away pods, emergency care at several points around any course, safety boat training and recognition for this. One item that may not be well known is that what became known as ‘good-natured crowd control’ was pioneered by the police and volunteer marshals around Bristol Docks. The racing had become so popular and for all but one year it was totally free to watch – so imagine how difficult it would have been to restrain the crowds surging forward when any kind of incident happened around the docks? Fortunately most of the incidents were injury – free but just one mention on the Public Address system asking the crowds to stay back and let the safety boat crews do their job was all that was needed. The people of Bristol and those who had travelled from further afield enjoyed largely trouble-free spectating for all the years the races were run. One thing needs to be cleared up. It was NOT the fatalities that stopped the Bristol races from continuing to this day. It was mainly a recession – an economic squeeze – lack of sponsorship that sounded the deathknell for the Bristol Races. Our first sponsors, WD and HO Wills, were by government direction not allowed to openly advertise cigarettes or smoking. Subsequent sponsors came and went and all of them gave the racing their very best shot by their provision of funds, expertise in marketing, publicity and hospitality to Bristol’s Dignitaries on the City Council. There was one other, very important factor in the demise of the racing in Bristol Docks. The racing, if you recall, had come about in the first place because Dad didn’t want to see the Floating harbour (Bristol Docks) to be filled in and built on. He achieved this – it is still not filled in and still not built-on. However, directly because of the races so many people looked on the docks
in a new light. Here was a large open space with possibilities for year-round water-based activities and leisurely walks, events and even upmarket water-side apartments. The residents, the activities organisers and the many who now lived on the water in houseboats, converted ex naval boats etc were not keen to be inconvenienced by the noise, disruption and general mayhem that the powerboat races caused. Can you blame them? The very area that had been saved from the bulldozers was now fit and well and could take of itself thanks. We’ll unfortunately never see that kind of event again in Bristol and it’s not likely to be anywhere else either. Dad, at one point, travelled to quite a few places advising on potential powerboat race venues. You may know he instigated the Cardiff races, which were sponsored by GKN. He was obviously involved with the feasibility study for powerboat racing in Catherine’s Docks, London, which was good but a one-year wonder; racing on the river in Dublin, again very good but the Dublin City Elders weren’t impressed enough to make it an annual event; and Dad’s best story was of the feasibility of International powerboat racing in South Africa on one of their lakes. Dad came to the conclusion it was not a good idea racing at that particular venue because the lake was full of piranha fish and the safety boats would need to be replaced with or at least backed-up by a fleet of helicopters with winch-cables at the ready to winch out a driver should he be flipped over as the piranha fish could ‘strip’ him of flesh in 2.5 minutes!’ Mm! Piranhas. Powerboat racing was dangerous enough back then without adding any extra risks.
Bill Seebold’s Memories of the Great Bristol ‘Powerboat Regatta’ This story starts long before we (Team Mercury) arrived in Bristol for my first time. The reputation of the event had been flying around the racing circuit for years. I had raced in Europe several times – Paris and Amsterdam with my friend, Cees Van Der Velden from Boxtel, Holland. My very first race in Europe was at Amsterdam with Cees and we won the three-hour event, so you might say it was a good start to several years of driving together and winning International events. Although a lot of European races were set in city limits and on rivers with seawalls, making for a very rough water setting, Bristol was not a lot different except it was a lot smaller in size, the width mainly, and shaped like a big S with very tight turns. I thought I had seen everything in race courses, but when we arrived at the site in 1978, Gary Garbrecht asked me what my thoughts were. I said, “Where is the race course?” thinking we were looking at the pit area! So you could say I was quite surprised at my first view of the famous course. Little did I know how many laps I would make around this very tight and dangerous place over the next 10 years. As a main stop on the international racing circuits for years, it was always one of the hardest to conquer and win. The competition was top-notch and it always lived up to its reputation as a thrilling event.
Bill in flight, Bristol 1982 A lot of times it was the difference maker in the race for the championship, so if you did well at Bristol you had a shot at the world title! Racing for Team Mercury was a big thrill during the heydays of factory battles in Europe and the USA until the Mercury factory pulled out of factory racing in 1979. Bristol was the last factory team event forever! It was the end of an era that helped put powerboat racing on the map around the world, but it hurt racing as much as it helped. Afterwards the engine manufacturers started selling race engines to everyone, making for a more even playing field for the participants and in the long run a better show for the spectator. Circuit racing became, in my opinion, more competitive on both sides of the ocean.
Bristol was always one of the luckiest places that I ever raced and I guess winning the Duke of York trophy six 6 times shows that. My very first time at Bristol everyone that had raced there before tried to warn me of the dangers around the course. When you head down the course for the first time it really opens your eyes. I always compared it to driving in a tunnel – eight foot-high seawalls on both sides and no run off areas.
broadcast live on BBC-TV, giving our sport a big shot in the arm! The announcing was top notch and news coverage was equal to what was given to the F-1 cars. That race and the media coverage helped our sport come of age during the 70s and 80s. I remember one time going out of the pits and it taking an hour, signing autographs, to get back to my pit area. It sure made you feel good to be there and know the fans were into the event that much!
The first boat and engine set up I drove at Bristol was a Van der Velden hull and the Mercury T3 V6 with Bendix fuel injection. The biggest problem with that set-up was starting off the dock. As everyone knows the start is the most important thing at Bristol. Handling the rough water is the other key to winning there. I remember telling the rest of the Mercury Team that I would drive in the middle of the course or 6 inches off the wall because I did not want my rig turning into the walls. Sometime the best plans work and sometime they do not.
Bill Lines up next to son Mike, Fiona Brothers and Malcolm Burnapp. Bristol 1981
I was scared to death on the first start but once the flag drops you forget everything and just drive. In the heats you kinda get the feel for the boat and course. I had never driven that rig before race day, so you could say that it was on the job training! During one of the heats I got my initiation to Bristol docks – a Dutch Driver lost control and hit a rescue boat, killing two volunteer workers. That put a black cloud over the day for sure. Charlie Sheppard, the race director, always said that the show must go on, so the next day we were back racing around the docks. I came away with the first of my Duke of York Trophies. In the years to follow I earned five more. Like every race there are a lot of things going on. If circuit racing had an event to make the sport “big time” that would be Bristol. It was
Every year Bristol seemed to get bigger. Like a good wine it got better with age. It is hard after this long to remember all the details from all the races but every year after the event I always felt that I had accomplished something special. After winning the Duke of York trophy three times I received a letter from the Queen Mother about my achievement. A letter I was very proud of, which Charlie Sheppard flew out to the St Louis Grand Prix to give to me in person. Then I went on to win it three more times and I won the Embassy Gold Cup in 1982. That Embassy Gold Cup race was possibly my best achievement in boat racing. Winning as the underdog with a smaller engine always feels great. Doing 95 laps both Saturday and Sunday in Bristol is no easy chore no matter
how good a shape you are in. Between heats Leo Molendijk and the crew changed power heads, gassed the rig and launched with the crane in 7 ½ minutes so I could make the start in the Embassy Gold Cup final. Without a crew like that I would have never made it for sure!!! But it was a race that told a big story about crew, boat, set-up, propeller and driving instead of horsepower. Yes, my years at Bristol were very memorable and something I will always cherish
for the rest of my life. I wish we had more races like it today, putting more focus on driving and not just horsepower! Just a quick note – writing this has brought back a lot of great memories. I thank Roy Cooper for keeping the memory of Bristol alive with the Fast On Water website.
Bill Seebold No. 7
Write up of the inaugural Embassy Grand Prix, Bristol Floating Harbour, 8/9 July 1972 – Taken from the August 1972 edition of Powerboat Magazine
Left: James Beard in his James Latham sponsored Cougar ON
Update It has been a very busy time here at Fast On Water, since deciding to go ahead with organising the Bristol 25 Event. It’s hard to imagine that it has now been twenty five years since the last race in Bristol’s historic Floating Harbour. Time and tide wait for no man, or woman and the area surrounding the docks has changed immeasurably to what it was like during those heady days between 1972 and 1990.
As have the almost 200 people attending the event.
Those living in Bristol can wholeheartedly thank Charlie Sheppard for the fact that this waterway still exists at all. One of his main reasons for putting on powerboat racing in the docks was to show the local council and developers that it still had some merit and that the idea if filling it all in would have been a very bad decision in deed.
This will also give us the opportunity to catch up with our Patron, Louise Goodman, who will be covering the event for ITV4.
We are pleased to say that the project has been welcome with open arms by all those we have contacted; Bristol City Council, the Mayor’s Office, Harbour Master and local media have all given the event the thumbs up.
Again this year we are hoping to attend the Silverstone Classic, which is taking place on the 24, 25 and 26th July. This time we will be taking along the Splash Zone, single-seater, with its Nissan Micra engine and water propulsion system along with one of David Jones’ classic outboard hydroplanes.
Our archive is constantly growing, with the latest material having been donated to us by John Walker. We are also busy converting a large number of videos to DVD, which have been loaned to us by Steve Kerton and Dene Stallard. Below are some photos from the John Walker archive.
Taken from Motor Boat and Yachting Magazine, August 1972