©
Published by Fast On Water Publications 2019 All articles and photographs are copyright All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission.
Editors note 2019 is well upon us and a new race season, and possibly a new beginning will soon be upon us. The new governing body, the British Power Boat Association, will have a lot of ground to make up after the RYA’s decimation of the sport. We wish them well and look forward to new developments taking place. For us, 2019 will be a busy year. All will be revealed as our plans take shape.
Editor Roy Cooper Contributors Brian Kendall Roy Cooper
Front cover photo: Cees van der Velden and Bob Spalding. Photo by Simon Scott
Contents 1
In Memory – Jim Peverelle
4
Brian Kendall remembers Charlie Sheppard
7
1971 Chasewater 500 results
9
CMBRC Fixtures List 1963
10
The Marine Motoring Association
14
Wheels vs Water
15
20th century Women Racers
17
Skill Not Speed
In Memory of Jim Peverelle Jim sadly passed away on the 6th February, age 86. Jim started racing in 1971 in the OI Class, which culminated in him winning the OI National Championship in 1978 before moving on to ON in 1979. The following article was originally published in Powerboating International magazine from 1986. 51-year-old Jim Peverelle’s motto in the past has been ‘racing for fun’ and in his 20 year long racing career he has never hit the big time. However, he has become rated as one of the most respected drivers on the circuit.
top engine on the back. This wish was to come true last year at the London Docks race when he was loaned a Mercury EFI, just for that meeting. At speeds that were unknown for a Peverelle designed hull, he was lying 4th, after just 20 minutes racing and he had 19 of the world’s best Formula 2 drivers behind him. The boat was really proving itself when he flew high into the air and broke his shoulder. He admits it was his own fault, not the boat’s and was partially caused by his own excitement. However, with the right engine on the back, the boat could give 100% and this was probably the turning point in his career.
His name may not be Seebold, Molinari or Velden, but he does have one thing in common with these guys – he does design and build his own boats and has done right from the start, without having won a World or European title. His greatest achievement was in being the first non-sponsored driver past the flag at the 1975 Windermere Grand Prix, which gave him third place overall at the meeting where the Wankel rotary engines were making their very first appearance. In the past, Jim has raced purely for fun and he just designed and built his own boat but is still held in high regard by boat builders and drivers alike. During a busy race season, Jim has been known to repair boats between his own races for other drivers. But, this year things will change.
The last 6 to 8 months have seen him dedicating everything to set up Peverelle Boats and to prove once and for all that his boats are amongst the most competitive. He is anxious to point out that he is still happy to repair all makes of boat as well as proving that there is a market for his own boats. He
At last, he has set up a full-time boat building company called Peverelle Boats and has moved into larger and more accessible premises which can offer the three services of boat building, glass fibre work, and painting. In 1984 he was quoted as saying that he would very much like to see a Peverelle boat be given the opportunity to prove itself with a
1
says, ‘boat building is a strange trade, it is impossible to employ anybody to follow in your footsteps, you have got to have the feel for it.’ This is why he feels he will be successful.
Jim junior – running under JJ Autos, who has recently done all the paintwork for the Osprey Boat and Ambulance, as well as his father’s boats. He also resprays cars and motorhomes and does a lot of work for the MG and Sprite Owners Clubs.
Racing was Jim’s hobby, and for that matter – so was boat building. He is a carpenter by trade, but earned his living doing other forms of woodwork. But now he is a professional boat builder, a step he wishes he had taken ten years ago. He already has an order book for 2 Formula 2 boats, a Formula 4, Hydros and Juniors. He has just completed a Formula 4 for Bob Fitzmaurice and a Formula 2 for Harry MacNeil in Ireland. Paul Blackburn will be running his re-furbished Peverelle hull. 20-year-old Lee hopes to be setting up under the Peverelle Plastics name during this year. He does all the fibreglass work for his father and brother as well as specialised one-offs. Young Mark (17) is very interested in mechanics and does all of father’s engines as well as servicing and repairs on ski engines. Jim is anxious to help him build up this side of the business so that Mark can set up on his own. Under one roof they can design and build a boat, paint it, rig it, service the engine and also test drive at the nearby Bodymoor Heath circuit. Jim also has a personal aim before he retires from racing, which will probably be next year with this year being his final season in FONDA. Next year he is already committed to going back to his roots – standard class racing in the form of SZ class. He is putting a rig on the water for 1987 and is looking for four other drivers to get the class off the ground. He explained that price is prohibiting Formula 4 and 5 drivers from moving into Formula 2, and SZ is the way to go. A second hand 2.5 litre motor will cost about £1500/£2000 and with new rings and a good service will give you a reliable engine for 100mph racing. A brand-new boat for £3,000 and you are on the water for £4,500 as against £12,000 in
Jim meeting Princess Margaret at Chasewater JBS are putting 3 boats on the water this year and Peverelle Boats have refurbished two of them. A Seebold and the Burgess of ex-Laing Homes driver, Steve Kerton. They are also building a 2-seater which will travel around the FONDA circuit and Jim hopes that this will bring him some overseas orders. Peverelle will also be building a new boat for himself as he has been promised a works engine for it. There is also a possibility that he will attend a couple of European FONDA races but club and National racing will have to take a back seat. As you enter the new workshops, you might just get the impression that it is a one-man band, but you are wrong. There is 24-year-old 2
Formula 2. Even Formula 4/5 are costing ÂŁ5,500 new.
that some bending will take place but is even willing to take inspecting on board to try and keep the class straight.
Once Jim has got the class established, he would like to manage and promote it and hopes that the engine manufacturers it as standard racing sells standard engines. He feels that the general public can relate to standard engines they can buy from their local dealer and standard engines could keep the engine manufacturers politics out of the sport if everyone is running standard equipment and not works motors. He accepts
Here, we have a man who is clear in his mind as to how racing should go and through the columns of Powerboating International may we wish him every success, and we are sure that through his dedication and love of the sport his dreams and prosperity will come to fruition in the next few years.
3
Brian Kendall Remembers I then graduated to a 1000cc Mercury powered IU Class V hull Bristol Boat, and also, we helped develop, with this engine, the new Bristol Catamaran that had been built in somewhat of a hurry in an effort to get it ready for the 1968 Paris Six Hour Race. It was an entirely new concept for racing power boats, which was developed literally by Charlie on a somewhat trial and error basis. The first time we tried it out at Fairford, just before the Paris race, my co-driver, Simon Fleming managed to literally loop the loop with it, he managed to bail out of it, amazingly with no injuries, with the Cat, which we had apply named Soggy Moggy, landing the right way up, more or less undamaged.
Charlie Sheppard I first met Charlie Sheppard in 1966, when I purchased a small EOT Class racing power boat from his company Bristol Boats at Salford, near Bristol. I had graduated from car racing, to what I hoped would be a cheaper option of power boats, and he greatly assisted me in learning the art of racing this boat, and setting it up so as to get its full potential, with particular regard to the need for the passenger to lean out, somewhat precariously, when cornering, which was very similar to motorcycle side car racing.
Charlie was a real enthusiast, with endless energy, and also had the biggest and most powerful pair of hands that I have ever come across or had the distinctly dubious pleasure of shaking hands with. As I was living quite near him in Bath, I called in regularly to talk to him, and eventually even managed to acquire quite a taste for the tea and coffee, with the somewhat unusual addition of tinned Coronation Milk, that was supplied constantly by his wife Elsie, while we were discussing boats and racing in general.
This boat was only just got ready again literally on the day before we had to leave for the Paris race, and I am sure that the residents living along the side of the river Avon near Bristol Boats, were really pleased to be woken up at 6am by a howling 100hp Mercury, while we tested Soggy Moggy up and down the river, before rushing off to catch the Ferry to France. Much to everyone’s amazement, we won the OI Class, despite a protest alleging that we were using a 1250hp Mercury engine. After a lengthy engine strip, it was shown to
4
be the correct one.
Charlie then came up with the idea of the Pickle Fork concept for Catamarans, I actually believe he was one of the very first racing boat designers to do this. Again, these boats were a great success. This new Catamaran, as well as the previous design, sold well around the world and had several successes in OI and ON races. We again managed to win the OI Class in Paris in 1970 with this new Pickle Fork design.
In 1969, with Charlie’s assistance, we managed to acquire a Sponsored Super 1000 Mercury BP racing engine. We had quite some success with this engine in the V hull IU Class Bristol Boat called Poseidon, and also with their Catamaran Soggy Moggy II. We actually managed to win £1800 from this Mercury sponsorship that year; around £28000 in today’s money, and we might have won an additional £500 plus, had Simon not hit a submerged railway sleeper while we were again leading the OI Class in Paris. Then in 1972, Charlie decided to put in motion his long-held idea of trying to run a Power Boat Race in the then redundant Bristol Docks, which was not, at the time, met with universal enthusiasm by the powers that be in Bristol. But the ever-tenacious Charlie kept on and on at the council, and with having WD and HO Wills as a major sponsor, he eventually managed to persuade them to let him run a couple of boats in the docks to show them what a great spectacle this race would be.
We travelled all over the U.K. and Europe towing different Bristol Boats during these years. Wherever we were going or whatever the length of the journey, Charlie always insisted on driving his Mercedes Estate Car. We were nearly half his age but he could
always out last us. He never seemed to be tired. We were hugely grateful for all his help during this time and in particular of course for loaning us his Catamarans to race. 5
I was co-opted to give this demo, along with, I think Don Ross with his Cat. We went around for a few demonstration laps, trying to make it look as safe as possible, and then sat down with the Bristol Council in their chambers to answer questions about how these types of races were run in other major European cities. Charlie of course, basically took over the whole meeting, explaining what a fantastic opportunity he was giving the Council to run this event in their redundant docks, and how it would be a huge tourist attraction for the city.
Luckily the possible safety issue was not really mentioned and as the Council had no actual idea of the speed that could be achieved by these Catamarans and the number of boats that would be competing in the docks all at the same time, they all seemed very supportive and eventually the whole enterprise was given the Council’s blessing. As everyone knows, the Bristol Docks Race took place and became a mammoth success. But make no mistake, the only reason that this whole amazing race came into fruition was through Charlie Sheppard’s determination and force of character, it would never have happened without him. In my opinion he was never really given the amount of credit in Bristol that he deserved, for getting, almost single-handedly, this event to actually happen.
Brian Kendall 13.12.18
6
7
8
Pages 7, 8 and 9 from the Brian Kendall Archive
9
From Water Sport magazine, January 1961
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23