In Memory of Roy Clark

In Memory of Mr Roy Clark 1960s Powerboat Pioneer

Roy Clark was a founding member of the Southend Motor Boat Club, which was granted permission to use the lake at Grange Farm (Grangewaters), South Ockenden. At the time this was not straightforward as Thurrock Council refused the planning application, forcing the club to apply to the Government Minister, Mr Richard Crossman. Roy and the other club members were a tenacious bunch and after applying to the minister, he overturned the council’s decision as long as certain conditions were met.

This was 1965; for many the beginning of that great period in circuit powerboat racing, which culminated during the late 1970s and saw its heyday throughout the 1980s.

The club had to do a lot of work to make the lake area usable for racing, including constructing a control building, shower block and toilets. Roy and fellow members of the Southend Club joined those other great early ambassadors of the sport; Cyril and Peter Benstead, Len and Edie Britnell and Charlie Sheppard. All put the love of the sport first and anyone who had talked to Roy would have been instantly aware of how much the sport had meant to him.

Roy raced during the period of two-up boats, where the second crew member acted as a counterweight much like in motorcycle sidecar racing. This was a risky business and Roy had some great stories from his day’s racing, including the incident where his

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crewmate’s nose made contact with a turn buoy – and not the lightweight turn buoys we have now.

Roy took part in the first Chasewater 24-hour race in 1967. A gruelling race of attrition with Roy sharing the driving with Tony Clark and Stan Cain.

After Roy retired from racing, he was on the Raceboat Committee of the RYA and held other positions with them into the 1990s.

I first met Roy at a meeting of the ‘Friends of the Basildon Motor Boat Museum’ and we hit it off from the start. Roy’s candid, straightforward personality and his easygoing nature made him very easy to be with and his memories from those early days of his racing were a treat to listen to.

Roy was a major supporter of Fast On Water from the very start and was always willing to travel from his home in Kent, to Basildon, to help us with loading boats, engines and whatever else we were there to collect. And there was always time for a cuppa and to let off steam about what had become of the sport.

Roy will be missed by all who knew him. With Roy’s passing, another link to our past has been lost.

Roy Cooper

Roy racing maverick in 1966

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