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Editor’s Note Organising of the Bristol 50 event is well under way. Tickets are going quickly, and we are limited to 160, so if you want to attend, please make contact now. None of us are getting any younger so this will probably be the last big event that many of those involved will be able to attend. It will be an historic moment and a chance to celebrate what was truly the high point of circuit powerboat racing.
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Published by Fast On Water Publications 2022 All articles and photographs are copyright.
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Contents 1. The Bristol Chummee 5. Planing Hulls Article 1961 7. Why Was Bristol So Special? 15. Racing Cats Article 1971
Editor Roy Cooper
Contributors Roy Cooper Cover photo: Mark Wilson, Bristol 1984. Photo Rene Schulz
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Why was Bristol so special? I suppose for those who were present, the answer is very straightforward but for those who never saw the races in Bristol Docks, it’s impossible to explain. You can tell them about the tight, twisty course; those high, solid dock walls, where spectators looked down on the action; the large number of entrants; the smell of burnt hydrocarbons as the flag dropped and the large field of boats surged from the pontoon; the skill and speed of the likes of Molinari, Seebold, van der Velden, Percival and the many other top flight drivers, in every class of boat, who took on the challenge of racing around the Bristol circuit. But you needed to experience being there to capture the true essence of watching the racing in Bristol.
wasn’t the winning formula, although a quick, well set-up boat helped. The weekend of the powerboat races turned the centre of Bristol from its humdrum, urban existence into a truly international city. The teams, drivers and spectators from all over the world gave an instant air of glamour and sophistication to the decaying docks area. 1978
An area, once considered by the local council for filling in, was shown, with the help of the powerboat races, to be an area worthy of preserving and enhancing. It didn’t take long for the powerboat races in Bristol to increase in stature and become world renowned. Racers from all over the world headed to Bristol to pit their skills on the most challenging circuit in the world.
1976 Photo: Bill Riley
What does seem amazing, looking back, is why inner-city race circuits weren’t more prevalent. Bristol, Paris, Rouen, London, Pittsburgh, St Petersburg. They drew the crowds; they drew the drivers, teams and sponsors, and they offered the perfect location to promote circuit powerboat racing. They were all special in their own way, but Bristol had that something extra. The tight circuit with the two right hand turns; the hair pin at the pits end; those granite walls; the churned-up water trapped between those walls. All added to the driving skills required to do a lap of Bristol. And, unlike most circuits, horsepower
As the sport attracted bigger and bigger sponsors, development moved on a pace, in both boat and engine design. The speeds around the Bristol Docks increased rapidly. In 1974 Renato Molinari’s 7
average speed was just under 73mph. Over the 19 years of the racing speeds continued to increase, culminating in Steve Kerton achieving the first 100mph average lap speed in 1990. The Bristol event was given an even greater prominence in 1977 when the Duke of York Trophy, first presented in 1924 and the premier trophy in powerboat racing, became the trophy presented to the winner of the Embassy Grand prix.
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1990 saw the final year of powerboat racing in Bristol Docks. The UIM insisted the course introduced improved safety features. A cost the local authority could not consider, especially as there was uncertainty on whether a sponsor could be secured for future events. We will ever see racing again in Bristol Docks. Who knows what the future might hold. One possibility would be the advent of electric outboards. This would solve the problems of noise, pollution and the need to use fossil fuels. Let’s hope that one day we will see some sort of boat racing return to Bristol.
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The presentation of the Duke of York Trophy gave even more kudos to the event and especially to the winner of the Embassy Grand Prix – 25 gruelling laps of the Bristol Docks circuit. The first winner of the trophy was Renato Molinari, who accepted the trophy from the very first winner in 1924, Count Johnston Noad. The American racer, Bill Seebold, who made Bristol his own, won the Duke of York Trophy six times between 1978 and 1984, with Molinari winning again in 1980. 8
Bristol 1982. Photo: George Gallup
1976, Photo: George Gallup
Arthur Mostert, 1982. Photo: George Gallup
9 1983, Andy Elliott (124) and Willy Grey. Photo: David Whelan
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1979. Photo Rene Schulz 1980. Photo R Schulz
1981. Photo: Rene Schulz 1980. Photo: Kevin Desmond Archive
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1980. Photo Rene Schulz 10
1980, Jon Knights (left) and Malcolm Burnapp. Photo: Rene Schulz
1977, Steve Riley and Patrick Bennet. Photo: Bill Riley
1982, Ted Jelf & Peter Inward. Photo: R Schulz
1982. Photo: Rene Schulz
1986. Photo: George Gallup
1983. Photo: David Whelan
1980. Photo: Rene Schulz
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1981, Phil Duggan. Photo: Rene Schulz
1975, Bill Marshall. Photo: Charlie Sheppard archive
1976, John Cook. Photo: George Gallup
John Nicholson, 1979. Photo: Rene Schulz
1979, Clive Brueford. Photo: George Gallup
1981, Allan Nimmo. Photo: Rene Schulz
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1984, Mick Bridge.
Jon Jones and John Hill 13
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Published in Powerboat and Watersports June 1971
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