Norman Burr’s book on the life of Keith Duckworth is a well researched and written biography of one of the main men in motor sport during the 20 th century. And of course there is a section on his work with powerboats. Published by Veloce publishing. www.veloce.co.uk
Where the past, present and future of circuit powerboat racing come together
www.fastonwater.co.uk
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Editors note Published by Fast On Water Publications 2015 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.
Firstly I would like to apologise for the delay in getting this ‘Summer’ issue to press. Unfortunately family health matters have kept me away from the keyboard. Also I have been holding on for two articles by worthy contributors, which still haven’t arrived. Hopefully they will be in the winter issue (December). We are always looking for contributions for future issues – memories, photos, specialist interests. So if you feel like putting pen to paper, we look forward to hearing from you.
Editor Roy Cooper
Contributors Steve Pinson Roy Clark Roy Cooper Phil Sharrat
Cover photo Stan Cain driving Whoppit The Regent Grand Prix, Chasewater, 1965
Contents 2
Cosworth in Class II
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Bristol 1990
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In Memory of Bill Shakespeare
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Heroes of Circuit Racing - Bob Spalding
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The Days of Two-up Racing
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Chasewater 1965
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Bristol 25
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Fast On Water Update
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Spectator Appeal
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www.ipage.com
Great Support Fast upload times Value for money www.ipage.com
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...and they still get Mike’s name wrong! 5
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In Memory of Bill Shakespeare
Bill Shakespeare lost his life at Lake Windermere on Saturday October 23rd 1971.
Milesmaster boat for a practise run but he soon came back as he couldn`t keep it on the water so Fred was moving everything forward as far as possible to distribute the weight to the nose. So off went Freddie again this time able to run both ways; his average speed was around 88 to 89 mph. The next outfit to run was driven by James Beard it was one of his Cougar cats, around 17ft but it also had a stepped hull and was Evinrude powered. James did manage to average around 87 to 88 mph, very much the same speed as Freddie Miles had done. Now we were running out of time and had to get Bill out for his run. We could see straight away his run looked fast, his engine sounded way up on revs and we heard the time recorded from timing control on the radio and knew it was fast. 119mph on his downward run. But he still had to do his run back up and record attempts have to be run both ways and a mean average speed taken. We were hoping his engine would make it back and it did but only just. His speed was down to 89mph.
The following piece was kindly written by Steve Pinson.
In august 1970 Bill Shakespeare decided he would mould one of his regular 15ft racing cats but this time with a 3inch stepped bottom more like a hydro and would run it at the Windermere speed record attempts in October to try for the ON class record. At that time the ON class was 99cu inch or 1640cc approx.OMC Johnson would supply the outboard complete with 1 to 1 gearcase for hi speed use and US prop man Henrix would supply the prop. Before driving to Windermere Bill gave the boat a quick shakedown run up the Avon and then off we went to Windermere. Bills team would consist of 2 technicians; Robert Glen from the OMC and Johnson distributers to the UK, Bill and myself. We arrived at Windermere to be told our class had 1 day only to run because they had so many entrants to fit in that week. Next morning we were up at 5.30 to get started early and do a few trial runs to get the boat set up to run ok. By around 10 o’clock Bill did his first run down Windermere, which looked really fast but on the return run, Bill’s engine failed. Now we had to go to plan B and ring the Shakespeare factory at Tewksbury. Bill still had his 19ft marathon boat with the engine still ok that he drove 2 weeks earlier in the Paris 6 hour race so they pulled the powerhead off and drove it
Paris 1970. Bill Shakespeare no. 38 and Steve Pinson no. 41
straight up to Windermere for the technicians to fit. Meanwhile we had spent most of the day watching the other contenders. Bob Spalding was there and we watched Freddie Miles go out with his 7
Heroes of Circuit Racing Bob Spalding To many of you reading this, the name Bob Spalding is synonymous with the halcyon years of circuit powerboat racing. Bob’s racing achievements are on a par with the likes of other great British motor-sport names, such as Jackie Stewart and Nigel Mansell. During the 1970s and 80s, Bob, along with his long-time friend and racing partner, Tom Percival, were in the top echelons of Formula One powerboat racing. Both were members of the Lowestoft and Oulton Broad Motor Boat Club and both are still considered to be among the best circuit powerboat racers Britain has produced.
supremely talented driver whose professionalism is matched only by his good sportsmanship. But unbeknown to many, Bob’s initial foray into the competitive world of racing was not at the wheel of a motor boat, nor indeed at the wheel of a motor car but in the saddle of a thoroughbred racehorse. The Spalding family have long been associated with the ‘sport of kings’ and at one point owned one of the largest racing stables in the country near Ipswich. Young Bob first savoured the thrill of the chase on the back ofthe family’s horses. He also tried his hand at the fourwheeled sport.
Bob Spalding was a true gentle man, a hard racer and well-loved by all who knew him. Racing was in his blood and he needed very little persuasion to put his F1 boat on the water for a Thursday night Club race.
The following article by Anna O’Brien was originally published in Powerboat 83 Yearbook.
‘I had a little Lotus when I was about 18 or 19 which I bought for an absolute gift. It was an ex-factory racing car and a group of us used to go out and burn around a disused airfield belonging to a nearby farmer in the evenings after harvest. Then one of the lads went down to Snetterton to try the ‘real thing’ and discovered how expensive it was. And that’s when I decided car racing was out of the question. So I turned to water-skiing.’ And so motor racing’s loss was to be boat racing’s gain.
The 1980 Formula 1 World Champion Bob Spalding looks back over a lifetime’s involvement with powerboat racing. ‘I started racing in 1960 – at the age of 20. Things were so different then.’ The laughter lines deepen around the eyes and the familiar easy grin spreads from ear to ear as Bob Spalding remembers those early days. The dapper, soft-spoken East Anglian with a wealth of experience second to none on the Formula One circuit is also renowned and respected as the sport’s ‘Mr. Nice Guy’ – a
‘The only reason I had a boat at all was because of the water-skiing we used to do at weekends. I became so keen that I bought 8
myself a little ski boat and once or twice a year we used to have what we called ‘round the island’ races, because we lived on an island, West Mersey, in Essex. The races formed part of our annual regatta and the first time I entered I won my class and was presented with a little trophy.’
times before I got a competitive one. It was probably about four or five years before I had a boat which even won a local heat – that’s how long it took!’
‘Racing was never part of the plan at all initially – but, of course, I thought it was fantastic and I decided to look up the nearest motor boat racing club, which was Oulton Broad in Norfolk. I went up there one night to see the Thursday evening racing. The Oulton Broad club is one of the oldest in the country and they were racing all sorts of weird and wonderful boats. Monohulls, hydroplanes – the whole scene was so unusual that I was fascinated. Compared to car racing, it was not at all difficult for me to get involved from the start.’
Bob with his co driver Ken Stevenson after winning the 1980 Paris six hour
Powerboat races were frequently televised during those early days in the ‘sixties. And that was when Bob became seriously interested in the sport. ‘There was a series of British National races which were screened at weekends with stars such as Don Ross and Jackie Wilson. They were very competitive and incredibly exciting to watch and I would be glued to the box. This was around ’66, ’67 and it really got me going. In those days, of course, everyone was racing monohulls – the arrival of ‘cats’ was just on the horizon – but I was inspired. Frankly my reaction was ‘crikey, I’m as good as they are. So, in 1967, spurred on by all this, I bought my first big boat. A Tremlett. Again, this is a very famous name today which was very small in those days. The Tremlett wasn’t particularly competitive on the tight English circuits. But I started racing abroad in ’67 and I went to France for what was then one of the biggest races in Europe – the Dauphine d’Or – a Gold Cup run round a little island just off Toulon. It was a mixture of offshore boats, circuit boats, all sorts, all on the open sea but on a circuit of a couple
‘I took my little water-ski boat there and had a go – I was absolutely stone last by a mile!’ Not an auspicious start for the man who was to win the 1980 Formula 1 World Championship. But the spirit of competition was deeply rooted in the Spalding nature – as numerous rivals were later to discover. ‘I may have been last but I’d caught the bug. I spent the next two or three years racing locally with a fairly non-competitive boat – but I kept on catching up a little. Then I bought the smallest and cheapest boat (a boat made purely for racing) I could afford – a little Fletcher. Today Fletcher is one of the biggest names in Europe in sports boats – then it was a relatively small concern. ‘So I started ‘serious’ racing. I think a third place was the best I managed with that – still very much in club racing. I can remember the other boats roaring past me and thinking ‘this is ridiculous – I can’t have this’ – so we worked and worked and finally found that I was the one roaring past the others! I had to change boats three or four 9
of miles. As soon as I got my boat onto the open sea I realised it was very competitive. It could handle waves very well.’
racing scene in the first of the cats – which his father built for him to race in Paris. In those days 100 entries were allowed for Paris – I was second reserve and didn’t get a ride – and I sat there and watched this cat blast everything off the water. I knew there and then that was my next step. I had to get myself a catamaran as soon as possible. So in 1969, I bought my first catamaran – a Schultz-Bobcat. Mercury were providing me with the engine, not a Formula 1 engine, more a sort of Formula 2 engine, and prize money. So I went for a smaller boat powered by a Mercury engine which proved to be quicker than a Formula 1 boat. First time out, I raced with Jackie Wilson in Milan and we blasted Molinari off the water! It was unbelievable! We didn’t win because we made all sorts of mistakes – we ran out of fuel, our wiring was not right – everything was wrong – but we were still the fastest boat on the water. After that, there was no holding me.’
‘I won 53 prizes just for winning that one race! Unbelievable! From then on all I thought about was racing. I had no other interests. I’d given up skiing, given up everything. I had one aim in life and that was purely and utterly to succeed in boat racing. In those days there was no sponsorship but the racing itself was, relatively speaking, a lot cheaper. You bought your boat – you went off racing somewhere – it was all part of your holiday. Racing only took place on Sunday. You’d take off on a Saturday and on Sunday you would race. We used to take three weeks holiday in the South of France every summer which included a race every two days!’ Ending up with the last port of call – Monaco. ‘There were always a dozen or so English drivers down there. Jackie Wilson, Clive Curtis and the late James Beard from Cougar boats. We’d do as many races in that period as we now do in a full season – and we’d even stop off at lake Geneva on the way back for a final thrash on the last Sunday and then catch the ferry back on Monday.’
Bob’s first big international victory came the following year in Belgium when he teamed up with Tom Percival to win the Liege six hour race in the Molinari-Johnson ‘Scorpion’. And the same year he made the headlines for a very different reason when he crashed spectacularly at over 100 mph on Lake Windermere during an attempt at the World Water Speed Record. His reaction at the time reflects his all-consuming passion for the sport: ‘Although the crash was pretty frightening it has not deterred me. I am planning another attempt on the record in a few weeks time. my wife said she hoped this would make me give up racing – but she knows I never will.’
Racing in those early days was very much an ‘amateur’ occupation. But it was the advent of the catamaran – a craft which made its first appearance in the hands of Molinari at the end of 1967 in Paris – which really lit the fires of professionalism in the sport. Bob explains: ‘The cats really started to take over from the monohulls in 1968. The advent of the Mercury BP100 and BP125 engines meant that the powerheads were really too strong for the leading monohulls of the day – the Levi, Bristol and Tremlett – literally started to nose-dive. Molinari only appeared on the
It was at this juncture in the sport that the support of the Mercury factory began to take affect. Karl Kiekhafer, the founder of Mercury Marine, had arranged for two dozen specially prepared race engines to be 10
distributed to promising young drivers on the circuit. Bob Spalding takes up the story:
three years later, I soon followed him because I have a lot of faith in his hulls.’
‘It all started to come together in 1971 when the first real prize money was introduced. Kiekhafer put up the money – something in the region of £400, £300 and £200 – for every race we did in England and Europe. Plus he gave us the engine – all we had to do was buy the boat. I was just about the youngest guy racing in those days – apart from Molinari of course and we were up against the likes of Jackie Wilson, the Rossini brothers, John Reed of the RYA. But Molinari has always been the guy we’ve had to beat. He’s got more experience than anyone else, and his dad used to race before him, which helped. The family’s whole life revolves around building race boats. He just lives in his boats from day to day and he has he best facilities anywhere in the world for testing and building. And, of course, he has never ever been a bad driver!’
The loyalty to the Dutchman’s design certainly paid dividends in 1980 when Bob won the World Championship in a Velden hull – defeating none other than Cess himself for the title. And in ’81 the two finished joint second in the title chase behind Molinari. The 1982 season has been an inauspicious one for the Velden hulls and Cees’ horrific accident in Liege might have deterred even his staunchest supporters. But not Bob. ‘I’ll admit we were caught napping with our design at the start of the season. And we are certainly facing problems this year which we have never faced before. Previously in accidents, when a boat has flipped, the driver has been thrown clear because the boat has always climbed upwards and thrown the driver out backwards. This year, because of all the rebalancing due to the weight of the V8’s they are nose-diving. It’s a totally new problem that we have to learn to cope with.’
Bob’s own considerable ability behind the wheel became the target of attention for Mercury and, at the end of 1972, he landed a job in America as chief test driver for the factory. He spent most of 1973 in the States test driving and racing for Team Mercury and the same season finished second in the World Sprint Championships. He returned to England in ’74 and success followed success throughout the rest of the ‘seventies. But perhaps the most significant move which he was to make was to link up with Cees van der Velden. ‘When Cees first began building his own hulls in 1975 I was still racing a Molinari for Mercury. Within a year he had won a World Championship and when he left OMC in 1977 Mercury signed him up to build boats for them, as well as Molinari. Then Molinari went over to OMC and we Mercury drivers inherited Velden hulls as a matter of course. When Cees went back to Johnson some
Bristol 1979. Bob in his Carlsberg sponsored Velden
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‘I think that, for the first time ever, the sport is really going places and I’m quite certain that this time it will undoubtedly take off. Thanks to the influence of John Player and Sons in the last two years, we have already made great strides – I just wish it had happened ten years ago! I wouldn’t like to leave the sport at all. I would like to race for maybe another three years then maybe do a ‘Graham Hill’ and take over as team manager. It’s been my whole life and I would hate to get to 43 or 44 after 25 years in the sport and say I’m done with it. I couldn’t do it. It’s all I believe in and I have to stay with it in some way or another.’ Bob won the Paris six hour four times and was twice World Champion; the second time in 1985. He retired the same year after a crash in practice at the Seville Grand Prix, when doctors discovered he had an aneurism. Sadly, Bob Spalding passed away in 1997.
Bob winning the 1985 World Championship
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The Days of Two-up Racing
an interesting experience. One of my last races with him before two-up racing gave way to single-seaters was at Chasewater in 1965. Whilst negotiating a right-hand turnbuoy in the chicane, I fell out of the boat in rough water and amid the following boats. Archie saw me going and turned the boat around quickly to shield me from the mêlée. I still remember that it was the only time that I ever opened my eyes under water (it happened too quickly for me to shut them) and I remembered how green the water looked!! Archie unceremoniously dragged me back into the boat and as I knew that we only had one more lap to complete, I insisted that we finish the race. I later learned that had we finished the race without my ducking, we would have exceeded our handicap and therefore been disqualified.’
Until the mid sixties, sportsboat circuit racing ran as two-man boat racing. Very similar to motorcycle sidecar racing; there was a driver and one crewman, who used his body weight to keep the then monohull boat balanced. The crewman would be forward and to one side of the driver.
As can be imagined, the crewman took his life in his hands, hanging out of the boat at all angles. Remember these were the days of turn buoys being constructed from old oil drums and tractor inner tubes. Not something boat or crewman would want to make contact with.
With thanks to Roy Clark for the photos from his SPBC personal scrapbook.
The following pages cover the write up in Yachts and Yachting of the 1965 Regent Grand Prix and the Havoline Trophy race held at Chasewater.
The following piece is taken from Phil Sharrat’s memories of the Chasewater Club and his time crewing for Archie Rolls. ‘With Archie, I also raced at the Lancashire Speedboat Club at Carr Mill and that was 13
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June 6th 2015
Photos22 courtesy of Chris Davies, Bryan Scott, Phil Lagden and Rod Richardson.
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It has been a busy few months here at Fast On Water. June 6 saw all our hard work come to fruition with the Bristol 25 Commemorative Event. With over two hundred guests from the UK, Europe and the USA, many of whom had not met up for 25 years or more, it was a very special occasion.
The Fast On Water website is being completely re-designed, will include many more of the photos we have in our archive and be easier to navigate around. It has been decided that except for a new, larger more dynamic home page, the rest of the website will be ‘Member’s Only’. We have come to this difficult decision due to the cost and time involved in keeping the website maintained and evolving.
The highlight of the afternoon was the well kept secret of Steve Kerton driving an F1 boat in the docks. There were a few tears visible from both male and female guests as the sound of a Mercury race engine once again vibrated between those granite walls; bringing back memories of those heady days of racing at Bristol.The event was a great success and we look forward to the next time
The existing website will continue to be accessible until the new one is finished. October saw the second Fast On water Golf Event, which again took place in Estoril, Portugal. There is now a Fast On Water Trophy in Memory of Alex Rodrigues (see pic), which will be held at Alex’s Club.
we can bring together so many of those who made the sport what it was. Photos from Bristol are available. 10x8 colour prints are £7.99 each. Please contact Roy Cooper at fastonwater@live.co.uk for contact sheet of images.
The Bristol event has now put us in a position where we can apply for Charity Commission registration, which we will be undertaking shortly. We will have the help of Sara Osborn, who has experience of making Charity Commission applications.
Steve Kerton and Roy Cooper attended this year’s Silverstone Classic but unfortunately both the Friday and Sunday were rain soaked days. None the less it was still worth attending as we made some new friends, met up with some old ones and signed up some new members. It also gave us the chance to have a quick catch up with our Patron, Louise Goodman.
Once we have our official Charity status, we can think about approaching the Heritage Lottery Fund with a bid, initially for funding for one year.
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Spectator Appeal A few suggestions from the Editor
those that decide to attend an event, whether it’s National or International.
I think we would all agree that circuit powerboat racing has a high degree of spectator appeal. In fact I would even go as far to say that in the past it has offered equal to, if not more than, F1 car racing.
Many of you would have heard me rave about the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). One of the reasons I am such an avid follower of the BTCC is the all out effort the organisers and teams make to give the spectators a value for money days racing.
So why does the National sport now find itself in a position where it struggles to get more than a few hundred at an event, and then only at one of its club venues?
They have six classes of racing spread over a single day. The BTCC hold three races on that day. Not three heats but three races, all counting towards the Championship. With ten events on the calendar that’s a total of 30 races over a season with 30 entrants on the grid. Included in the day is a one hour lunch period where fans can stroll through the pits, talk to the drivers and get autographs, posters, stickers etc.
Let’s think about the circuit racing events that put the sport on the map. London River Thames; London Victoria Docks; Paris, Rouen and of course Bristol. I think it’s obvious why these events were so successful – they took the sport to the people. Allowing those who had not even heard of circuit powerboat racing to witness firsthand what an amazing spectacle it can be. My first experience of circuit racing was at Bristol and here I am, still following the sport some 40 years on.
From where circuit racing is at the moment, it would be a steep hill to climb to offer the kind of day you get at a BTCC event. But City Centre venues abound in the UK and Local Authorities are desperate to bring revenue to their cities. Besides, how else will we attract new talent into the sport? How else will it be possible to attract sponsors?
So it’s as plain as the nose on your face where races need to be held to attract large numbers of spectators. But as many keep reminding me, times have moved on somewhat since the heady days of the 70s and 80s. People have so much more on offer to compete for their free time and money.
It’s time for the governing body and promoters to take a way more broader view of what will put circuit racing on the map. Using venues that are hard to get to and offer limited spectator enjoyment may be okay for many of those who take part but it certainly doesn’t help the sport reach a wider audience.
Surely then, that’s all the more reason to make the sport as appealing as possible to
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