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The Cowes-Torquay
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The Wood & Glass Years
1961 to 1970 |
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It all began in
1959/1960 whilst Max
Aitken, soon to
become Sir Max,
proprietor of the
Daily Express,
witnessed and
participated in the
Miami Nassau
Powerboat Race.
Together with John
Coote they
formulated rules for
a similar event to
take place on
England’s south
coast the following
year 1961. It would
be for craft of the
specification laid
down in the rules,
basically built
around the cabin
cruisers of the day
in order to develop
the designs into
safe seagoing
vessels. It was to
start at Cowes and
finish in Torquay,
where the Aitken
family had homes and
would be sponsored
by the Daily
Express. |
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The first
International Daily
Express Offshore
Powerboat Race was
scheduled to start
on August the 19th
and would be the
first race in modern
day Europe since the
1930’s. Of the 62
original entries, 27
came to the line off
the Royal Yacht
Squadron at 10am
that morning and off
they headed off into
the unknown and into
some severe
conditions, a fleet
composed of mostly
inexperienced crews,
amateur’s and
gentleman sportsmen
in some highly
unsuitable craft! |
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Seven hours and seventeen
minutes on the first boat
crossed the line at Torquay
and so was born one of the
most famous offshore races
of all time, the one they
all wanted to win, The
Cowes-Torquay and with it
the Beaverbrook Trophy
(above left).The winner of
the first race was Tommy
Sopwith, ex Jaguar sports
car racer and son of the
aviation pioneer Sir Thomas
Sopwith. His boat
Thunderbolt was a
strengthened version of a
Ray Hunt designed Bruce
Campbell Christina 25,
powered by 2 Cadillac
Crusaders totalling 650 hp,
the course was covered at a
speed of 21.4 knots which
prompted the comment from
Sir Thomas that he was doing
twice the speed in the
Thirties when he was racing
in the Gold Cup! Tommy
responded that they were not
in force 5 conditions and
miles out to sea! |
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By 1962 with the race in
only its second year, it was
attracting major entries,
from the USA and Italy and
names soon to become legends
in the marine world were
building their reputations
in the Cowes Torquay…Jim
Wynn, Sonny Levi. Dick
Bertram. Don Shead Tommy
Sopwith .Charles Curry and
Peter Twiss the air speed
record holder and test
pilot. The list of entrants
grew each year along with
the stature of the race.
Although problems loomed
soon after the 62 race when
Dick Wilkins entry, the
mighty Vosper built
Tramontana with twin Italian
CRM’s totalling 2000+hp
stormed ahead to win and
make a mockery of the rules.
The result being, the
application of a 1000hp
limit and capacity
regulations for petrol and
diesel engines, which were
put in place for the ‘63
race. |
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In 1963 a new
Tramontana appeared
with four Jaguar E
type engines
producing in total
1000hp but also
entered was one
Sonny Levi in
A’Speranziella his
61/62 entry but
totally remodelled,
strengthened and
powered by twin Ford
Interceptors
totalling
800hp…lessons were
being learned about
a boats behaviour in
offshore conditions
and these were being
put into practice by
the now established
offshore designers.
It was third time
lucky for Levi! Also
in the fleet that
year were two
brothers Charles and
Jimmy Gardner in a
Bertram 25' called
Scorpion. In 1964
and driving an
identical boat to
Dick Bertram’s Lucky
Moppie they stormed
the finish at
Torquay minutes
behind Bertram but
their mount
Surfrider won as the
American had shot
past on the wrong
side of the marker
and had to retrace
his route and pass
the right side! The
score so far was
England three, rest
of the world one. |
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Tramontana I
courtesy Graham
Stevens. |
Tramontana II
courtesy Graham
Stevens. |
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By 1965 it was not only the
Cowes race that attracted
major entries, The Wills
Trophy, the Round the
Island, Southern Speed
Trophy and races for the up
and coming Class 3 racers
had large entries but it was
still Cowes that drew the
best the world had to offer
and the spectators in their
thousands along the coast to
watch the “BIG ONE”. |
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Blue Moppie
courtesy Graham
Stevens. |
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It was 1965 that saw Dick
Bertram conquer this race,
he had been in there at the
start, first with Glass
Moppie then Blue Moppie ,
Lucky Moppie in the 64
fiasco, this year it was
Brave Moppie 38ft long and
powered by 2 Cummings
Detroit Diesels, the first
win by a diesel engined
craft. .The race was a
battle royal between Bertram
and again the Gardner Bros
in their new Levi Designed
Surfury, destined to become
one of the most famous
powerboats of all time but
it was Bertram who beat the
others this year, Merrick
Lewis was second in
Thunderbird a FORMULA boat
designed by Don Aronow
(remember that name) and
Surfury 3rd after suffering
engine problems. |
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1966 saw the Yanks beat us
again but with a British
built boat, those master
builders at Cowes the Souter
family had built Ghost Rider
for American sportsman Hugh
Doyle and it was designed
and driven by none other
than Jim Wynn who also cut
his teeth in 1961 with YOYO
and had entered every race
since. Driving the race of
his life, with Bob Sherbert
braced into the corner of
the cockpit with broken
ankles after landing badly
off a rogue wave, he urged
Wynn to carry on. Neither of
them knew that Surfury had
retired with a smashed
engine mounting and Flying
Fish had sunk off Portland
Bill such were the
conditions in what turned
out to be one of the
roughest races so far in its
history….The second boat
home was Spirit Of Ecstasy
entered and driven by Steve
Macey who had also entered
every year since 1961. |
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Come 1967 and subsequent
rule changes had allowed the
American open style racers
into the fray Class OP1 and
2 joined the cruisers but
they would not compete for
the famous Beaverbrook
Trophy only points towards
the world championship but
who won?, none other than
Surfury now in her Third
year of racing , a famous
victory for all concerned
and the second time the
Gardeners had won the race.
Surfury was regarded as the
most advanced design of the
time with her Levi Delta
hull and twin Daytona’s
driving near 1000hp thro’ a
single shaft, she was the
epitome of the state of play
in a rapidly changing
offshore racing world.
Levi’s design’s had changed
current thinking but lurking
in the wings was Don Shead
who had owned and raced Levi
designs i.e. Trident and
Delta 28, he was currently
designing class 3 boats and
success was coming with his
Avenger designs, 1968 was to
be the start of his climb up
the ladder….. |
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The ‘68 race saw another
rough ride but this time the
Cowes Torquay had another
sting in the tail, it did
not finish at Torquay, the
fleet had to return home to
Cowes a total of 230 miles!
Flashing into the lead was
Surfury again racing against
Italian Vincenzo Balestrieri
in White Tornado, a Don
Aronow designed and built
Cary but as they headed out
into Lyme bay a small 25ft
Don Shead designed and
Souter built craft driven by
Tommy Sopwith (the 1961
winner) took Telstar the
smoother inshore route to
Torquay. Unseen by the
Gardner's and Balestrieri he
avoided the boat breaking
direct route, that was to
condemn White Tornado to a
watery grave and give
Surfury one of her roughest
rides. Sopwith won the race
for the second time, no mean
feat in those conditions for
a single engined boat and
one hell of a shock for the
Gardner's when they arrived
at Cowes thinking they had
won! |
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The CTC as the race was now
known was reaching its
zenith and 1969 saw the
American dominance surge to
the fore again bringing with
it the mighty Cigarette and
Don Aronow, already World
Champion and building some
of the most successful boats
on the offshore scene he
stormed to victory in record
time, 3hrs 33 minutes at a
speed of 66mph…Also racing
that day were several new
designs, one from Don Shead
, Miss Enfield, an aluminium
hull with 2 V8 Mercruiser
Inboard Outboards. Miss
Enfield was the start of a
revolution in hull building
that was to dominate the
70’s and although
unsuccessful in this race
The ENFIELD concern of John
Goulandris built some of the
fastest mono hulls that
competed in the 70’s. |
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We finish this instalment
with 1970, a race in which
more records were broken,
one of the largest fleets to
start , a 3rd victory for
one of its most popular
contenders , Tommy Sopwith
at the wheel of Miss Enfield
2, a development of the
original boat and still the
majority of craft, cruiser
based . |
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The start of the new decade
saw the boats still racing
to the original rules with
some minor and major tweaks
along the way but this would
change as rapidly in the
years to come, as had the
racing in the past 10 years,
the emergence of Don Shead
as the No1 designer and with
him the Italian dominance,
even higher speeds and the
birth of the CAT. |
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