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Brief history of HTS 11
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HTS 11 was one of two famous
offshore racing powerboats which
were commissioned by an equally
famous powerboat racer of the time,
Ralph Hilton. The two boats were
known as HTS and HTS 11 and are both
Class 11 offshore racing powerboats. |
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HTS was built around 1970 and was
longer, wider and heavier than HTS
11. It was a famous boat in its day
and now resides in The National
Motorboat Museum, Pitsea as APACHE
the winner of the Class 2
Championships driven by Davd Hagan.
One of its many successes was
winning the 1972 London to Monte
Cario Race. |
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It still features in many historic
articles and was used by Ford and
Sabre to advertise their racing
marine diesel engines for many
years.
HTS 11 was built around 1972 from a
racing hull design by Mike Bellamy
and was built by Souters of Cowes.
It was designed for Ralph Hilton to
be lighter and faster than its
sister boat HTS. |
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In particular, it was designed to be
fast in rough weather when racing
and its objective was to obtain the
World Speed Record for a diesel
powered boat.
HTS 11 is 30 feet long, less than 7
feet wide and weighs approximately 2
tons. It is constructed from cold
moulded marine ply. This method of
construction, which is still used by
race boats today, was developed for
fast patrol boats in World War 11.
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In her day HTS 11 was considered
revolutionary in many of her design
features. In 1973 HTS 11 obtained
the World Speed Record at Lake
Windermere of 73 mph for a diesel
powered boat. At that time HTS 11
was fitted with 2 Ford Sabre 6
cylinder 250HP diesel engines and
outdrive legs. |
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HTS 11 also had many offshore racing
successes over the years and was
driven by many of the famous names
in powerboat racing. Her last race
was in 1981 when she is reported to
have won. By that time the 2 diesel
engines had been replaced with a
single American Mercury full race
454 cu in 550HP petrol engine and
racing outdrive, and was capable of
speeds in excess of 80MPH. |
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I purchased HTS 11 in 1984 as a
complete boat, Mercury engine,
outdrive and trailer. It was my
intention to refit HTS 11 and return
to Offshore Powerboat Racing.
However, lack of time, money, and a
family prevented me from both
refitting HTS 11 and returning to
powerboat racing. |
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To bring this short history up to
date, HTS 11 has spent the entire
time since 1984 sitting on her
trailer, part of the time undercover
and part of the time outdoors. I was
obliged to store HTS 11 outdoors on
a farm for the past 5 years and
could not get access, during which
time both HTS 11 and the trailer
declined due to weather and a
careless farmer!
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Present state of the project. |
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As you will see from the
photographs, HTS 11 is sitting on
her trailer. She has remained on her
trailer since the last time she left
the water in 1984. |
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Everything was in working order in
1984 but has not been removed or
used since.
HTS 11 comprises a cold moulded
marine ply hull and marine ply
superstructure. It is fitted with
flexible polymer fuel tanks located
in the sides of the hull with
galvanised pipe fuel lines and
filters. It has four racing standup
positions, one for driver,
navigator, trim operator and a
spare. It uses 12 volt batteries for
starting, running, bilge pumps and
hydraulics. It also has power
steering and 2 hydraulic trim tabs. |
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HTS 11 is fitted with one Mercury
racing 454cu in/7.4 litre (Chevy big
block based) engine with Thunderbolt
electronic ignition, twin Gill water
cooled racing headers (exhausts) and
one single Holley 4 barrel
carburettor. The engine also
comprises a Hank the Crank steel
forged racing crankshaft, Carillo
rods, forged steel pistons, Crane
high lift camshaft and gasflowed
cylinder heads. |
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Its last rebuild was by Weslakes
about 1980 and was dyno'd at 550HP
at the shaft. ( The engine was
originally fitted with Kinsler fuel
injection and was set up to run on
Avgas and was reckoned to give
650+HP). The engine has not run or
been touched since 1984. |
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The outdrive leg on HTS 11 is a
matching Mercury(Mercruiser) Mk 3
racing top with a commercial bottom
end (fitted as a temporary measure
by the previous owner) and an
aluminium propeller. The commercial
leg limits the speed to about 60mph
when cavitation occurs. The
aluminium propeller is completely
wrong and virtually useless. |
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The racing rig is complete with a
very good 4 wheel braked road
trailer. |
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Restoration work required. |
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1. HULL & SUPERSTRUCTURE
The hull requires a survey by either
a marine surveyor or specialist
boatyard for soundness. There is a
small area of damage to the hull and
a previous repair needs inspecting.
The deck has some rot and probably
needs replacing. The superstructure
also has bad rot and requires
replacing.
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2. ENGINE
The engine requires removing from
the boat, completely stripping and
rebuilding. It will require new
hoses, alternator and starter motor. |
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3. OUTDRIVE LEG
The outdrive leg should be ok. it
could be run with the existing
outdrive leg with the addition of a
better stainless steel propeller.
However, to restore it correctly it
requires a new set of drive gears
for the top half (gearbox end) and a
replacement (second hand rebuilt
unit) Speedmaster Ill racing lower
leg. If a Speedmaster Ill racing
lower leg is fitted it should really
have, to achieve maximum speed, a
hand made stainless steel racing
propeller but it might be possible
to use a more economical
off‑the‑shelf stainless steel
performance propeller. |
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4. FUEL TANKS & PIPES
The flexible fuel tanks will have to
be removed and inspected. All of the
galvanised fuel pipes and stop cocks
will have to be removed and
replaced. The fuel filters will have
to removed and cleaned. |
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5. POWER STEERING & TRIM TABS
The power steering will need
checking for leaks and correct
operation. The twin hydraulic trim
tabs will need to be dismantled and
rhay require new oil seals and oil. |
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6. ELECTRICS
If the superstructure is replaced it
will be necessary to remove the
12volt wiring system to the cockpit
dials, switches, navigation lights,
etc. |
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7. TRAILER
The trailer is very good on the road
but was not built for HTS it. The
trailer requires lengthening so that
the boat sits further back over the
twin axles. It also needs the hubs
and brakes overhauling and finally,
stripping and painting. |
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