Dave Warby returns to Tumut's Blowering Dam for the unveiling and trial of his new boat on November 7-8.
In case you missed our recent edition, we have run our story here plus added a new video at the bottom.
If you have not seen the Spirit of Australia II in action, be sure to set aside this November weekend for a look, it is highly impressive.
Refined Boat for Water Speed Record
WHEN the Spirit of Australia II returns to Tumut’s Blowering Dam for more trials, observers will notice a significant change to the boat with a recently fitted new tail plane.
Dave Warby will re-commence his quest to break his father’s world water speed record, and with this new addition to the boat Dave expects this to be a key element to eventually eclipse the 511.10 kilometres per hour his father Ken set in 1978.
To get technical, Dave said the crew have built a cage frame mounted deep into the boat which he described as “quite a significant structure.” The tail plane itself is made of strengthened aircraft aluminium and is relatively light in weight.
“We went as long as we could and as fast as we could without one safely,” said Dave.
“Now we really need one on it – now we are pushing into 300 mph and beyond. That’s where we have been doing a lot of fabrication. We are just going over absolutely everything to make sure it’s right for the next time we come down.”
On the weekend they return for testing, Dave said they are “not just going to go out and floor it and hope it goes as good.”
“We will just gradually build it up over one day and on the Sunday if all going well, I am sure we will increase the speed to what we done last time.”
Their last outing reached a speed of just over 400 kmh.
“It will just give us more aerodynamic stability. I think that was a part that had been missing from our last run. Dad never run ‘Spirit of Australia’ over 180mph without the plane on it. We’re pushing 250 without it. We really wanted to do it to get some data on how the boat feels and what it needs and everything it told me in the cockpit matches up with the theory. So, we have matched up the practical with the theory and we are heading in the right direction with it.”
Dave has always stated the boat has ample speed. “If I had kept pushing the throttle it definitely would have gone over, you could keep accelerating and go faster, the problem is the slow down. The back of the boat moved around a bit slowing down from 400kph. So that is where we knew we had an aerodynamic imbalance in the boat. This will fix it.”
The team cannot plan exactly how their future schedule will look, and when they will attempt the record. But Dave said that three more trials at Tumut should see them in a position to be running on record pace so they know they can break the record.
“I want to know the boat is doing the numbers comfortably before I call for a record, because it is going to be a circus when that happens. I wouldn’t want to do that and have the boat not going to produce. When we call for the record, the boat will do the record.”
When: November 7-8
Where: Blowering Dam, Tumut
You can follow the team at Warby Motorsport Facebook and stay tuned to Snowy Mountains Magazine for future updates.
https://youtu.be/S26CJt0CHc4
