NOTES:
A hardy congratulation goes out to Henry Lauterbach. Henry will be inducted into the (state of) Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. An honor, he well deserves!!

VINTAGE TRIVIA: 
The vintage trivia question from last month was: 
Which raceboat put more drivers into the Gulf 100 MPH Club than any other boat? 
Answer: The Foulke’s 266 hydro Sagana. Inductees were: 1952, Frank and Mildred Foulke; 1953, Bill Ritner Sr.; 1954, Al Bauer, Merlyn Culver, and Henry Lauterbach.

CHALLENGES:
Buddy Byers of Columbus, OH is looking for information and needs an engine for Emma Ho, Kentucky built in 1909 or 1910. This 29 foot long and 40 inches wide race boat set a speed record running from Cincinnati, OH to Louisville KY in July of 1910 in 249 minutes. During the day reach Buddy at (614) 228-5111.

ON A SAD NOTE:
One of the great Inboard and Unlimited hydroplane drivers, Jim Kropfield, age 58, lost his battle with cancer on January 3, 1999. Jim garnered 22 Unlimited victories, and three Unlimited National Driving Championships. Certainly one of the shining moments in his limited career happened at Lake Maggorie in St. Petersburg, FL on February 11, 1979. Jim dominated in three classes, winning the 2.5 mods, 225 hydro and the 7 Litre Division II classes. That weekend Jim was pretty much a one man show for the Southland Sweepstakes Regatta setting competition records in two of the three classes. This Cincinnati, Ohio racer won many High Point and National Championships from Grand Prix thru the smaller 225 ci hydro classes. Jim was also a multiple inductee into the APBA Hall of Champions. His racing record is remarkable! Jim drove everything from the early conventional inboard hydros on the Ohio River to the space age Turbine powered Gold Cup racers of today. 

BILL NORTHUP SPECIAL REPORT:                 THE QUEST FOR THE RECORDS 
In the early 1950’s there seemed to be a concerted effort among boat racers everywhere to see who could break the existing water speed and be tops in their classes. Here in North America the Unlimited Hydroplane record was set by Stanley Sayres of Seattle WA in his Slo-mo-shun IV at 178+ mph. The Limited Classes of hydroplane’s best record was set by Bobby Sykes in his 266 class hydro Guess Who at 121+ mph. The Slo-Mo was 28 feet long and powered by an Allison aircraft engine of WW2. The Guess Who by an automotive V8 Mercury engine of 266 cu.in. displacement. This was the best we could do then.
 At that time in Italy some truly amazing performances were accomplished regarding speed on water. In December 1952 Mario Verga’s friend, Ezio Selva, in an 800 KG Class hydroplane he built himself named Moschettiere set a kilo straightaway record of 121.02 mph on Lake Lugano at Campione d’Italia. (A record has to be a two way average speed through a measured straight course.) Selva’s hydroplane design, as all the Italian boats, was heavily influenced by American boats that went to Italy to race in the late 1940s and were so successful. Bob Bogie and Paul Sawyer let the Italians take the lines off their boats and this proved to be a tremendous help for the Italian sportsman racers as their designs were hopelessly outdated.
 Selva’s’ Moschettiere was powered by two 2250 cc BPM racing engines mounted in tandem. The combined displacement was 274.5 cu.in. Very close to our North American 266 Class Flathead V8 Mercurys in use.
 The Italians classed their racers according to a maximum weight with no restrictions as to engine size in their largest class of hydroplanes. They did have smaller classes rated according to engine displacement. They had no restrictions as to cost. In North America we were restricted in engine size and cost, a big factor, as well as a minimum size of the hull. On the continent the big crowd pleaser was the 800 KG class (later upped to 900 KG) which is about 1760 pounds total weight. They used Maserati, Alfa Romeo, and Ferrari racing engines with no cost limits.
 In January 1953 Mario Verga took his 800 KG hydro named Laura I through the kilo course at Campione d’ Italia on Lake Lugano to a new record of 125.72 mph eclipsing his friend Selva’s record. Verga’s engine was an Alfa Romeo Formula 1 type 159, one of the worlds most famous racing engines. It was a straight 8 cylinder double overhead cam 2 stage supercharged engine of 1500 cc. 91.5 cu.in. Yes, only 91.5 cu.in. that put out an astounding 420 hp at 9000 rpm!!
 Verga had some handling problems on those runs so the hull went back to the shop for modifications. Two weeks later on 15 February 1953, with the hull lengthened to improve handling, Verga went back on the kilo course at Campione d’Italia for another record attempt. The lake was perfect that day and Laura I‘s engine was performing superbly. Verga blistered the course. The first speed was 143 mph and the next 137.77 mph for an average of 140.38 mph. To realize the full significance of this performance we must compare Verga’s Laura I with only 91.5 cu.in. and a North American 266 class hydro fuel injected V8 Mercury Flathead of 266 cu.in. The hulls were both similar in size. The Laura I record of 140+ and Sykes’ Guess Who 266 class record of 121+. Verga’s performance with Laura I was phenomenal at the time. Of course his record was broken later, but, it took Dr. Castoldi (Italy) and his Arno XI with a Ferrari V12 to do it.
 Verga, Selva and Castoldi came to race in Miami at the Orange Bowl Regatta December 1953. Verga’s Laura I won the Baker Palladium Trophy. Within a year in Italy Verga was killed while attempting a water speed record with a new Laura 3 powered by two of type 159 Alfa engines. He was doing over 180 mph when the hull became airborne and crashed.
 Selva came here to race his Moschettiere in the later 1950’s and was not successful even though his new hydro was powered by the same Alfa Romeo type 159 as Verga’s was. He was killed during the 1957 Orange Bowl Regatta in Miami when his Moschettiere became airborne and crashed.
 The death of these two Italian Sportsmen Racers was a serious loss to the world of boat racing and was deeply felt by all in the sport. However, in the early 1960’s hydroplane racing in Italy had a resurgence and enjoyed halcyon years of racing.
 Today there is much interest growing in finding and restoring vintage raceboats. We here in the US are a little ahead of the guys in Europe, but not by much. There are quite a few there that have, for several years now, been restoring and racing these vintage hydroplanes. Indro and Eric Manzoni have been pushing their friends to get organized. In 1998 the Federazioni Italiana Motonautica appointed Guido Romani to head up their new Historic Division. Meets have been scheduled in 1999 in Milano and Campione d’Italia. This is just the well-needed start.

VINTAGE HOT BOAT OF THE MONTH:
Laura I, Z-62. 800 KG class. This painting was done by Bill Northup of Mario Verga’s record run on Lake Lugano. The 46th anniversary of Mario and the Laura I‘s 140+ mph record run is February 15, 1999. Laura I was a Abbate hull, a copy of Paul Sawyer’s Alter Ego.

©1999 Tom D'Eath