Casalini Carlo n° 3 – 1961
Class KD 800KG. – Scafo Timossi – powered by Maserati 450S- 8 cylinder, 5600 cc
Hood Open
I always liked the idea of a engine cowling that opens like a race car hood for easy access to the engine bay. Pulling off these engine cowlings can be a bit tricky (especially when the boat is in the water) and then one needs to find a place to set them once they come off that won’t be kicked over, stepped on, etc.
Here’s some pics Mr. Phil Kunz emailed to me after I was grumbling to him how tricky it would be to set up my hydro up to do just that:
racer cheats death at 130mph
Astonishing moment powerboat racer cheats death at 130mph in spectacular crash on same lake where Bluebird pilot Donald Campbell was killed
Keith Whittle had just set a new record for Formula 2 class in 200hp boat
But his boat flipped one and a half times through the air in Lake District
Hundreds of spectators watched on Friday as Whittle escaped unscathed
Donald Campbell lost control of his Bluebird on same lake stretch in 1967
By Mark Duell
Adrenaline junkie Keith Whittle had just set a new record for the Formula 2 class in his 200hp boat named Pepstar when he spectacularly flipped on Coniston Water in the Lake District. His boat somersaulted one a half times through the air before landing top-down on the water, in an accident witnessed by hundreds of spectators on Friday. Mr Whittle escaped unscathed but shaken. It happened on the same stretch of Coniston that claimed the life of speed record ace Donald Campbell, who lost control of his Bluebird at more than 300mph in January 1967. He already held the water speed record of 276mph and was trying to beat it. His boat was named after the car in which his father Sir Malcolm Campbell had set what was then a land speed record of 146mph in 1924. Martin Campbell, who witnessed the crash, said: ‘Your initial response is hoping the driver gets out and he did but it is still quite shocking when it happens.
‘Most drivers carry oxygen but Keith didn’t need it, he managed to get out straight away. It all happened in an instance and he was a bit shaken up.
Coniston Power Boat Records Week is the only event in the Powerboat Racing Calendar to bring together all classes of boat.
Jim Noone, chief technical measurer, added: ‘Keith was trying hard for the record and when you’re right on the edge these things can happen.
‘But the safety element has advanced in the past ten years and crashes like this are very survivable. He was a bit shaken and a bit cold but other than that he was fine. ‘The water conditions were perfect and there were nine records set through the week and Keith had at least two of them.
‘The high speed runs are always exciting and you have a mixture of relief and elation – it was the last run of the week and certainly the most dramatic.’
50 years of Boat Racing History
Worth a read & reflection – page 17 in the Nov issue of Propeller magazine:
– 50 Years of Boat Racing History – by W. Melvin Crook.
The article was written in 1953(?) for the 50th Anniversary of the American Power Boat Association (born 1903).