Have previous water speed record boats approached full potential?

Have jet hydroplanes approached their true speed potential?

http://www.americanjetcars.com/arfons/art/art61.htm

Unfortunately, lack of sponsorship prevented a record attempt by Arfons.

http://www.racingcampbells.com/content/campbell.archives/index.asp

http://www.users.myisp.co.uk/~climengs/bluebird/coniston.htm

www.kenwarby.com

http://www.lesliefield.com/personalities/lee_taylor_lee_taylor_hurt_in_record_run.htm

 

thanks for the links Franklin!
not a new issue eighter but http://www.popularmechanics.com/outdoors/boating/1277281.html?page=1&c=y talks about Russ and Wicks still fighting it out
about fast, my god whats wrong whit my glasfiber i-net connection....

 

Oh, they can still go faster, of course. It's just a matter of whether or not we want the pilot to survive. And whether anything that goes faster (or, indeed, a lot of current jet hydroplanes) are actually boats, or if they're aircraft that happen to bump into the water now and then.

 

Yes, they're boats.

Considering what happened to John Cobb, Donald Campbell, Lee Taylor and Craig Arfons, they're definitely not airplanes.

 

You may have forgotten a few names Franklin!


NAD

 

Other names

Mario Vega.

 

I'm sure it can go up......but in very small amounts and at what cost???

 

Airplanes

I'm a pilot. Trust me, a jet hydroplane is a boat. They depend on contact with the water for roll and directional control. Airplanes don't.

 

Look it's a plane...no it's a boat?

A Jet Hydro is definately not a plane given the fact that if they fly they usually kill the driver...They are however flying within the phenomonamana known as Ground Effect and are of a sort a ground effect craft. It may be a good time for the UIM to properly state what a boat is and is not before someone buys one of those Russian eukranoplan's and trys to break the WWSR with one. Seems like I read somewhere they could travel between 300 to 500 mph in ground effect. Should state that some surface of the craft should have a portion extension or part thereof in contact with the water for directional control...whether it be the bottom of the hull, a hydrofoil, fin or rudder should not matter. jmo

NAD

 

I was the shipwright for the Aus Maritime Museum at one stage, and they have Ken Warbys boat. We were in discussions with him, this was about 18 years ago, he seemed to think then that his record would not be broken as it was simply just too dangerous at the speed that he obtained. He was an exceptional driver, I feel for his advice, it is most likely correct. There have been unofficial claims made, but no official runs that I have heard of, he is the king.

 

Breaking the record

Lee Taylor made a one-way pass of 299 mph through the kilo with Hustler in the process of setting his record. Campbell clocked 297 on his next to last run.

http://www.users.myisp.co.uk/~climengs/bluebird/coniston.htm

"Before Bluebird flipped it was estimated that she was travelling at 320mph. However, the action which probably caused the ‘lift off’ was that of Campbell, sensing disaster was imminent, reducing thrust. This caused the nose to rise and therefore created more airflow beneath the hull than pressure on top, which would normally keep the nose in the water. Ken Norris also suggests that had Campbell not reduced thrust, but applied the water brake first, he may have stabilised Bluebird enough to survive the incident. When Bluebird was salvaged, it was discovered that the water brake had indeed been applied, but Campbell was probably airborne by then."

 

Increments

The Thrust SSC team raised the LSR by over 140 mph with one car. I'm sure with the right design a similar increment could be attained for the WSR with a single boat.

 

Ken Warby is an Australian motorboat racer, who currently holds the Water speed record of 317.60 miles per hour (511.13 kilometres per hour). ...

 

Warby's boat

Warby's boat certainly reached its potential.

 

Latest news from his web site is that he wants to have another go......
http://www.kenwarby.com/

WOW. I guess he is just intoxicated by it all, can only wish him all the very best!