Records Week begins on Coniston Water
by Scott Kirk, Westmorland Herald on 3 Nov 2010
Team 26 Racing in action in Malta Team 26
Coniston Records Week - Event organisers have not even released the entry list so far but local newspaper the Westmorland Herald has been able to get some news. Here is an extract from their story.
Motorboat drivers will be doing their all to break world records at Coniston Water this week.
The annual Records Week began today outside the Coniston Boating Centre, and one Canterbury team is hoping to smash the Water Speed Record.
P1 Powerboat Team, Team 26, led by Daniel Cramphorn is set for its record shot on November 4 and 5, using their Bluebird vessel.
The attempt by Team 26 is a world speed record for a boat of its class, a Donzi 38ZR competition model built in Florida. These boats are built for endurance and speed and compete in the water equivalent of the Formula 1 Racing series. With an overall length of 13 metres (43 feet) and a hull of 12 metres (38.3 feet) the boat is powered by 2 X 8.2 litre Fuel Injected Supercharged V8's engines.
The current world speed record for this class of boat is 89.69mph set by the American Hustler Powerboats Team in 2008. Daniel and Team 26 hope to blow this record out of the water by aiming to set a new record of 100mph.
'P1 is an endurance sport but one where endurance and speed are vital factors to winning. We hope to set a new record for this class which will last a number of years, and claiming it for England is important,' Mr Cramphorn said.
The record is set by taking two runs of the one kilometre course and the overall speed is achieved from the average speed of two back to back runs.
The course is open to various classes throughout the week and for safety reasons only one boat can be on the water at any one time.
Mr Cramphorn will be part of a two man team with partner Kim Collins, who will work the throttles and navigate.
'Driving these boats at such high speeds for so long really is a team effort and one where you learn to trust your partner completely. The speed attempt at Coniston is different from our usual form of racing, but one which relies equally on those characteristics to make a world record winning team,' Mr Cramphorn added.
http://www.conistonpowerboatrecords.co.uk/
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