Warby’s historic run unseated the American boat Hustler and pilot Lee Taylor, who was the first person to overcome Donald Campbell and the Blue Bird K7, the latter of which had set consecutive records from July 1955 to December 1964. Prior to 1978, America and Britain continually went back and forth as record holders, until Warby claimed the record for Australia. Even in the face of such deadly odds, motorboat enthusiasts all over the globe covet the World Unlimited Water Speed Record, many of whom put everything on the line every year in an attempt to reach new speeds. Despite this, Warby wanted to become the first Australian to set the record. Even Donald Campbell, Warby’s childhood hero and the British land and water speed record holder (who held consecutive water speed world records from 1955 to 1964), died attempting to set another record in 1967 after his boat went airborn mid-run. Since the 1930s, 85 percent of all who have attempted to set a new record have met their end. The act of setting such a record is extremely dangerous. The Westinghouse Aviation Gas Turbine Division developed the engine in 1940, engineering it to produce more than 3,000 pounds of thrust, which explains how the tiny wooden craft was able to move so quickly. In order to achieve such an incredible speed, Spirit of Australia had to be outfitted with a powerful engine - a Westinghouse J34 jet engine, in fact. Therefore, Warby’s second run was even faster than the official record - 328 mph, to be exact - when he set the record in Australia. It’s worth noting, however, that two separate one-kilometer runs must be recorded in order to qualify for the World Unlimited Water Speed Record, and the average speed of both run becomes the official speed. On October 8, 1978, on the Tumut River near Sydney, Warby took the boat up to a blistering 317.59 miles per hour - shattering the previous record of 288.59 miles per hour set a year prior. Yet, despite the fact that today’s speed boaters have drastically better technology at their disposal, nobody has been able to beat a record set in 1978.īelieve it or not, the current World Unlimited Water Speed Record was set by an Australian motorboat racer named Ken Warby, in a wooden boat called the Spirit of Australia that he built in his back yard. Unfazed by the extreme danger involved with attempting such a feat, boaters continue to chase the record today, building ever more advanced machines in hopes of stealing the title. Since the 1910s, daring souls have been pushing boats to their absolute limits in pursuit of the illustrious World Unlimited Water Speed Record.
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