1990. Unlimited Hydroplanes, fast as shrapnel!

Welcome to the special section “BAM 35 Years.” We are presenting “cult” articles from the Motor Boats archive, starting in 1990. A journey through time among stories unobtainable today, even in the great sea of the internet! A dive into the world of epic moments in motor boating. We begin with one of the stories we were most passionate about.

Unlimited: fast as shrapnel

From Boats to Motors 1990, no.3, May, pp. 90-96.

Unlimited in the U.S. means limitless, but it is also the name for out-of-the-ordinary racing boats. Born in America, these monstrous catamarans are based on simple recipes: ten meters long, four meters wide, all accompanied by big airplane engines. Put some of these prototypes in an oval arena and let them take off at more than 298 km/h., decibels and thrills will be guaranteed. On the track!

In the United States, the realm of motor sports, they have always been accustomed to exaggeration. In auto racing, rallyes and Formula One, cars of pushed performance and advanced technology are prepared with high-precision mechanics, veritable masterpieces worked out by computers and highly sophisticated machinery. In the U.S. where pragmatism triumphs, the most commonly used adjectives are: solid, spectacular and gigantic. The bodies enclose perfect mechanisms and powerful engines that have been spitting fire since the dawn of time. In the classic Indianapolis 500 or the Indy Formula Indy at Indianapolis, these beasts, quietly travel over 380 kilometers per hour without a hitch (about 70Km/h more than our best F1s), and still, stockcars, dragsters and big-foot races (whose specialty is jumping… on the roofs and hoods of touring cars) gather a vast audience. From all this buzz around speed and entertainment, powerboating certainly could not be left out. And while in offshore, there has always been great interest in the amount of work, ideas, technique and cunning applied to hulls, right now in the U.S., “Unlimited Hydroplanes” are going strong.

A star phenomenon

As usual, the Americans have chosen simple and spectacular ingredients: well-placed spectators, oval speed races, catamarans about 10 meters long by 4 meters wide, and airplane engines. The Unlimited circuit calendar consists of 10 races, from May to September, on artificial bodies of water. Towed by gleaming Peterbilt, Kenworth or Mack tractors and escorted by state police Harley-Davidsons, the hulls arrive on time at the race course for the first entertainment and qualifying outing, held the Friday and Saturday before the race. The boats, more commonly referred to as “Lobster,” a giant lobster that has suddenly risen out of the ocean, are set up on an inclined plane of the trailer, and to see them from a distance with their deliberately garish colors they make a very good likeness. Once at the dock, the trailers are then impeccably lined up perpendicular to the water, they will then serve as a mechanical base and haul-out for the boats. Around each Unlimited, a dozen men with perfectly synchronized movements get busy: whistles, timing gestures and in about fifteen minutes, the catamaran is in the water.

The ditching operation can take place dry on its trailer, or on a viable provided for the purpose. Meanwhile offshore, less than a hundred yards away, the circuit is ready for competition. The length of the racing circuit is about two miles and its configuration resembles, roughly, an oval and can be either: two buoys (two turns), three buoys (two 90° turns and a triangle), or four buoys (quadrangular circuit). In the center of the circuit stand the race direction units and first-aid lookouts crowded with frogmen. At a signal from the starter the green flag appears, signifying that the alignment for the start can begin: from left to right the “lobsters” are placed in the water one by one. Resolved in less than three minutes, the pilots enter the cockpit: full helmet, sealed and fireproof suit, mae-west, oxygen mask (four large reserve tanks are mandatory). A single dial on the instrument panel indicates the engine speed; equipment surrounds the pilot with belts, concave seat and radio system worthy of an airplane. Throughout the race the pilot is in communication with the team leader who tells him how to adjust, timing, position and tactics.

A deafening roar

Suddenly we enter another dimension, from afar the starter has hoisted another flag that is echoed by a trumpet blast. A roar, an explosion, the eardrums of spectators in distress. The “lobsters” have started their engines. “Miss Budweiser” e “Miss Winston” mount Lycoming turbojets (generally intended for large helicopters), “Miss Oh Boy” has “unleashed” her Rolls Royce 12-cylinder “V” with a three-stage supercharger (this is the engine that flew the famous British Spitfire), farther out there is “Miss Madison” with an Allison V 12 with two Holset compressors (the toy possesses 28 liters of displacement).A few seconds is enough to warm up the engines, but more time is needed for heat expansion.A full Lycoming turbine measures five meters, and the Rolls-Royce measures a full four. Given all the parts fire lances sail around the “cat.” Trouble? No, that’s part of the ceremonial, it’s just a matter of cooling the rear wing under which the nozzle sprouts so that it is not immediately reduced to a shapeless mush. Of course this is no small joke, and one of the crew chiefs modestly declares that his Lycoming turbine is powered by 2,650 horsepower. Now the camshaft of the Allison V12 is completely exposed, “don’t worry,” the mechanic continues, “it won’t break, those engines have thousands of flying hours on their shoulders and have been used during the war on Mustangs or Typhoons. So what do you want ten hours of running on the weekend?” At the qualifiers the four fastest “lobsters” are: “Miss Budweiser”, “Circus Circus”, “Winston” e “Mister Pringle’s”, all of them strictly equipped with Lycoming turbine engines and no doubt in the near future piston engines will disappear, the best of these “outdated” was “Miss Oh Boy” (a V12 Rolls-Spittire) who took only fifth place and pole position in the consolation race by achieving 217, 9 km/h average in one lap. Performance hardly comparable with “Miss Budweiser” (245.37 Km/h average) and with the highest top speed of “Miss Circus”: 298.33 Km/h detected over 1,500 meters of thrown course.

Ready, set, go!

All this takes place in Detroit on one of the most dangerous circuits in the States. The starter wields a white banner: order for competitors to line up and in order. Start. “Miss Budweiser” e “Miss Circus Circus” take off in a single second, while “Mr. Pringle’s” lags behind. His driver Scott Pierce, 33, the youngest of those in contention, strengthens and manages to catch up with the two competitors who are traveling side by side. Pierce tries to pass them by crossing the slipstream on the inside, but propelled by his own momentum he pushes forward, while the other two have already started the turn. Pierce doesn’t let up and pulls hard, full throttle. Speed 260 km/h. and in the wake of “Miss Bud”, her “cat” sways, then rises vertically leaning to starboard. You can hear the turbine whirring and it is just as she is in this position that the second wave, that of “Miss Circus”, catches him off balance. Everyone on the dock holds their breath, but the accident is inevitable.

“Mr. Pringle’s” soars through the air like a great bird at more than twelve meters, then lacking momentum he topples over, turns over and sinks into the billows with his belly in the air. The rescue vehicles waste no time, two lookouts leave the center of the circuit and drive very fast to the scene of the accident, two large Zodiacs of the team leave quickly from the pits , the Detroit firemen man the field with their fire lances, because during the breakdown the “lobsters” return to the dock with a large amount of unused kerosene, and with burning engines the risk of explosions is enormous. At almost the same time, about a hundred meters away, Scott Pierce is pulled from the boat by a safety hatch located below. A broken leg only. Lucky guy!

text by Jean-Louis Moncet-photos by Gilles Levant

• Check out all the articles from the BAM archive in this section.