Hydroplane Events for 2008

May 6th, 2008

CraigSpeller2

Sat17May

National Round 2 (St Helens) Liverpool Powerboat Racing Club @ 9:00 AM

Sat28Jun

Round 1 OSY400 European Championship (San Nazzaro ITALY) @ 9:00 AM

Sat19Jul

National Round 3 (Kingsbury Water Park) Midlands Powerboat Racing Club @ 9:00 AM

Sat2Aug

British Sprint Championship (Stewartby Water Sports Club) @ 9:00 AM

Round 2 OSY400 European Championship (Komarno SLOVAKIA) @ 9:00 AM

Sat9Aug

SPECIAL EVENT (Chesire Water Festival) @ 9:00 AM

Sat16Aug

WORLD OSY400 CHAMPIONSHIP (Grunau BERLIN) @ 9:00 AM

Sat6Sep

Round 3 OSY400 European Championship (Jedovnice CZECH REP) @ 9:00 AM

Sun7Sep

Battle Of Britain (Oulton Broad) @ 9:00 AM

Sat27Sep

National Round 4 (Stewartby Water Sports Centre) @ 9:00 AM

Mon3Nov

Coniston Record Week @ 9:00 AM

The new Project 21 Hydroplanes

May 6th, 2008

Craig-21-58

Both of the new boats were on show at Bedford at the weekend of 12/13 April , both Craig and Danny gave them a good trial in some very rough conditions and both were very pleased with the performance.

XLR8 Home loans Australian F1 Superboat Series

May 1st, 2008

AusF1-2806

There’s nothing like red hot racing to warm up a cold weather city and Geelong was hit with ice cold wind and the heat from the XLR8 Home loans Australian F1 Superboat Series in the second part of the day.
Thankfully, the somewhat scary forecast of rain and hail failed to materialize with even the wind dropping to barely a zephyr.

In front of a sizeable and welcoming crowd of in access of 10,000 people, eager to see racing in Geelong for the first time under the F1 Superboat Series auspices, race 1 for the F1 Superboats consisted of a strong field including Shane Vella (Shane Vella Racing) that showed the pace setting pole position in qualifying with a time of 26.23 followed by Rhys Coles (Byron Bay Premium Ale) 26.50, Damien McKenzie (McKenzie Construction) qualified in third spot 27.19 closely followed by Jon Tsaccounis (XLR8 Home Loans #12) 27.19, Anthony McEnnally (Watersports Marine) in 5th spot, Dean Trickey (Watersports Marine) 30.26, Craig Truslove (XLR8 Home Loans #11) failing to qualify due to power steering issues but showed good speed. Failing also to qualify was Gavin Bricker (Bricker Racing) that seem to have his boat dialed in but was forced to retire after hitting an object in the water and damaging his front sponson. Problems also for Todd Boer (Jet Worx Marine) that was experiencing a mechanical vibration and did not qualify. When the flag dropped it was Shane Vella and Rhys Coles that had the jump and would dice it out for several laps with Shane Vella ended up victorious, Rhys Coles in 2nd spot, Damien Mckenzie holding 3rd place and a consistent drive, Craig Truslove put on a charge from the back of the field only to run out of fitness still suffering with steering issues and finished in 4th Anthony McEnnally 5th , Place Dean Tricky consistent in 6th Jon Tsaccounis 7th and Todd Boer in 8th.

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Media Day will take place on Friday 25 April 2008 12.00pm – 2.00pm Steam Packet Gardens Corio Bay Waterfront Geelong

April 23rd, 2008

Australian F1

Meet the Drivers with their F1 Machines on display

Autograph signings

Opportunity to get up close with the Superboats

Interviews

Photo opportunities

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An Appeal To Reason, A Cool Look At Global Warming

April 9th, 2008

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This is an important book, not least because it presents a view for reason which has been censored in many countries. The author begins by saying that his three previous books, in different genre, were published eagerly by British publishers, but that this latest book was flatly rejected by every British publisher even with the promotion of an outstanding literary agent. His experience has been shared by others who have found difficulty in being published on political and economic subjects in Britain, where their unfashionable views and conclusions have later proved to be well-founded. It is therefore fortunate that the author continued his search for a publisher with determination. Peter Mayer, the proprietor of The Overlook Press in New York, is to be thanked for having the courage to stand against a new and intolerant fundamentalist faith by publishing “An Appeal To Reason” through the old-established London publishing house, which he also owns. The Church of Global Warming will undoubtedly rage against a very well-reasoned book and may claim that the father of a television cook is hardly qualified to write on the subject, and that his heretical views should be ignored by all sane people. Of course the author is very well qualified to write on the subject and to hold a view. As an intelligent human he is able to read work from others on the subject, conduct his own research and to form an opinion. He is entitled to ask questions when the Church of Global Warming makes generalized and unsubstantiated claims in the hope that no one will notice their inaccuracies. Nigel Lawson also has other qualifications. He was a journalist before he entered Parliament as a British MP in 1974, and he served with distinction in the Thatcher Government that did so much to turn around a moribund British economy and fight off the forces of intolerant national socialism at home and abroad. That service included a period from 1983 as Chancellor of the Exchequer, turning the British economy from a sad basket case into an expanding and well-structured financial force on the world stage, a skill set sorely lacking in the present Government under “Bottler” Brown. Nigel Lawson was created a Lord in 1992 and has served in the House of Lords with distinction as a member of the Lord’s Select Committee on Economic Affairs, which in 2005 produced a significant report on “The Economics of Climate Change”. All of that experience stands behind his latest book.

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A New Era - Project 21

March 28th, 2008

CraigT211

Through 2007, the new hydroplane ‘21′ was raced by Craig Speller, but it was also a test model for Project 21. After completion of development, ‘21′ was used to create a set of moulds.

CraigT212

CraigT213

CraigT215

The first two hulls completed production and were prepared for the first races at Stewartby during the Easter Weekend. The weather conditions, with high winds and snow shows prevented the hydroplanes from racing.

Project 21 is much more than a new hydroplane hull produced from composites. The story will unfold during 2008.

Proving the Point

March 28th, 2008

CraigVsWC

Head to head with the World champion, Craig Speller gets the better line and shows the boat really does work.

Final Development Stage for ‘21′

March 28th, 2008

Craig21enddev

Photo: Trevor Chatters

After the World Championships development work on ‘21′ continued, this has involved reducing the overall length of the hull by some 10″ [250mm] and minor adjustments. The end result has been greatly improved acceleration, better handling and much faster lap times overall. The Last UK National race of the 2007 season saw the boat dominate the event with 4 wins from 4 starts, this even though we were still experimenting with engine settings and props. The picture shows Craig putting the boat through some more buoy turns at the Bedford event.

Happy New Year

December 31st, 2007

The FIRE Project Teams wish our readers, contributors and supporters a happy and successful 2008

Sami Selio Wins Sharjah as Cappellini crumbles

December 17th, 2007

EmiratesF1

Al Hamli Ahmed of UAE of the Emirates F1 Team in action at the UIM F1 powerboat Grand Prix of Sharjah, Khalid Lagoon, Sharjah, UAE. Picture by Paul Lakatos/Idea Marketing.’ UIM F1 World Championships ©

For the first time in eight years, the name on the U.I.M. F1 World Championship Trophy for world champion will have neither Scott Gillman or Guido Cappellini on it’s face as Finnish star Sami Selio went out and made a statement to day letting the field know that he is the driver of ‘new era’ by taking the title while winning his second straight in the Emirates and his third of the year taking the 2007 title by four points 104-100.

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