Lancashire granddad out to break water speed record

Lancashire Post

A British granddad who helped rebuild Donald Campbell's tragic Bluebird is aiming to break the world water speed record - in a 400mph jet-powered hydrofoil built in his garage

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00:00Jet hydroplanes are a bit of a unique animal really. It isn't just something that I've dived

00:05into. We became very good friends with Dave Warby over in Australia and Dave Warby is the

00:13son of the existing record holder and Dave very kindly through our friendship

00:20offered to talk me through and mentor me through building this one which is a very similar hull

00:26to his These engines are out of military aircraft so you want an engine of a relatively small diameter

00:44also you want the thrust line as low to the water as you can possibly get it because the higher the

00:51thrust rate the more unstable the boat is likely to be. There is a limit to how quick you can go on

00:58water because some of the air starts to go supersonic sooner than you would think you're probably talking

01:05about 500 miles an hour is probably I think you would need something really special to go beyond that

01:13for a British guy to go and get the record again would be something else and on the same way that

01:18Donald ran on you're following in some very big footsteps really aren't you where do we go from

01:24here well get the capsule done run the engines up and then once that's done um we'll do initial flotation

01:31then hopefully she floats

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