Foreign Races in 1907

Foreign Races

Racing in New South Wales

There is considerable interest in motorboating in New South Wales, the principal event of the season being the annual motorboat championship. This year the race was decided in Sydney Harbor on Saturday, April 21. Between fifty and sixty motorboats gathered at the starting point, making quite a show. The race was contested by two boats, the Invincible, and the Fairbanks. The Invincible is owned by Mr. Relph, and has 60-70 hp., while the Fairbanks, owned by L. J. Davies, has 15-20 hp. The Lady Eileen, owned by Dr. Piers Hatton, which won the championship last year, did not compete. As models of motorboat construction, the two craft were entirely distinct, the Fairbanks having a 36-foot length, with a 4-foot beam, while the Invincible is 35 feet long, with 5 feet 8 inches beam; indeed the Fairbanks is a racing machine pure and simple, while the Invincible is a light and speedy cruiser. After a good fight, the Fairbanks won by a mile and a quarter, averaging 21.11 miles, while the Invincible averaged 19 miles.

Gravesend to Cowes

The race of the British Motor Boat Club from Gravesend to Cowes, a distance of 176 miles, which is the great British long-distance event of the year, was run on June 29, and was won by S, F, Edge's Napier-Major, which covered the distance in 22 hours 57 minutes 25 seconds actual time. F. C. Blake's Temoye was second in 30 hours 15 minutes 56 seconds, and Mawdesley Brooke's Iliku was third. These boats had handicaps as follows: Napier-Major. 7 h. 58 m. 57 s.; Tomoye, 11 h. 24 m. 17 s.; Iliku, 1 h. 35 m. 45 s. The scratch boat was L. M. Waterhouse's Leonid, which did not finish, although far ahead at Dungeness; she withdrew on account of heated bearings.

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TROUVILLE, FRANCE--The handsome cup offered three years ago by Anthony Drexel to the motorboat attaining the highest speed in the run of three miles off Trouville each Summer was won on July 27 by the Lorraine, owned by Vedrine, president of the Chambre Syndicate des Canots Automobiles, steered by Raymond Lestonnat. The cup presented by Gaston Menier for the racing boat covering the three sea miles in the fastest time fell to the Panhard-Tellier, owned and steered by Alphone Tellier. The time of the Menier cup winner was 8 m. 47 s.; the time of the Drexel cup winner was 13 m. 16 s.

(Transcribed from The Motor Boat, 10 Aug. 1907, p. 26.)

[Thanks to Greg Calkins for help in preparing this page. --LF]


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