Spirit of Australia is a wooden jet-powered speed boat built in a Sydney backyard by Ken Warby, with which he set the world water speed record on 8 October 1978. On Blowering Dam in New South Wales he made two opposite-direction runs of 492.813 and 529.412 kilometres per hour, which averaged to the official record of 511.11 km/h, with a peak speed of 555 km/h. The boat was powered by a Westinghouse J34 jet engine, a design from the late 1940s that had been used in jet fighters and other aircraft. Spirit of Australia is displayed permanently at the Australian National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour in Sydney. Warby later built a second jet boat, Aussie Spirit, and then, with his son Dave, Spirit of Australia II, which used a Bristol Siddeley Orpheus engine from an Italian Fiat G.91 fighter and was completed in December 2004.
Facts
Engine Class Top Speed (km/h) EngineWestinghouse J34 jet engine 1 Connections
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Source Spirit of Australia (Wikipedia)
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Source Spirit of Australia (Wikipedia)LeadQuote, Lead
Spirit of Australia is a wooden speed boat built in a Sydney backyard, by Ken Warby
Sources
1. Spirit of Australia (Wikipedia)
The record and boat
On 8 October 1978, Ken Warby rode the Spirit of Australia on Blowering Dam in Australia
The record and boat, engine
It was powered by a Westinghouse J34 jet engine.
The record and boat, top speed
for an official record speed of 511.11 km/h (317.59 mph; 275.98 kn)
The record and boat, status
Spirit of Australia is displayed permanently at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney, New South Wales.
Lead
Spirit of Australia is a wooden speed boat built in a Sydney backyard, by Ken Warby
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