HORSEPOWER ON WATER —

WITH POWER LEVELS NOT DISSIMILAR TO THOSE OF DRAGSTERS, GP HYDROPLANES ARE A SERIOUS SPECTACLE

HYDROPLANES EXPLAINED

Power has long been the goal of many, from gladiators in the arena to moneyhungry rich-listers and dictators the world over. For the rest of us, the glory rests with another type of power — the cubic-inch kind — which has long been advertised by car manufacturers as a big carrot to potential buyers. From the early Holden engines of the ’90s, initially bragging of 248hp power plants to the new Dodge Demon’s 808hp engine, the rhetoric is always the same, with bank balances the only thing dropping as dyno numbers and rev-counter needles take a climb every year.

There’s something about that V8 rumble: the sound of the sometimes ear-splitting exhaust notes, the vibration as someone stamps on the loud pedal, the all-important smell created when the rubber and paved areas disagree a little … Funnily enough, for some, the latter effect doesn’t come into the equation at all, and that’s when it’s a hull in play and there’s water to be skimmed across.

Forget your weekend joyride on your mate’s Haines Hunter, or trying to turn hard enough to throw your mate off a biscuit before a few cold ones around the barbecue. We’re talking

Hydro Thunder, the New Zealand Grand Prix hydroplanes, with 400–510ci of madness sitting on the lightest of carbon-fibre hulls.

These things are built for speed, with a power-toweight ratio to rival — well, nothing really, as the pilots of these machines will tell you. Yes, they’re called ‘pilots’ and, considering the F-16 fighter jet cockpit design of these craft, you can see why. With output in some cases over the 1500hp mark, coupled with that carbon-fibre hull creating breakneck speeds, these 23- to 26-foot craft routinely approach speeds in excess of 168mph in a straight line. These are the fighter jets of the

water, and they slip across the surface in a manner reminiscent of the stone-skipping antics we’ve all tried across the local river.

It appears few are brave enough to captain this type of ship. One such man hails from Waverley in Taranaki: Jack Lupton. When he’s not working his day job in logistics, Jack is the pilot of the Penrite Oils/Repco Grand Prix Hydroplane ‘GP57’. Jack explains that, for him, the sport is a family affair. “Dad originally bought a boat and it happened to be a pretty quick jet boat. He took it for a spin and crashed it,” he says. “It had to be rebuilt, and it just took off from there, really. It’s a family thing for us — just like when a dad plays rugby and wants to be an All Black, then his son naturally does, too, when he plays. Same thing.”

Jack’s father is none other than master engine builder Warwick Lupton, who builds engines for himself, Jack, and Jack’s brother Ken.

For the trainspotters among us, the Lupton name may well be familiar. Jack’s grandfather is Snow Lupton, owner of the Melbourne Cup– winning racehorse Kiwi. So, it’s fair to say, horsepower has always featured in Lupton households in one form or another!

In a great move for the sport here, the

Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM), recently announced that New Zealand will host the 2021 UIM World Grand Prix Hydroplane Championship. The UIM is the world governing body for hydroplane powerboat racing and sanctions the many different categories into which the boats fit. This includes

our own Hydro Thunder GP Hydroplane Series, in which we run the GP hydroplanes. There are many others as well, one of which is the UIM World Grand Prix Championship.

Denise Preece, secretary of the New Zealand Grand Prix Hydroplane Drivers Club, is excited about the prospect of bringing world-class pilots and craft to our fair shores.

“When my husband, Steve, and I were in China at the recent UIM General Assembly, we applied to host them and were granted [the right] for 2021. No other country had applied, with only four countries in the world having GP hydroplanes. We last hosted in 2012; we had one American, one Australian, and five from New Zealand. The sport has grown hugely since then. In New Zealand alone we have 12, with a few more looking at coming into the sport. We have interest from Canada, America, and Australia and expect it will be the biggest line of GP hydroplanes ever to run. At this stage, we are expecting 15 to 20.” The series is planned for early 2021, in January and February, with venues such as Lake Taupō, Tauranga, and Lake Karapiro all possible destinations for the teams to get the power down. Steve says that the feeling of piloting a supercharged 480ci craft across the water is amazing enough, but, unlike being on dry land, there are lots of other factors involved, like trying to keep one eye on the conditions and the other on the instruments.

“The only thing we have to watch is the oil pressure. The only time to read gauges is going in and out of the corners on each lap, bearing in mind each lap takes only approximately 39 seconds. We cover 800m on each straight and 200m through the corners, and we do four laps. “Racing these — it’s certainly nothing like anything [else] I’ve found! Every straight and every corner is different with each lap, with the water changing constantly”.

This sentiment is mirrored by Jack, with the speed clearly a real highlight.

“It’s a wild experience — we’re literally flying a boat across the water. I can’t explain it! We’re covering the length of a rugby field in 1.1 seconds. Then there’s the challenge of keeping it as steady as possible in some wake or choppy conditions,” he explains.

With great risk comes great reward but the risks are high — and scary. As much as crashes are a part of motorsport, on the water, it brings the risk of being under the water upside down, and that’s in addition to the usual racing line bumps and jostling for position you can experience. With the 26-foot hull hovering over the surface, the possibility of somersaulting is a real danger — a danger known all too well by Jack: “I flipped in Canada. I don’t wanna do that again. I’d only just realized I was going around when I felt it go again. A few people mentioned afterwards that it looked like it slowed down in the air, but I’m not so sure. I landed upside down, and they pulled me out of the escape hatch on the bottom. It changes so quickly — a clap of the hands and you’re airborne.”

Pilots use a lot of the gear you expect to see in traditional motorsport circles: flame-retardant overalls, a full-face helmet, a neck brace, and a six-point harness. There is one exception, however: oxygen.

“We’re on full-time oxygen,” Jack tells us, “and we have about five minutes’ worth in the event of a crash — unless you panic of course; then it’s less.” As part of getting an annual racing licence, pilots have to go through testing in a gyroscope, where they are spun around to the point of blacking out to ensure that everything is shipshape and the oxygen works in the unlikely case of their needing it. As much as this sounds extreme, Jack says that it’s good to know everything is in order: “It’s really good. We get the peace of mind of knowing everything works and is tested to the limits for when we need it.”

Rescue crews are on the ball during a race series, testing or otherwise, with their own oxygen tanks on board and quick-release couplings matching the crew’s apparatus. A quick change to rescuers’ on-board tanks and more oxygen can be hooked in for pilots.

Not that Jack would want to think too much about that as he whets his appetite during the New Zealand rounds this year and waits for the opportunity to take it to the world in 2021. “The sport is going great in New Zealand, with over 10 boats expected for the 2020 series,” he says. “When we get all of us together with the overseas guys — mate, that first corner is gonna be crazy!” The sport is big overseas; in larger centres huge crowds turn out to watch these guys take themselves through their paces. Jack’s been lucky enough to experience this first-hand.

“It is nothing to have 150,000 people turn up to a single event in Canada,” he explains.

Jack won’t be alone in wanting to pit himself against the world’s best, with many other Kiwi crews also wanting to show off their skills and boats to the incoming pilots from around the world. The competition among the New Zealand teams is not what you’d expect, however. “There is a real community feel around the teams,” Jack mentions. “Everyone genuinely helps each other out. We all know each other well and love this sport. We’re in it together.”

It may seem a stressful enough undertaking to hang on to a steering wheel with a white-knuckled grip while being propelled along at breakneck speed but save a thought for the families, who in this case watch the races together.

When Taylor Perry, Jack’s partner, is asked how her heart rate fares when Jack races, her simple response encompasses both those out there flying and the Hydro Thunder community watching: “It’s through the roof.”