Ken Warby (born 9 May 1939) is an Australian

motorboat A motorboat, speedboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gea ...

racer, who currently holds the water speed record of , set on

Blowering Dam The Blowering Dam is a major ungated rock fill with clay core embankment dam with concrete chute spillway impounding a reservoir under the same name. It is located on the Tumut River upstream of Tumut in the Snowy Mountains region of New Sou ...

on 8 October 1978. As a child, Warby's hero was

Donald Campbell Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...

, who died attempting to break the record in 1967.

The ''Spirit of Australia''

Warby designed the hull of his record-breaking boat, '' Spirit of Australia'', himself and built it in his backyard. He started the project as a

Makita () is a Japanese manufacturer of power tools. Founded on March 21, 1915, it is based in Anjō, Japan and operates factories in Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico, Romania, the United Kingdom, Germany, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Canada and th ...

salesman who happened to team up with two Leading aircraftmen at

RAAF Base Richmond RAAF Base Richmond is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base located within the City of Hawkesbury, approximately North-West of the Sydney Central Business District in New South Wales, Australia. Situated between the towns of W ...

in the early 1970s. Warby bought three military surplus Westinghouse

jet engine A jet engine is a type of reaction engine discharging a fast-moving jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition can include rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and hybrid propulsion, the term ...

s at auction for only $265. It was not in working order, but Crandall and Cox refurbished it. The ''Spirit'' was covered with a canvas tarpaulin when it rained and was made of wood and

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

. On 20 November 1977, he set a new world water speed record of , breaking the record of Lee Taylor by a little over . With a subsequent run on 8 October 1978, he set the record that still stands today. In doing so, he became the first and only person to exceed 300 mph (482.8 km/h) on water and survive. Donald Campbell died on his attempt after his hydroplane crashed at over 320 mph (515 km/h) on his return run in his 1967 record attempt.

Later boats and retirement

By 2003, Warby had designed and built another boat, the ''Aussie Spirit'', with which he planned to increase his own record. Of similar dimensions to ''Spirit of Australia,'' it was also powered by a

Westinghouse J34 The Westinghouse J34, company designation Westinghouse 24C, was a turbojet engine developed by Westinghouse Aviation Gas Turbine Division in the late 1940s. Essentially an enlarged version of the earlier Westinghouse J30, the J34 produced 3,000 ...

jet engine. The rudder alone on this new boat cost more than the $10,000 all-up cost of the original ''Spirit''. Again, Warby designed, built, self-financed and piloted his own boat. Rule changes meant that a record attempt was never made with it. Warby retired from record-breaking in 2007. He has been working with his son David on a new boat to break the record. , they were still planning the record attempt.

Personal life

Warby has lived in

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, Ohio, United States since 1983.

References

External links

*
"Warby Motor Sports Web site"
Retrieved 2013-08-08/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Warby, Ken Water speed records Australian motorboat racers 20th-century Australian inventors Living people 1939 births Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees