![]() ![]() ![]() As interest in the races increased, boating became more and more popular. 1) were capable of speeds up to 70 miles per hour. Often powered by the relatively powerful aircraft engines of the day, Gold Cup style racers (Fig. Many famous names were involved in the building of the wooden hydroplanes of the early 1900s. Power boating is firmly rooted in racing, where the design and engineering of boats and engines started. This report will cover the history of the production craft in this genre and include special design details involved in these particular vessels. They have evolved over the years into one of the most sought-after status symbols in the nautical world. Generally built of mahogany, these boats were popular both for their good looks, quality of construction, and performance. Perhaps the most elegant of these craft are the gentlemen’s runabouts that maintained their popularity throughout much of the century. If she could win, it would be the first time one boat had taken the Cup three times.Since the early twentieth century, boaters from all walks of life have plied the waters of the world in various watercraft. Reis reinstalled his old motor, stopped tinkering and announced that his boat was ready to race, against Bill Horn's Delphine IV, with a new $7,000 supercharger and Victor Kliesrath's Hotsy Totsy II, with a brand new supercharged Wright motor. A few days before the race, a broken connecting rod turned this into a twisted pile of junk which could not be rebuilt in time for the start. Last month Driver Reis installed a new Miller motor. Last year on Lake George, where, by the conditions of the race which gives the holder of the Cup the right to name the course, Driver Reis had the race run, she had a close call before she beat Delphine IV. and then went on to win the two other major motorboat races of that year. ![]() Improving with age, El Lagarto won the Gold Cup at Detroit in 1933 with a heat record of 60.866 m. In 1932, she finished a close second to Horace Dodge's Delphine IV, driven by Bill Horn. She led for the first two 30-mile heats before breaking a connecting rod. Reis decided to enter her in the 1931 race. When she outdistanced El Lagartito in trial spins, Mr. He had her bottom "shingled," to make her ride high in the water instead of cutting through it. In 1931, after he built El Lagartito for the Gold Cup race, Driver Reis began to tinker with El Lagarto and the Packard motor with which he had replaced her original power plant in 1925. Reis (pronounced "Rice"), who wanted a fast runabout for his Lake George summer home, bought her in 1925, renamed her for the reptile which he considers so lucky that he uses a large stuffed one with a hole in its back on his library desk for an ashtray. For her first owner, Ed Grimm, who called her Miss Mary, El Lagarto performed miserably in the Gold Cup races of 19. That made her, compared to her rivals last week, a specimen of early Americana but antiquity is not El Lagarto's only distinction. Of the three remaining, the favorite was George Reis's El Lagarto, winner in 19 and one of the most remarkable boats afloat.Įl Lagarto ("The Lizard") was built in 1922. On the eve of the race, two had broken down and withdrawn. Y., five long-nosed hydroplanes zoomed over the dark green water getting ready for the start. ![]() Experts estimate that motorboat enthusiasts have spent $40,000,000 trying to win it. Put up in 1904, the Gold Cup cost $730, is gold plate on silver. motorboat racing, in years when no one challenges Gar Wood for the Harmsworth Trophy, is the race for the Gold Cup in which specifications, changed from year to year, place definite limits on the size and power of competing craft. Reprinted from TIME Magazine, August 5, 1935 ![]()
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