Motorsport: Hydro racing awash with action

It took racers half a day to get their eye in, but by the end of the national model hydroplane championships yesterday, Lake Taurikura at The Lakes subdivision was awash with whitewater.

The championships started on Friday, and after four days of competition the 25 racers, including three from across the Tasman, knew every inch of the small man-made lake on the subdivision's outskirts.

"It's a lot of guys' first time here and it's a brilliant course, a real driver's course," New Zealand model powerboat association secretary/treasurer Graham Haines said.

"It's a bit of an optical illusion because you're standing here on the jetty looking out across the lake and it looks as though there's only quarter of the lake in front of you, but stand end-on and the row of buoys down the back straight are bang down the middle of the lake so there's acres of room down the back.

"With a lot of us having never boated here before it's taken quite a few races to get our eye in and get in the groove."

The hydroplanes are no kids' toys, reaching speeds of 115km/h down the straights on the open oval racing. One false move and some unexpected wash and they also flip easily.

Haines runs his boats on a nitro-methane mix but is in the minority, with most craft powered by petrol. Beginners can get into the sport and get competitive real quick for about $2000-$2500, which includes $1300 for a basic kit and hardware, $800 for a modified motor and $200 for the radio gear.

"The last four years the petrol revolution has taken over. Nitro-methane was all we'd run a few years ago and there's still a few old buggers like me using it but most are petrol."

Open oval racing rounded off the nationals yesterday but competitors also went head-to-head in 20-minute marathon races, sprints and endurance, where the boats tackled a slalom-like course.

Steve Trott, president of the Bay of Plenty modified powerboat club, said it was an inexpensive sport to get into.

"It's not a sport where you necessarily have to spend a lot of money, which is inconsistent with the rest of motorsport where quite often the guys with the deepest pockets win," he said.