Custom boats kick up waves

Speeds of more than 270km/h will be expected from the Lupton family hydroplanes during the Acceleration on Water Festival of Speed Tour at Lake Karapiro tomorrow. Photo/Jeremy Ward www.shot360.co.nz

There are some bleary eyes in the Lupton camp ahead of the start of tomorrow's Round 3 of the Acceleration on Water Festival of Speed Tour at Lake Karapiro.

The Waverley family's patriarch Warwick Lupton has been flat out with his son, Ken, at Taupo this week putting back together the contender Cheetah, which needed more than just the standard refit after a hard collision at Mangakino during the NZ Powerboat Nationals two weekends ago.

Racing the Grand Prix Hydroplanes for the Master of Mangakino trophy as a warmup to this Saturday, Ken Lupton collided with fellow Waverley driver David Alexander in The Steeler as they reached the first corner of their race.

Steeler came off fairly lightly but Cheetah was damaged in the rear and front sponson.

It created a lot of extra work for the Luptons as Warwick also had to get his Canadian GP57 craft prepared, along with his younger son, Jack, running the Annihilator hydroplane.

"It's nightmare sort of stuff. We assemble them all and then they ran into each other at 140mph on an open lake," said Warwick Lupton, a two-time World Grand Prix champion.

"How does that happen? Young fellas with no brains."

The sport truly is a labour of love for the family as there is no access to a New Zealand assembly line to source parts.

Either they import equipment or they make it themselves for their customised craft.

"We've had three of us here since Monday, starting at 6.30am in the morning every day," said Warwick Lupton.

"It's not technical stuff. It's just putting it back together the right way. I think I'm getting old."

The Luptons are always eager to promote the sport in this country to give themselves more competition before they had to the big races in Australia.

As well as the six boats that will run at Lake Karapiro, Lupton said an interested party from Auckland will be Lake Karapiro observing as he is considering setting up a boat team, while they also hear of others planning to enter the sport.

The team's focus is getting their craft reliable at the lake to continue preparations for the trip to Australia for the EC Griffith Cup in April.

Last year, Ken Lupton finished second in the 21-boat field at Bacchus Marsh near Melbourne, despite having problems with Cheetah's new engine and having to change it out with a less powerful New Zealand-built model for the finals.

Warwick Lupton said they heard the Aussies are putting up 183mph (295km/h) speeds on courses with 660m straights, which means lap times are coming in around the 38-second mark. "If you don't get 180mph [290km/h], it's almost not worth turning up."

The 2500hp hydroplanes are expected to reach speeds of 170mph (273.59km/h) on Lake Karapiro, where they will cover the 2km course in four laps in times breaking the three-minute mark.

Yesterday the drivers were also preparing to go into a big safety briefing for the weekend, given the scary accident to hydroplane driver Raymond Hart remains fresh in the memory.

Hart blew his craft, The Boss, over at Lake Dunstand in Cromwell in December, landing upside down and using an air mask as he had to wait six minutes before divers could free him from the submerged cockpit.

The Boss was repaired and will be competing tomorrow.

Starting at 8am, the hydroplanes will have three testing sessions before they finish the day with the Flying Lap competition, which will determine their poll positions for the first of three races on the Sunday.

The festival will also have waterski racing, modified hydroplanes and junior class racing, along with other activities such as lawn mower racing, Doug the Digger, and a giant water slide for children.