Waverleyh brothers Ken and Jack Lupton will need to be right on their game to hold out the main challengers in this weekend's Down Town Thunder 5000 on the Whanganui River.
The event marks round one of the New Zealand Formula One Powerboat Tour where the powerful GP hydroplanes takeon the more nimble F1 Tunnels in a pack-racing environment for the first time on the Whanganui River. While the Lupton pair are among the favourites over the course, they will face stiff opposition from mainlanders Raymond Hart and Anthony Robertson - and then there's also father Warwick Lupton to cope with.
Jack Lupton, the youngest driver at the regatta, arguably has the fastest craft with his GP57 gliding over the water surface at speeds in excess of 290km/h. Ken Lupton's American-built Lucas Oil craft is only a click or two slower.
Hart's machine, The Boss, pumps out 1700hp and clocks 274km/h, while Robertson's Design Windows tunnell is much slower, clocking 209km/h. However, the smaller and more nimble machine gains substantial ground through the corners. Robertson has proved this on several occasions taking out the New Zealand Formula 1 Tour titles in 2012 and 2013.
Hart won the 2013 Masport Cup, while Ken Lupton is a winner of the AE Baker Cup. Jack Lupton, however, has a youthful disrespect for danger, and became the youngest winner of the Masport Cup earlier this season.
Hart had a spectacular spill in the second heat of the South Island Grand Prix Championship at Cromwell in November last year when he flipped The Boss when running at more than 200km/h. He walked away wet but unhurt from the crash. The boat landed upside down and rescue divers pulled Hart out of the bottom hatch by his feet. The Lupton siblings are rivals, but will need to keep an eye out for their southern threats in a pack environment. Traditionally the GP Hydroplanes and tunnel craft have raced individually against the clock on the Whanganui River.
