Spirit of Australia


Spirit of Australia is a wooden speed boat built in a Sydney backyard, by Ken Warby, that broke and set the world water speed record on 8 October 1978.

The record and boat

On 8 October 1978, Ken Warby drove Spirit of Australia on the Tumut River near the Blowering Dam in Australia to a speed of. It was powered by a Westinghouse J34 jet engine. The engine was developed by the Westinghouse Electric Company in the late 1940s and was used for jet fighters and other aircraft. Spirit of Australia is displayed permanently at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney, New South Wales.

Successors

Starting in the early 1990s, Warby built a second jet boat, Aussie Spirit powered with a fresh Westinghouse J34, but he never made a record attempt with it. Warby and his son Dave are currently working on a new boat Spirit of Australia II, powered by a Bristol Siddeley Orpheus jet engine taken from an Italian Fiat Gina Fiat G.91 fighter plane. The new Spirit of Australia II is now completed and undergoing extensive trials with an attempt targeted for 2020.