December 2016 News Posts (3)

By Don Mock

t was the 1979 Jack-in-the-Box Regatta on San Diego’s Mission Bay where an interesting, yet little known event took place. But it wasn’t until 35 years later that the story became even more interesting thanks to a photo that surfaced from photographer Bill Osborne. Besides a few lousy shots I took with a little cheap camera, this is the only other photo I’ve ever seen of Bill Muncey and the Atlas Van…

The Hydroplane & Raceboat Museum has learned of the passing in late November of Steve LaCava, the sport’s Rookie of the Year in 1980. An experienced 7-litre driver, LaCava purchased the former Valu-Mart from Bill Wurster early in the 1980 season and entered the boat in three races as the Oh Boy! Oberto. His best performance was a fifth-place finish in the Tri-Cities event. He sold the boat the following year, but drove it at two events as the Miss Kawaguichi Travel Service. The Museum…

Piston

Today, there is only one piston-powered unlimited hydroplane — Ed Cooper's U-3. It uses a turbocharged Allison engine developed for World War II fighter planes. The U-3 team builds most of its own engines, but it is estimated an engine like the one in the U-3 would cost $70,000-$80,000 to buy new. Allison engines run on methanol fuel and burn much more than a turbine. The U-3 burns 18 gallons of methanol a minute while the turbine burns 4.3 gallons of kerosene…