While I was preparing to head out to Key West for the 31st annual Super boat World Championships at the beginning of November, Britain’s speed demons were pushing the boundaries at Coniston Records Week in search of the elusive World Speed Records.

From 31 October to 4 November British Powerboat Racers from all over the country descended on Coniston Water in Cumbria for the 41st annual records week, in a bid to set new national and world speed records. Coniston week is the only event in the powerboat racing calendar to bring together all classes of boat.

Entries ranged from tiny hydroplanes, through inshore circuit racers to the largest offshore boats.
Competitors and officials from all over the country assemble annually for what has been a popular event since its inception in 1970. It is regarded as the grand finale to the racing season.  

2011 saw an action packed week in which 41 entries made 191 record attempts and by the end of the week six new world and 16 new British records had been set and submitted to the RYA and UIM for approval. In total Records were set and broken some 46 times through the course of the week. Coniston is a very special place in British Powerboat Racing and this year those of us who unfortunately couldn’t make it had the opportunity to catch the action through a live feed on CumbriaLive.tv. It was fantastic to see so many attempts from so many different people and huge congratulations to all of those who set records.

On a very sad note I would just like to pass on my condolences to the families and friends of the three American powerboat racers who died in Key West at the Superboat World Championships, and I wish the other two injured racers a speedy recovery. It was a tragic week for our sport.

Also a much loved race official passed away in November. Rob Beakhust, much loved husband of Annie Beakhust had been a top official and heavily involved in the sport since he started racing in the 70’s and he will be greatly missed.

All Records are subject to ratification by the UIM and RYA which had not been received at time of print.

Status                     Discipline    Class                               MPH       Driver

World & National     Circuit          S2000                               125.36     Ian Wright
World & National     Offshore     OFFSHORE 3S - 6Litre     114.22     Ian Blacker
World & National     JetSport     GP Ski                                 62.62     Graham Leech
World & National     Offshore     OFFSHORE 3B EPA          61.38     Bob McCarthy
World & National     Circuit     GT30                                      56.73     Ben Morse
World & National     Circuit     GT15                                      43.11     Ben Jelf
National                   Offshore     Marathon A                      110.06     Dean Gibbs
National                  Offshore     Marathon B                       108.07     Vahid Ganjavian
National                  Offshore     Inboard Immersed Propeller Mono     107.94     Gareth Williams
National                  Offshore     Offshore 3C 2Litre EPA Monohull     91.42     Scott Collings
National                  Circuit     V.P. 2.75                                 86.60     Christopher Loney
National                  Circuit     VP 2.00                                   80.09     Helen Loney
National                 Offshore     Marathon E                          74.52     Nick Gilley
National                 Circuit     Clubman 1500 Monohull          71.50     Will Wood
National                 Circuit     O1000                                      66.82     Peter hart
National                Offshore     Offshore 3B 1.3Litre National Mono     62.81     Brian Peedell
National                Circuit     P750 BluePrint                         61.51     Sean Fisher
National                Circuit     Clubman 1000 Cat                   60.43     Peter hart
National                Offshore     RIB SuperSport Twin Recreation     59.84     Jon Adlard
National                Offshore     RIB R1                                  59.74     Chris Strickland
National                Circuit     Clubman 1000 Monohull          56.80     Matt Wood
National                Offshore     UKFFORC S250                  31.94     Ben Jelf