A certain contributor here will be impressed with this story seeing he
thinks boating is all about "looking good and going fast". ;-)

The Record
317.60 mph / 511.11km/h
8th October 1978
"Spirit of Australia"
Blowering Dam
NSW Australia
In the 1970s, Ken Warby designed, built, and ran Spirit of Australia into
the record books. Many records were broken in the process. The last record
to be broken was in 1978 when Ken and his team, lead by Dr. Bob Apathy, set
the current record that has stood for some 27 years.

Ken, at the frisky age of 66, is about breaking his record. He has decided
that it's time to bring life back into the Challenge. He thinks that 27
years is too long for a record to stand, and is plenty of time for all the
"Gunnas" of the world to do something about breaking the record. The World
Water Speed Record (WWSR) is possibly the most dangerous record attempt
there is. Since 1978 there have been a number of fatal attempts at the
WWSR. Today, there are even a couple of teams around the world talking
about it, but there is only one WWSR Challenge Team that is actually doing
it!

Ken has built a new boat with 50% more power. His first record breaking
boat, Spirit of Australia, was powered by a 6000 horse power Westinghouse
jet engine. The new boat will be pushed along by a 9000 horse power unit.
Ken has built the new boat, Aussie Spirit, based on his experience of what
works. Aussie Spirit is not that much different to the Spirit of Australia
in design. Ken constructed the new boat in his garage in Cincinnati USA.
Aussie Spirit was pronounced complete on 23rd December 1999. The team have
started trials of the new boat. Ken has stated that there is only one way
this record attempt will be run, and that is professionally. Initial low
speed trials will be held in Taree NSW. Once low speed trials are complete
then the team will begin high speed trials. It is most likely that the boat
will eventually be run at Blowering Dam - NSW Australia.

http://www.kenwarby.com/introduction.htm