In 1977 Ken Warby broke the Outright Unlimited World Water Speed Record, on Blowering Dam N.S.W with a speed of 288.60 MPH, Ken returned in 1978 to set his second & current record of 317.60MPH, which to this day remains unbroken, Now 40 years on from Ken’s first world record, Warby Motorsport will again challenge for the Outright Unlimited World Water Speed Record, with a new boat & driver, Spirit of Australia II with Ken’s son Dave Warby driving.

Over the past 5 years the father & son team have been working side by side building the new Spirit of Australia II. The new boat is now completed with successful testing undertaken in July 2017 at Taree N.S.W. followed by two further weekends at the home of the World Water Speed Record, Blowering Dam N.S.W allowing the team to test the boat at higher speeds on the 10 km long course. The team moved to the Snowy Mountains Region of N.S.W, to catch up with old friend’s, make new ones, and ultimately safely beat Ken’s World Water Speed Record.

While Ken, Dave and his team are doing a great job pushing the jet powered record to the limit, several teams of water speed enthusiasts, typically from universities, are turning to electric and solar powered propulsion, heralding a new age of climate conscious racers. Not so fast or dangerous, but equally technically demanding.

ABOUT DAVE

Dave has been exposed to world record breaking his whole life, jet engine’s, fast boat’s & car’s being around workshops & race meetings was a normal part of life and it’s fair to say it’s in his blood. As a young child Dave watched his father build Spirit of Australia in the family backyard and grew up in a world where he heard name’s such as Donald Campbell, Malcolm Campbell, Lee Taylor, Sir Henry Seagrave , John Cobb and what they stood for. Then to see his father take on the world and break the Unlimited World Water Speed Record twice in Spirit of Australia and to have a dad as the world’s fastest man on water was a strong influence in Dave’s early life. He has known from an early age that he wanted to break the world record too.

As a teenager Dave was part of his father’s Jet drag racing team, touring Australia & America with Jet dragster’s and Jet funny car’s developing a good understanding of how jet engines and afterburner’s work. Seeing them work first hand and being around jet car racers, and record breakers such as Tom Brown, Rosco McGlashan, Romeo Palamides and the Late Craig Arfon’s, added to the need for speed.

Later in his 20’s David wanted to take steps to follow his childhood dream as his father did, become the fastest man on water. He restored an old hydroplane “Diablo” in his Grandfather’s backyard, the same place his father built his first race boat, even using some of the same tools father did. Dave then started to learn to drive, then race this hydroplane, learning the basics and getting the feel of a hydroplane at speed and reading the water conditions. later Dave stepped up to faster boats, fitted out and setting up a 22ft GP hydroplane Aussie Spirit, which he later raced with a supercharged big block chev engine. Dave later raced Ken’s Unlimited Hydroplane “Miss Bud” powered by a 27 litre 3500HP Supercharged V-12 Rolls Royce Merlin and that gave him a greater taste for speed on water.

Dave is an experienced boat builder, and has built hydroplanes from scratch ,he is a registered APBA & UIM reinforced Safety Cockpit manufacturer. Dave now has his childhood dream coming to life , with a Jet powered Unlimited Hydroplane under construction in his own workshop, with the fastest man on water by his side, his father, Ken Warby.

With years of tutorship from his father and his own boating background, Dave has a unique ability to know and feel what works and what does not, in a high speed boat.

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