Spirit of Australia is a wooden speed boat built in a Sydney backyard, by Ken Warby

Ken Warby

Ken Warby is an Australian motorboat racer, who currently holds the Water speed record of 317.60 miles per hour...

, that broke and set the world water speed record

Water speed record

The World Unlimited water speed record is the officially recognised fastest speed achieved by a water-borne vehicle. The current record of 511 km/h was achieved in 1978....

 on 8 October 1978.

The Record and Boat

On 8 October 1978, Ken Warby

Ken Warby

Ken Warby is an Australian motorboat racer, who currently holds the Water speed record of 317.60 miles per hour...

 drove the Spirit of Australia on the River Tumut near the Blowering Dam

Blowering Dam

Blowering Dam is on the Tumut River in Australia. It is part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme. Associated with the dam is the Blowering Power Station....

 in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 to a speed of 317.596 mph (511.11 km/h). It was powered by a Westinghouse J34

Westinghouse J34

-See also:-External links:* http://www.arkairmuseum.org/engines/engine-westinghouse.php* http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/systems/j34.htm...

 jet engine

Jet engine

A jet engine is a reaction engine that discharges a fast moving jet to generate thrust by jet propulsion and in accordance with Newton's laws of motion. This broad definition of jet engines includes turbojets, turbofans, rockets, ramjets, pulse jets...

. The engine was developed by the Westinghouse Electric Company

Westinghouse Electric Company

Westinghouse Electric Company LLC is a nuclear power company, offering a wide range of nuclear products and services to utilities throughout the world, including nuclear fuel, service and maintenance, instrumentation and control and advanced nuclear plant designs...

 in the late 1940s and was used for jet fighters and other aircraft

Aircraft

An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...

. The Spirit of Australia is displayed permanently at the Australian National Maritime Museum

Australian National Maritime Museum

The Australian National Maritime Museum is a federally-operated maritime museum located in Darling Harbour, Sydney. After consideration of the idea to establish a maritime museum, the Federal government announced that a national maritime museum would be constructed at Darling Harbour, tied into...

 in Darling Harbour, Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

.
Ken Warby

In 2003 Ken Warby had finished working on a new speedboat that is capable of beating his speed record. The boat was again built in his back yard and is named Aussie Spirit. However Ken has announced his retirement from further record attempts.

External links

• Australian National Maritime Museum