The U-37 Miss Peters & May competes with the fastest boats on the water in the internationally contested H1 Unlimited Series, racing on a variety of circuits from the Heartland of America – Indiana & Detroit, to the Pacific Northwest – Seattle & Tri-Cities, to the boat racing capitol of the Middle East: Doha, Qatar.
The H1 Unlimited class is sanctioned by APBA, its governing body in North America and UIM, its international body.
Unlimited Hydroplanes are the world’s fastest circuit racing boats, capable of straightaway speeds of almost 200 mph (320 km/h) in competition, with top lap speeds over 160mph (256 km/h) over a 2 1/2 mile course! They are 28-30 feet in length and weigh a minimum of 6750 pounds (3062 kilograms).
They are powered by either the Allison V-1710 piston engine originally used in World War II era fighter planes (U-3) or the Lycoming T-55 L7 turbine engine originally used in the Chinook helicopter (all others). Output for both engine types is over 2500 hp, giving a power to weight ratio of less than 2.7 lb. per hp. Compare this to NASCAR cars: 4.5 lbs per hp, or Formula One cars: 1.86 lbs per hp or Grand Prix Motorcycles: 1.32 lb per hp and you can see the Unlimiteds are some of the most powerful racing machines on the planet!
The modern turbine-powered Unlimited Hydroplane is derived from the 3-point prop-riding hydroplanes of the 1950′s. These were the first boats to ride on a cushion of air trapped between “sponsons” mounted on the sides of the front of the boat, and the bottom half of the propeller, which was all that touched the water.
They were called “Unlimited” because they were the only class of boat racing in the APBA that had no restrictions on the size of displacement of their piston engines. The designation Unlimited has stayed with the class in the turbine era, even though the Lycoming is the only turbine engine currently allowed in the sport.
The Miss Peters & May team is honored to be competing against the best boats and teams in the world in 2010:
- U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto – Madison IN
- U-3 Go3 Racing – Evansville IN
- U-5 Formulaboats.com – Decatur IN
- U-7 Graham Trucking – Decatur IN
- U-13 Spirit of Detroit – Detroit MI
- U-16 Ellstrom Elam Plus – Ballard WA
- U-17 Our Gang Racing – Preston WA
- U-22 Webster Racing – Reading PA
- U-25 Superior Racing – Seattle WA
- U-48 Go Fast, Trun Left Racing – Maple Valley WA
- U-100 Leland Racing – Kirkland WA