Sport: Ninety Proof

When Stanley Sayres drove his platter-like hydroplane Slo-Mo-Shun IV to a world record over a mile straightaway earlier this month (TIME, July 10), veteran motorboatmen were dazzled by the 160 m.p.h. speed, but they took a restrained view of what the delicate Duralumin craft might do in racing competition. Over the bending Detroit River course of the Gold Cup race last week, Slo-Mo-Shun IV proved she was all right at that too.

This time, Owner Sayres, a Seattle Chrysler dealer, sat back and let Designer Ted Jones take charge of the demonstration. His job was to outdistance the other seven entries in a field that included such Gold Cup veterans as defending Champion

Wild Bill Cantrell in My Sweetie and Bandleader Guy Lombardo in Tempo VI. Jones had it all worked out. On the straightaways, Slo-Mo-Shun skimmed along with its 1,500-h.p. Allison engine wide open, leaving a spectacular rooster-tail wake that shot 30 ft. into the air. On the turns, to save damage to his boat’s lightweight hull, Driver Jones slowed down like a Sunday excursionist.

That kind of driving did more than win him the first heat. It also set a heat record with an average of 80.1 m.p.h., while four of the eight starters were being forced out with mechanical trouble under the punishing pace. My Sweetie and Tempo VI were among the survivors, and in the second heat My Sweetie forged into a long lead. Then its engine caught fire, and Slo-Mo-Shun again rocketed home first, with an average of 80.9 m.p.h.

The final heat of the 90-mile race was an anticlimax. With only Lombardo’s slower boat left to offer competition, Slo-Mo-Shun breezed through with an unspectacular average of 73.6 m.p.h. The winner’s average speed for the 90 miles: 78.2 m.p.h., fastest in Gold Cup history.