Hovercraft year gets
underway
 Canberra Times
14 Feb. 2004
By Robert Messenger
Chris Fitzgerald, chairman of HoverWorld Expo to be held in
Canberra from december 29 – january 1, has launched the
build-up to the event by declaring [2004] the Year of the Hovercraft
in the United States.
Australian-born Mr. Fitzgerald was the youngest competitor in
the world's first hovercraft race on Lake Burley Griffin on March
14, 1964, and the Expo will mark the 40th anniversary of that
event.
Mr. Fitzgerald, who is also chairman of the World Hovercraft
Organisation, is president of Neoteric Hovercraft, based at Terre
Haute, Indiana USA.
He proclaimed 2004 the Year of the Hovercraft when Neoteric
employees and representatives of Schenker, the official HoverWorld
Expo transport company, gathered in Terre Haute to watch the
Expo's PaceCraft set off in a shipping container on its two-month
journey to Australia.
The PaceCraft is a deluxe [Neoteric] hovercraft which will be
exhibited at museums and other venues throughout Australia until
it starts the first world championship hovercraft endurance race
on Lake Burley Griffin in December. |