Looking for Hovercraft Pioneers

The Daily Telegraph
25 Nov. 2003

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An Australia-wide search is underway to find the crews of 11 hovercraft that competed in the World's First Hovercraft Race, held on Canberra's partly filled Lake Burley Griffin in 1964.

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of that event, the world's fastest hovercraft will converge in Canberra late next year for HoverWorld Expo 2004 – Endurance Race Australia.

Organisers wish to invite the original hovercraft enthusiasts to compete in a special Pioneers' Race at the 2004 event.

Anyone who knows the whereabouts of any of them is asked to contact Eric Shackle of Ettalong, who was public relations officer for the oil company that sponsored the 1964 event. His e-mail address is eshackle@ozemail.com.au.

Allen Hawkins of Kogarah, who won the 1964 race, collected a prize of ₤50. Mr. Hawkins, now 86, is reported to be "still going strong". He beat other starters (only five of whom finished) in a beetle-like American-designed hovercraft owned by a Turramurra syndicate headed by Geoffrey Cottee. Most of the entries were built in their owners' backyards.

Top speed in 1964 was just under 48 km/h. Today hovercraft world speed record is 137.376 km/h, achieved in Portugal in 1995 by Bob Windt, an American.

Next year's anniversary event will be helped by the National Capital Authority, the Canberra Tourism and Events Corporation, the Australian Hovercraft Federation, and the Canberra branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society, which organised the 1964 event.

HoverWorld Expo 2004 is scheduled to take place from December 28, 2004 to january 1, 2005 on Lake Burley Griffin's Black Mountain Peninsula, near the site of the original race in 1964.