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The Birth of the Slo-Mo-Shun Era

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Forgotten World of Hydroplane Racing: Wartime Engines Second Life! (Hydroplane Raceboat Museum)

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The curator recounts the story of Stan Sayres, a local car dealer and former racer, who after World War II, sought to build a record-breaking boat. He partnered with Ted Jones, a Boeing engineer, to design a revolutionary hydroplane. The goal was to create a boat that would essentially fly across the water using P-51 Mustang fighter plane engines, rather than plowing through it like traditional boats. This led to the creation of the Slo-Mo-Shun IV, which unexpectedly achieved a world record of over 178 mph on Lake Washington, marking Seattle's entry into the world of big-time boat racing.

Goal: Learn about the innovative design and record-breaking achievements of the Slo-Mo-Shun hydroplanes.

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motorsport trophy in America. From 1913 to 1950, the Gold Cup was held in Detroit, Michigan . So he really became part of their culture. They have been the center of great boat racing for generations. A gentleman here in Seattle named Stan Sears, who was a local car dealer and racer before World War II, wanted to get back into boat racing when things started to normalize after the war. It turned out that he found a lot of pre-war equipment and nothing suitable for setting a new world record for the measured mile. He called a gentleman named Ted Jones, who had been a local Boeing engineer in the race before the war, and told him of his plans to build a boat capable of setting a new world record, and that he wanted to use a recently surplus World War II fighter engine to do so. Ted wanted to build a boat that was essentially an airplane wing with running surfaces underneath, and use a propeller to create three points of suspension so the boat would glide through the water rather than furrow it like the boats they had seen in Detroit did. Well, Stan said, “Sounds pretty good. "Make me one of these." Two years later, they released a boat called Slow Motion 4, Stan's fourth racing boat. And they set off for Lake Washington. And what do you know? At 60 mph, the back of the boat came out of the water. She leveled off, they accelerated and set a new world record – just over 178 mph . And that brought Seattle into the world of big boat racing. So this is the same place where all that Budweiser used to be. Bernie Little would park his bus here and park his truck, and we would park the boat right here, and this is where they would unload and unload Budweiser. Here comes Budweiser. Bob Nash. He can be proud of himself. He finished. He got a few more points for Budweiser. Every year when I was a kid, I would stand right at the end of that little concrete plaza where I would watch the entertainment. All the news teams are here. He set off and was ready to meet Miller. We're going to look at one of the most historic holes we have here, the slow-paced par-five of 1951. Now, after setting the world record, the SES team has decided to return to the city of Detroit and compete for the Gold Cup. The guys from Detroit heard about this boat, which was moving fast in a straight line and left Seattle, setting a new world record, but they didn't give it any chance of winning the race, because at those speeds it was impossible to turn. That was stupid. However , to their surprise,…

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