Transport iNet backs water speed record attempt
Grantham based Quicksilver has received £10,000 in funding from the Transport iNet to help realise its ambitions of breaking the World Water Speed Record.
The investment will be used by the Quicksilver team to develop two essential parts of its boat; the trunnion hoop element of the upper hull structure and the air-intake for the engine.
"The support provided by the Transport iNet is about making innovative ideas a reality and in this case moving a project along to a point that it would have otherwise taken some time to reach," said Samantha Clarke, Transport iNet innovation advisor. "The boat that the Quicksilver team is developing is the definition of innovative, so it's been fantastic for the Transport iNet to get involved."
In common with all ultra high speed waterborne crafts, Quicksilver is designed to skim over the water rather than ploughing through it. The Quicksilver engineers are hoping it will achieve top speeds of 330mph.
The Record Challenge will take place on Coniston Water in the Lake District, the scene of the disaster which killed Donald Campbell in 1967 as he tried to break the 300mph barrier.
"With the iNet's support we've tackled two key tasks in a fraction of the time it would otherwise have taken," commented Quicksilver founder, Nigel Macknight. "The Transport iNet has allowed us to push ahead further and faster than we ever could have done unaided."
