Towcester Race Course in Northamptonshire was the location for the Griffon Hoverwork World Hovercraft Championship 2010. Presented by the Hovercraft Club of Great Britian, the five days of racing were treated to the full spectrum of typical english summer weather. In the space of thirty minutes we went from sun to torrential downpour and back to sun again. Repeatedly. The only constant for the final two days of racing was the ever increasing wind. Gusting to over 40mph, the wind was eventually responsible for ending the final day’s racing early. The Race Director deciding that it was too dangerous to continue so all points accrued so far would constitute the final placings.
Michele Scanavino, Team Castrol, Italy. F1 World Hovercraft Champion 2010
This meant that Italian Michele Scanavino of Team Castorol won the hard fought F1 category staying just ahead of long time rivals Paul Hibbard (GB) and Daniel Turnbull (GB) in 2nd and 3rd place respectively
Michele Scanavino, F1 Champion 2010 Les Bran, F2 Champion 2010
The photogenicaly colour co-ordinated Les Bran (GB) took the top F2 place with a 2nd place in the only F2 heat to run on Sunday addingto his tally of consistent first and second places finishes thoroughout.
Fortunately SLIK images had arrived on Saturday to cover both days of the event. I’d never seen hovercraft racing before but have always harboured a fascination for hovercraft since getting a spin around a field on one as a kid, so I was genuinely looking forward to seeing how it’s done properly. The fastest Formula 1 hovercraft can reach 90mph and use two engines, one for powering the craft forward and the other for lifting it. The course involves a mixture of grass, mud and two lakes, with the hovercraft being controlled by rudders and shifting of the bodyweight of the drivers. Add the unpredictable weather and gusting wind and there was the recipe for some stunning action.
F50 Sunday Round 1
Having signed our liabilities over the race organiser the photogrpahic scope for the event was very, very good. The action when the races start is non-stop, with laps taking around a minute there’s no shortage of speeding targets to capture. From long shots of the massive F50 field heading out of the start to wide shots of individual craft inches from the safety netting, it was hard to decide where to shoot from at times.
Tristan Rhodes turning in to the increasing wind during Sunday practice.
Complements here have to go the organisers (The Hovercraft Club of Great Britian) and their race marshall who were all friendly and full of advice on shots, angles and who to look out for. They were also amazingly quick at putting things back together after errant craft occasionally re-arranged the course layout! All in all it was a great couple of days and the racing was fantastic. Full results are at the Hovercraft Club of Great Britian site here. And the full set of iamges from Saturday and Sunday’s racing are here:
2010-08-29 World Hovercraft Championships – Images by SLIK Images Sports Photography
