Riviera Guy
Junior Member
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2011
- Messages
- 29
The most famous powerboat race in the world made its annual visit to Torquay over the August Bank Holiday weekend. The Cowes-Torquay-Cowes race was first held in 1961, this year marks the 64th running of the event. The race was the brainchild of Sir Max Aitken, son of the newspaper baron and owner of the Daily Express, Lord Beaverbrook. He owned a property at Cowes, and a holiday cottage at Brixham.
At 9am on Sunday 24th August a fleet of ten boats crossed the start line at the Squadron Line, Egypt Point, in the Solent. Two boats retired before the race had started and a further three retired en route to Torquay. For these high-powered race boats – some costing over a million pounds – this test of endurance is very punishing, however, seven boats did reach their destination.
The first three boats entered Torbay almost together – the boat crossing the line first was Good Boy Vodka with its crew of Robert Lockyer (throttleman), Alex Pratt (driver), Kirk Britto and Tim Linden. Hovering above the lime green 120mph waterborne projectile was a helicopter which had followed it from Cowes filming its progress for the Good Boy Vodka social media channels. When not racing powerboats, GBV founder and Chief Executive, Alex Pratt, races cars. He is currently competing in the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America series.
Second place was claimed by Airos Developments GoGPS – the Falmouth based Eastwood Racing team of Gary Aldington and Tom Gardner. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that the five times winners (2018-2023) of the event, Silverline – Drew Langdon and Miles Jennings from Exmouth – were only third. The margins were very fine though - the first leg – 92 miles - from Cowes to Torquay was completed in 1 hour 7 minutes. The top 3 boats were separated by just over a minute - the top 2 by just 11 seconds. The crews reported that the conditions were near perfect.
During their stopover in Torquay they took on 900 litres of fuel ready for the return leg to Cowes at 1pm. The boats also had to pass their second round of scrutineering for the day – a check for technical infringements.
The fleet made an impressive sight as they departed from Torquay – the drone of the engines and massive rooster tails of spray as they headed off into the horizon with the helicopter in close pursuit.
As in Torquay, Good Boy Vodka crossed the finish line at Cowes in first place. This time though, the margins were much greater. The green machine was eight minutes ahead of Airos – Silverline a further 6 minutes adrift of second place. GBV completed the 180-mile race distance at an average speed of 92.51mph. The boats were not allowed to exceed 120mph.
Dry Martini – Peter Hall, Terry Parsons and Tristan Ormiston finished fourth (Class 80 win) and Piston Broke – James Norvill and Christian Parsons-Young, in fifth place.
A total of 12 boats entered the race – two did not start (DSK Marine and Notareal), three retired on leg one (Sweden alu powerboat, Smokin Aces, and 2024 winner Falcon Multispark/Laa Laa) and two retired on leg two (T25 Sunseeker and KAM III).
The awards were presented to the winning crews at a reception held at the Cowes Yacht Haven on Sunday evening. The crew of Good Boy Vodka received the Richard Carr Trophy awarded to the first boat to finish in Torquay, and the prestigious Beaverbrook Trophy for the overall win.
A great result for Good Boy Vodka, owned by Robert Lockyer, after their retirements from the 2023 and 2024 CTC races. He has been chasing CTC victory since 2018. The GBV Team recorded the 4th fastest average speed in the 64-year history of the race - 92.51mph - the fastest ever was Silverline Bullet in 2021 - 94.70mph - Drew Langdon and Miles Jennings.
Post race, Gary Aldington admitted that Airos Developments GoGPS had to ease off 10 miles from Cowes in pursuit of GBV on the return leg because of noise and vibrations coming from the transmission. For Gary and the Eastwood Racing Team there is always next year for CTC glory (they were disqualified from first place in 2024). They are focussing on the 2025 UKOPRA Championship - with just the final round (5) at Portland to go (13th September) and a 400-point lead over Good Boy Vodka, just a placing will make them Champions. With 400 points for a win, runner up spot may be the best that Rob Lockyer and GBV can achieve.
Peter Hall must be very pleased with his 4th place finish and First in Class with Dry Martini. Peter, who has previously competed in the CTC with Mango Crazy, has recently purchased the crowd-pleasing Dry Martini.
Another disappointing race for Christian Toll in KAM III - 30 minutes after leaving Torquay, the bellhousing on the port engine disintegrated. Christian decided to limp back to Torquay until the alternator stopped charging on the starboard engine. The RNLI came to the rescue towing them back into Torquay Marina. He also suffered mechanical issues in the 2024 race - finally limping back to Cowes after repairs in Torquay.
Multiple CTC winners Drew Langdon and Miles Jennings suffered pre-race mechanical issues on Saturday - a blown steering hose on Silverline threatened their participation. However, by 2am Sunday morning the boat was race ready - thanks to help from Eastwood Racing (Airos) team member James Matthews.
A gallery of photos from Torquay can be viewed on Flickr -
Cowes-Torquay-Cowes 2025
Cowes-Poole-Cowes
The Cowes-Poole-Cowes race which took place at the same time as the CTC (race start 9.15am) was won by 66 Racing - Malc Dopson & Tim Spink from Back Once Again - Andy Foster & Charles Morris - and Carpe Diem - James Winkworth & Harry Winkworth. The winning margin was 3 minutes at an average speed of 54mph.
There were two other finishers of the 67.1NM race - Thunderstreak (Hugo Peel, Richard Jessel, James Gaggero) and Blast From The Past (Steven Tennant, Lesley Horner). There were 3 retirements - Top Banana, Uno Embassy and Apache.
At 9am on Sunday 24th August a fleet of ten boats crossed the start line at the Squadron Line, Egypt Point, in the Solent. Two boats retired before the race had started and a further three retired en route to Torquay. For these high-powered race boats – some costing over a million pounds – this test of endurance is very punishing, however, seven boats did reach their destination.
The first three boats entered Torbay almost together – the boat crossing the line first was Good Boy Vodka with its crew of Robert Lockyer (throttleman), Alex Pratt (driver), Kirk Britto and Tim Linden. Hovering above the lime green 120mph waterborne projectile was a helicopter which had followed it from Cowes filming its progress for the Good Boy Vodka social media channels. When not racing powerboats, GBV founder and Chief Executive, Alex Pratt, races cars. He is currently competing in the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America series.
Second place was claimed by Airos Developments GoGPS – the Falmouth based Eastwood Racing team of Gary Aldington and Tom Gardner. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that the five times winners (2018-2023) of the event, Silverline – Drew Langdon and Miles Jennings from Exmouth – were only third. The margins were very fine though - the first leg – 92 miles - from Cowes to Torquay was completed in 1 hour 7 minutes. The top 3 boats were separated by just over a minute - the top 2 by just 11 seconds. The crews reported that the conditions were near perfect.
During their stopover in Torquay they took on 900 litres of fuel ready for the return leg to Cowes at 1pm. The boats also had to pass their second round of scrutineering for the day – a check for technical infringements.
The fleet made an impressive sight as they departed from Torquay – the drone of the engines and massive rooster tails of spray as they headed off into the horizon with the helicopter in close pursuit.
As in Torquay, Good Boy Vodka crossed the finish line at Cowes in first place. This time though, the margins were much greater. The green machine was eight minutes ahead of Airos – Silverline a further 6 minutes adrift of second place. GBV completed the 180-mile race distance at an average speed of 92.51mph. The boats were not allowed to exceed 120mph.
Dry Martini – Peter Hall, Terry Parsons and Tristan Ormiston finished fourth (Class 80 win) and Piston Broke – James Norvill and Christian Parsons-Young, in fifth place.
A total of 12 boats entered the race – two did not start (DSK Marine and Notareal), three retired on leg one (Sweden alu powerboat, Smokin Aces, and 2024 winner Falcon Multispark/Laa Laa) and two retired on leg two (T25 Sunseeker and KAM III).
The awards were presented to the winning crews at a reception held at the Cowes Yacht Haven on Sunday evening. The crew of Good Boy Vodka received the Richard Carr Trophy awarded to the first boat to finish in Torquay, and the prestigious Beaverbrook Trophy for the overall win.
A great result for Good Boy Vodka, owned by Robert Lockyer, after their retirements from the 2023 and 2024 CTC races. He has been chasing CTC victory since 2018. The GBV Team recorded the 4th fastest average speed in the 64-year history of the race - 92.51mph - the fastest ever was Silverline Bullet in 2021 - 94.70mph - Drew Langdon and Miles Jennings.
Post race, Gary Aldington admitted that Airos Developments GoGPS had to ease off 10 miles from Cowes in pursuit of GBV on the return leg because of noise and vibrations coming from the transmission. For Gary and the Eastwood Racing Team there is always next year for CTC glory (they were disqualified from first place in 2024). They are focussing on the 2025 UKOPRA Championship - with just the final round (5) at Portland to go (13th September) and a 400-point lead over Good Boy Vodka, just a placing will make them Champions. With 400 points for a win, runner up spot may be the best that Rob Lockyer and GBV can achieve.
Peter Hall must be very pleased with his 4th place finish and First in Class with Dry Martini. Peter, who has previously competed in the CTC with Mango Crazy, has recently purchased the crowd-pleasing Dry Martini.
Another disappointing race for Christian Toll in KAM III - 30 minutes after leaving Torquay, the bellhousing on the port engine disintegrated. Christian decided to limp back to Torquay until the alternator stopped charging on the starboard engine. The RNLI came to the rescue towing them back into Torquay Marina. He also suffered mechanical issues in the 2024 race - finally limping back to Cowes after repairs in Torquay.
Multiple CTC winners Drew Langdon and Miles Jennings suffered pre-race mechanical issues on Saturday - a blown steering hose on Silverline threatened their participation. However, by 2am Sunday morning the boat was race ready - thanks to help from Eastwood Racing (Airos) team member James Matthews.
A gallery of photos from Torquay can be viewed on Flickr -
Cowes-Torquay-Cowes 2025
Cowes-Poole-Cowes
The Cowes-Poole-Cowes race which took place at the same time as the CTC (race start 9.15am) was won by 66 Racing - Malc Dopson & Tim Spink from Back Once Again - Andy Foster & Charles Morris - and Carpe Diem - James Winkworth & Harry Winkworth. The winning margin was 3 minutes at an average speed of 54mph.
There were two other finishers of the 67.1NM race - Thunderstreak (Hugo Peel, Richard Jessel, James Gaggero) and Blast From The Past (Steven Tennant, Lesley Horner). There were 3 retirements - Top Banana, Uno Embassy and Apache.
