In a 1994 edition of ‘Hydro Topics’ Peter Hill described Faro in some detail and then went on to highlight its racing career. With the reappearance of the boat in 2005 it was felt that it would be a suitable subject for the full ‘Historic Hydros’ treatment. However with R.T. Pole now engaged on more esoteric activities his enthusiastic apprentice R.T. Bend has undertaken the task of unravelling the story of this famous boat. What follows is a suitably abridged version of the ‘Faro story’. For the full text version please click here.

Many of those involved in racing tethered hydroplanes were active over a considerable period of time using a series of different boats and engines, but one of the most successful competitors used just one boat throughout his entire competitive career. The boat was Faro.

In 1935, Ken Williams of the Bournville Club built a hull and 30cc four-stroke engine to the ‘A’ Class rules. He named the boat Faro, after a 19^th century card game. The hull is a scow type with sides tapered at the bow and stern and was constructed solidly with mahogany transom and formers, whilst the engine bearers and stringers were in American whitewood. Bulkheads, hull sides and deck were 1/16^th Birch ply while the bottom panels were 4mm Birch ply. The sturdiness of the boat can be judged by the all up weight, which just crept in under the class limit at 15 3/4lbs

The 30cc OHV four stroke power unit is essentially a scaled down motorcycle engine with a crankcase of magnesium alloy and a twin flywheel crank. The drive end of the crank was fitted with a thin aluminium pulley for starting, coupled to a 3/16^th drive shaft. A high camshaft was gear driven from the front end of the engine with the contact breaker for the coil ignition running off the idler gear. Barrel and cylinder head were cast iron with an aluminium piston giving a compression ratio of 5:1. The home built carburettor and float chamber used #1 spirit fuel, pressure fed from a cylindrical tank by an inflated football bladder. Oiling to the bearings and camshaft was ‘total loss’ by a single stroke pump.

The first run for Faro was in June 1936 when it achieved 25 mph, satisfactory for a first attempt but not competitive. A new piston, changes to the carburettor and a new automatic advance retard mechanism raised the speed to 32.8mph at the Grand Regatta, eliciting the comment that he had "put up a good show for a beginner with a new boat". In September at the North Staffs regatta, Faro recorded its first win, beating Gerry Buck in the process. These speeds were well below what Mr Williams was hoping for, so during the winter of 36/37 a major development of the engine was undertaken.

For the 1937 season another new piston was made, the carburettor choke was opened out still further and a new camshaft installed. With all these changes and a more efficient prop Faro was up to 35 mph, sufficient for third places in both the International race and the Speed Championship at the Grand Regatta. Further tinkering produced a run of 41.15mph for 1^st place in the 1937 ME Speedboat Competition, still short of the 47mph from the Innocent Brother’s and ‘Betty’ the previous year. More development work took place during the winter of 37/38, but the 1938 season was to prove one of continuous problems and disasters.

The damage from Wicksteed was repaired within a week, and at the International Faro managed a leisurely 3^rd place. An engine bearer broke at the next regatta and in the Grand another capsize ended a pretty disastrous season. The only successes of the year were first places at Altrincham and Farnborough.

Faro was showing her age with the engine bearers broken and the rear plane delaminating. No time had been available during the season for proper repairs so plastic wood was much in evidence. It was Ken Williams’ intention to run an entirely new 30cc boat in 1939 so "the old tub" was laid up whilst he continued work on the replacement.

At some stage the new venture was abandoned and Faro was put back into running order for the new season. At the Swindon Regatta in May no time was recorded whilst a trip to Victoria Park later in the month resulted in another capsize on the first run and a very slow second run. A short journey to the ‘home’ Bournville Lake did not produce any better results, with no time being recorded there either.

Faro was run at Bournville each year to promote the ‘Brighter Birmingham Holidays At Home’ programme until 1944 when the crankcase suffered a fatigue fracture of one of the mounting lugs. Vibration from the engine had been a constant source of difficulty, but the destruction of the crankcase was the final straw and Faro was put into honourable retirement again.

With the war nearing its end it seemed likely that organised hydroplane regattas would be restarting and Ken Williams decided that there might still be life left in Faro. A lot of work was required to get the boat on the water including casting and machining a new crankcase, as well as another new piston and redesigned valve gear. For all this the boat was significantly slower so a third cylinder head was built and a petrol benzole fuel mix introduced and soon Faro had exceeded her previous top speed.

In July 1948 the hull was fitted with a two-point bridle and the instability problems were on the way to being overcome. November 1948 saw Faro reach another landmark by setting a new ‘A’ class record of 51.1mph, the first homebuilt British boat and engine to exceed 50mph. During the 1948 season Faro was run at 6 regattas, entered 7 races gaining 6 first places 1 second place, and first place in the 48 Speedboat Competition, an enviable record.

By 1950 Edgar Westbury was being disparaging about the veteran boats still running, as they could not match the speed being reached by the more modern boats, but what they lacked in speed was often overcome by reliability. Faro and Betty were still recording wins through ‘staying the course’ and in September Ken Williams took his boat to France for the Paris International Regatta where Faro set another new class record of 59.21mph, which remains the highest speed the boat ever attained.

Ken Williams was very busy throughout 1951 travelling extensively in Britain as well as another trip to France where he finished second, beating Gems Suzor. Consistent runs in the mid to high 50s led to numerous duels with Betty and Ernie Clarke’s Gordon 2 with top three placings being swapped regularly. The high points were runs of 58.1mph at St Albans and 58.77 at Derby which confirmed that although Faro really had reached its peak for speed, reliability kept the awards coming in with twelve top three finishes, and another ME ‘A’ class diploma, although Gordon 2 took first place at 70.1mph showing just how Faro was struggling for outright speed.

The racing record of Faro is comparable with Betty, which must make it one of the most successful boats ever, but this was the last time Faro was to be seen as Ken Williams unfortunately suffered a heart attack after the Hispano Suiza regatta at St Albans on 26^th July 1952, and Faro was consigned to a shed with fuel, oil and the battery still in place, and there it was to remain. Ken and his wife later moved to Stourbridge taking Faro, and all the spares with them, yet nothing apparently was done to clean up or preserve the boat.

Ken Williams died in December 1965 aged 63, and in 1973 his widow Ethel sold Faro and most of the spares for the princely sum of £15 with the intention that the boat would be restored and run in demonstrations from the following year. Faro however languished untouched for yet another 30 years until a chance conversation in November 2005 revealed its whereabouts. The oil, water and accumulated muck from 50 years of storage had left Faro in a ‘sorry state’, so an offer was made to restore the boat.

After four months of careful restoration work on the hull, the engine that last ran in 1952 was re-installed, so completing a task that was supposedly started in 1973.

I must express my grateful thanks to two people who have made this article possible. Peter Hill for the loan of all the original documentation and his detailed research on the racing career of the boat and Stuart Robinson for the loan of Faro and the related spares.

©copyrightHughBlowers2006