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Celebrating 100 years of tethered hydroplane racing
Fred Westmoreland (cont)
Fred's involvement with hydroplanes started around 1911/12 after winning a launch style hull as a prize at one of the many model engineering exhibitions he entered. He called his first boat 'Evil Spirit', and equipped it with a very early IC petrol engine. The horizontal single cylinder motor with atmospheric induction was similar to that used by Ted Vanner in the 'Leda' boats and almost certainly derived from the 'Belvedere'.
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The period leading up to the first world war was a time for innovation and experiment as internal combustion engines were still in their infancy and tethered hydroplane racing was just beginning. Fred joined the pioneers and soon formed friendships and working relationships with other modellers who were to become household names in many different aspects of model engineering. As well as Ted Vanner and George Noble it was to be his good friend H H Groves who proved to be most influential in the way Fred's boats developed.
The launch type hull of 'Evil Spirit' was outpaced by the functional hydroplane hulls such as the 'Follys' and 'Irenes' and it was this style of hull that Fred adopted for his second boat that he named 'Fairhope' after where he lived in Pendleton. The hull design was a direct copy of Groves' 'Irene II' but with an IC engine and associated equipment replacing the flash steam plant of the original.
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| 'Fairhope' in its first incarnation with the motor from the original 'Evil Spirit'. Atmospheric induction and ignition by accumulator and trembler coil. | |
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With a bore and stroke of 1⅜" giving a capacity of just under 34cc, the engine that had seen service in Fred's original metre boat propelled the newer style hull to a speed of 15.59mph in Class D of the 1914 speed boat competition.
The IC engine however was proving no match for the flash steamers being run by Groves and Noble which prompted Fred to adopt this type of power plant for his next and best known boat also given the name 'Evil Spirit'. |
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'Evil Spirit' was again a direct copy of 'Irene II/III', even down to the twin cylinder rotary valve flash steam motor. In the Model Engineer speed boat competition for 1915 the boat recorded a speed of 25.06mph to claim a British and World record, ironically beating the mark set the previous year by Herbert Groves and 'Irene'. Fred with 'Evil Spirit' in 1916. |
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This period was an extremely productive time for Fred as he was working on at least four different IC motors, developing and rebuilding the 'Spirit's flash steam plant and presumably doing his paid work as well. Even though he had broken the record with steam, he wanted to approach that speed with a petrol motor. To this end he built an entirely new engine and hull. 'Lap Dog' was boat shaped rather than rectangular but had no less than three steps. It may well be that the boat was never run and that the 1. 3/16" bore and stroke engine eventually found its way into 'Fairhope'. |
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In 1916, Fred wrote a series of articles for the Model Engineer. These contained details about his engines, the building of Evil Spirit and a report on the Manchester SME exhibition. His own entries were a high-speed steam engine, ‘Evil Spirit’ and 'Fairhope’s' new complete water-cooled, petrol power plant. The aluminium crank chamber and water jacket had been cast as one piece and the cast iron cylinder was screwed into the base of the water jacket. When run, the noise and fumes given out by the exhaust apparently caused some comment, the engine being well lubricated with castor oil.
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The later 'Fairhope' motor was based on the Stuart Turner AE, but with a one piece engine casting. Atmospheric induction was still being used as was the original ignition setup off the accumulator and trembler coil. There was no exhaust system at all, hence the comments above.
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One of Fred’s award winning models was an air-cooled aeroplane engine weighing just 3lbs. It was exceptionally well engineered and incorporated most ‘current’ features to give it an impressive performance. Professor G Asakaw an expert on internal combustion engines later bought it for the research department of Owens College, Manchester, complimenting Fred on the fact that it was the finest small petrol engine he had ever seen. He placed an order for six more engines saying they were for experimental work in a Japanese laboratory, but Fred refused, as he didn’t have the time. As well as the aero engine, Fred built what was claimed to be the 'smallest petrol engine in the world. With a bore and stroke of just 13mm the capacity for this water cooled four-stroke worked out at just 1.7cc. A slightly bigger version at 2.3cc was sold to Gamages of London, and the production version is featured in their catalogue.
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| Aero engine. | The smallest petrol motor in the world. 1.7cc 4-stroke | 2.3cc. Sold to Gamages. | |
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