Horsepower On The Waves: This Film Showing The 1956 Gold Cup Hydroplane Race Is Awesome – Aircraft Engines Galore


Horsepower On The Waves: This Film Showing The 1956 Gold Cup Hydroplane Race Is Awesome – Aircraft Engines Galore

Boat racing has always been the realm of big money and when we say “always” we mean ALWAYS. Think about the days of Gar Wood hammering international competition in the 1920s and then the evolution from there to where we are even today. Off-shore and hydroplane racing are huge money endeavors which are a fantastic spectacle. Hell, even drag boat racing will sink a decent wallet in no time flat but the allure of competition on the water has drawn and continues to draw the passion, the money, and the horsepower, to liquid race tracks all over the world.

So the Gold Cup was THE race to win in hydroplane racing during the era when this video was made. The boats themselves are amazing hot rods. Made of wood and powered by huge aircraft engines, they are violent and blazingly fast. You’ll see a Rolls-Royce mill, Allisons for days, and they all have this just killer look that make them some of the most visually stunning racing machines of their era.

While we have seen some of these old hydros sitting in museums and stuff, maybe occasionally idled around in the water, we had never seen them actually racing hull to hull before this video. How these drivers saw anything or didn’t have their guts shaken out of their throats over the course of the race is stunning. Watch the boats bounce, heave, and generally pulverize themselves on the water. This is wild!

Great horsepower, great history, and some of the coolest boats ever built.

Press play below to see this amazing account of the 1956 Gold Cup race in Seattle –


  • Share This
  • Pinterest
  • 0