The Roaring Season

Jeff wrote:I was at Auckland library this morning and decided to do a bit of newspaper research into the death of Maurie Dunn.
I found an article from the Auckland Star dated 29 May 1965 with a sub-heading stating :

" An attempt on the Australasian water speed record ended in disaster at Bottletop Bay , near Papakura, this morning, when a racing hydroplane corkscrewed and crashed at about 130mph, killing the driver"

It goes on to say " Maurice Leslie Dunn was 36 years old and a father of four from Richard Avenue, Papatoetoe.
He was a motorcycle speedway star and was a member of the 1960 NZ team that raced in Europe.
It is thought that the boat possibly hit an obstruction in the water, or possibly a patch of turbulent water unsettled the craft
The plywood hull of "Elray 2" shattered into fragments.
The incident occured just before 11am as "Elray 2 " , owned by Mr Jock Appleton, Manurewa , who was watching from the shore, went streaking across the bay for it's first timed run.
Eyewitnesses said the craft appeared to lift once, then again, and be caught by the wind.
It corkscrewed into the air, the driver was thrown clear but then hit by the hull and hurled across the water.There was little wind at the time although the weather was dull with intermittent rain.

Elray 2 , which raced for the first time last season ( 1964 ) cost between 1600 and 1700 pounds , and was powered by a Corvette racing engine

29 May 1965

woody wrote:Peters boat that set the world record was Bel Air, powered by a Ford V6. Latimer Lodge that Peter owned was destroyed in the earthquake. Has been demolished and ready to build a new hotel.

bry3500 wrote:Elray

Record ID 34737
Source Auckland Scrapbook, February 1965 – July 1965 p 218
Location ARC Microfiche ASK AT DESK,

Abstract Maurice Dunn, of Auckland, is killed in a hydroplane, during an attempt on the Australasian water speed record.

Notes Includes illustration.

rf84 wrote:Thanks bry. After a little more research I learned it was in fact Jock Appleton which is reassuring-my memory is still OK and not suffering too much from CRAFT yet.
He won the Masport Cup with Elray in 1960 and again with Elray 2 in 1965.
Maurice (Morry) Dunn was killed in Elray 2 in 1965 while attempting to break the Australasian water speed record. Can anyone supply a date or venue?

rf84 wrote:Another well known hydro was a craft (I think) named "Elray"? or similar. The name Jock Appleton comes to mind. It featured in a "Gillette" razor advertisement on TV in the mid to late 60's.
A colorful Hastings identity Morrie Dunn was killed in the boat while trying to set a new speed record around the Auckland area (Bottletop Bay?).
Dunn raced solo speedway bikes in the UK League but on his return visits to NZ in the off-season he would compete here. Dunn had a cat which would happily sit on the fuel tank of his solo bike and go for a ride. I can recall seeing this at one of our Raureka primary school galas in the late 50's when Morrie did a number of laps of the playing fields with the cat riding on the bike.

Neville Milne wrote:It seems to me, to be hard to think of 'Tru Jen' and the Masport Cup, without remembering Southward's 'Red Head'.
Certainly, Southward dominated the Masport Cup for a decade, as a fair and generous competitor.
Many of the race boats ( and cars) of that era, were built using surplus WWll materials, an area in which Len Southward ( later 'Sir' Leonard ) was very familiar. Along with Gillies and some others, Southward purchased tons and tons of surplus war materials...especially aircraft engines, which he would dismantle to recover scarce and precious metals....these providing the wherwithal to develop his first attempt at a seamless tube manufacturing machine.
The time I first met him, all of his rather random and eclectic collection of vintage ephemera was stored in an adjunct to a factory in the Petone area. he had approached the company I worked for to see if we could assist with providing or manufacturing replacement big end bearings for the GM-Allison V-1710 that resided in Red Head.
We could not, but we did look at machining the existing bearings. pinning them to the rods and then using inserts from, ISTR, a Ford Thames Trader Diesel. Finally, I believe, we signed an authorization in order that he could secure an Import Lic. to procure the correct replacements. I don't think, though, it was his intention to ever actually race Red Head again....possible he wanted to have the engine as a 'runner' for display purposes.
BTW..as I recall Bill Stevenson and/or his company, was closely associated with Slip Ray and Mystic Miss...and probably others since then.

Apologies for the digression(s)
neville Milne