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Dave Warby
 


Dave at 2 years of age, sitting on a hydroplane the boys had to play on in the family backyard


Dave at 6 years of age (1975), atop a J-34 jet engine in the backyard where Spirit of Australia was built, Dave has had jets and fast boats around him his whole life.


Dave at 13 years of age, with his Dad's jet boat and jet funny car in the family front yard


Dave at 4 years of age, as a crew member on his fathers jet car team


Aussie Spirit racing at Taree NSW


Dave racing Miss Bud in Sydney NSW


Dave racing against F1 Tunnel boats at Taree.


Miss Bud being craned into the water in Preparation


Dave with Diablo in Lithgow NSW


Kamikaze the hydroplane Dave just finished building


Dave speaking to his father Ken Miss Bud, before Ken head's out to drive


Dave and Ken removing the 27ltr V-12 merlin engine


Dave testing Diablo


Dave just after racing Miss Bud, Ken at the wheel ready to race


Dave racing Aussie Spirit at Taree NSW


Dave outside his workshop with the hydroplane he just finished


Dave and Ken with Aussie Spirit at the National Maritime Muesum


Dave firing up the big Rolls Royce v-12 Merlin in Miss Bud


Dave after racing Aussie Spirit at Tarree NSW


Dave's earlier version of Kamikaze, now owned by friend Russ Ward in South Australia


Dave and Diablo


Dave with his Dad at Taree, ready to fire the jet up in Ausse Spirit


Dave with Diablo at the Easter Spectacular race meeting at Taree NSW


The Aussie Spirit GP Hydroplane


Dave testing Aussie Spirit with the blown 502ci big block Chev


Dave racing Aussie Spirit at Taree NSW


Dave at the Sydney boat show with Jim Broadley


Dave cornering Aussie Spirit at Taree NSW

 

Dave has been exposed to world record breaking his whole life, jet engine's, fast boat's & car's being around workshops & race meetings was a normal part of life and it's fair to say it's in his blood. As a young child Dave watched his father (Ken Warby) build Spirit of Australia in the family backyard and grew up in a world where he heard name's such as Donald Cambpell, Malcolm Campbell, Lee Taylor, Sir Henry Seagrave , John Cobb and what they stood for. Then to see his father take on the world and break the Unlimited World Water Speed Record twice in Spirit of Australia and to have a dad as the world's fastest man on water was a strong influence in Dave's early life. He has known from an early age that he wanted to break the world record too.

As a teenager Dave was part of his father's Jet drag racing team, touring Australia & America with Jet dragster's and Jet funny car's developing a good understanding of how jet engines and afterburner's work. Seeing them work first hand and being around jet car racers, and record breakers such as Tom Brown, Rosco McGlashan, Romeo Palamides and the Late Craig Arfon's, added to the need for speed.

Later in his 20's Dave wanted to take steps to follow his childhood dream as his father did, become the fastest man on water. He restored an old hydroplane "Diablo” in his Grandfather's backyard, the same place his father built his first race boat, even using some of the same tools father did. Dave then started to learn to drive, then race this hydroplane, learning the basics and getting the feel of a hydroplane at speed and reading the water conditions. later Dave stepped up to faster boats, fitted out and setting up a 22ft GP hydroplane Aussie Spirit, which he later raced with a supercharged big block chev engine. Dave later raced Ken's Unlimited Hydroplane "Miss Bud" powered by a 27 litre 3500HP Supercharged V-12 Rolls Royce Merlin and that gave him a greater taste for speed on water.

Dave now build's his own hydroplanes from scratch and has just finished his new circuit racing hydroplane "Kamikaze" an 18.5 ft hydroplane that Ed Karelsen designed, with a four litre Lexus Quad cam V8 engine that is now undergoing test runs. Dave is also a registered APBA reinforced Cockpit manufacturer. Dave now has his childhood dream coming to life , with a Jet powered Unlimited Hydroplane under construction in his own workshop, with the fastest man on water by his side, his father, Ken Warby.

With years of tutorship from his father and his own boating background, Dave has a unique ability to know and feel what works and what does not, in a high speed boat.

David John Warby’s skills are now about to be put to the test, building and driving Spirit of Australia II.

Source: Warby Motorsport

 

 
 
 

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