Turner makes waves in P1 SuperSport powerboat
20 August 2007
Seat Sport UK British Touring Car driver Darren Turner proved that he’s as quick on water as he is on land, when he tested Jackie Hunt’s P1 SuperSport World Championship winning powerboat on the Solent.
The 33-year old driver is enjoying his first full season racing a SEAT Leon in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, and having gained a fixed wing pilot’s licence last year, Darren has a proven speed record in all three areas – land, air… and now sea!
The Florida-built P1 SuperSport powerboat is powered by two huge 525 PS V8 Mercury engines and can reach speeds of 90 mph. Named Extremeboat, it is raced by Jackie Hunt (steering/throttle) and her co-pilot husband Mike Shelton (navigator). Together they won the 2006 P1 SuperSport World title and will be racing off Cowes at the Powerboat P1 British Grand Prix (24th–26th August). A strong wind, choppy seas and heavy rain made conditions difficult when Darren took control of the boat at Southampton’s Ocean Village Marina, but with expert guidance he quickly mastered the vessel.
Darren said: ‘Driving the P1 SuperSport powerboat was absolutely fantastic and something I'll never forget. I've heard that Jackie doesn't let many people drive the boat so it was a great honour that she let me have a go.
‘The steering is more remote than in a car and it’s about anticipating what’s coming up and getting the balance of the boat right. Eighty or ninety miles an hour on land doesn’t feel that fast but on choppy water it is amazing. When you look ahead you don’t feel like you’re travelling very fast, but when you look to the side and the land flashing by, only then do you have a true sense of speed.
‘It’s also a lot more physical than I was expecting. It’s not so much the G-forces that you get in a racing car – although you can really feel the power from those two massive engines – it’s more the pounding you get from the waves. I guess it’s a lot more like rallying than racing in that respect.
‘Jackie would be very good in a racing car because she has the set of basic skills and mechanical understanding that you need. She'd take to car racing like a duck to water!’
Jackie Hunt said: ‘After a couple of minutes I could see that Darren was really enjoying it so I didn’t hold back at all. You can tell he’s a racing driver, as he’s got a natural feel for anything with an engine and his turning was very smooth. Darren said that driving a British Touring Car is all about finesse, and it’s very much like that in a P1 boat – probably more so. When you get a racing driver in a boat it really freaks them out because they haven’t got a track to follow, but Darren didn’t react in that way and he seemed really happy with all the expanse of water he had. I’d be quite worried if he was racing against us, because I think he’d be tough competition!’
The test was filmed for a new Channel 4 series entitled Racing Rivals, which goes behind-the-scenes of the 2007 BTCC. Presented by BBC Radio’s Nemone, the six-part 30 minutes series will be broadcast every Sunday morning from 7th October onwards and is produced for television by 4D Productions.
