Speed record
ABU DHABI TO QATAR – TRANS GULF RECORD BID
November-December 2009
For immediate release
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
(Embargoed until 16.00hrs - Doha time)
SHEIKH HASSAN CONFIRMS NEW ASSAULT
AT TRANS-GULF SPEED RECORD BID
• Abdullah Al-Sulaiti to partner Sheikh Hassan in Qatar Challenger
• Trans Gulf record planned for end November or early December
DOHA (Qatar): His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani has confirmed that he and Class 1 racing colleague Abdullah Al-Sulaiti will attempt to set a new Trans-Gulf speed record for the passage between Abu Dhabi and Qatar.
The new attempt was officially unveiled at a press conference in Doha on Tuesday afternoon and will take place on a date to be confirmed at the end of November or early December.
“We have such a hectic race schedule at the QMSF throughout November, so the date has still to be finalised for the record bid, but it will either be the end of November or the start of December,” said Sheikh Hassan, who is relishing the Gulf crossing over a distance of around 315 km and a race time of approximately two hours.
“Most motor sport will have ended by then and we will have already finished the Key West races in Florida, the Unlimited Hydroplane race in Doha and the next two rounds of the UIM F1 Championship in Qatar.”
Sheikh Hassan attempted to re-write the history books last November in his
twin gas-turbine engined Nor-Tech boat, but the attempt was curtailed by transmission problems for Qatar Challenger.
The President of the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF) is confident that the second attempt will be successful and he has attracted the backing of the Pearl Qatar for the exciting venture, which will run under the full governance of the UIM, world power boating’s sporting body. The record bid has also attracted from Performance Marine and Mercury Racing.
“The air temperatures will also be a little cooler in a few weeks’ time and that will enable the engines to run smoother,” added Sheikh Hassan.
“We have not planned any changes to the route that we used in 2008, but we will carry out a demo run in a pleasure boat on October 24th (Saturday) to make sure that no marine shipping markers have been added to the route since we ran for the record last year. This will also give us time to check the route is the best option available for the record attempt.”
The Qatar Challenger is based on the streamlined Nor-Tech 50 supercat boat and is powered by a pair of powerful Lycoming T-53 L-13 BA gas turbine engines, which both deliver in the region of 1630hp apiece.
The Lycoming T53 engine is a turboshaft unit used in helicopter applications and fixed-wing turbo prop aircraft. The engine was originally designed by a team headed by Anselm Franz, who was the chief designer of the Junkers Jumo 004 aircraft. The engine has a five-stage axial compressor and a one-stage centrifugal compressor.
Gas turbine engines work in a relatively straightforward manner. The compressor compresses the incoming air to high pressure and fuel is burned in the combustion area and produces a high-pressure, high-velocity gas. The turbine extracts the energy from the high-pressure, high-velocity gas flowing from the combustion chamber and creates the power.
Ends
For further information:
Neil Perkins, NDP Publicity Services, Mobile: + 44 7831 123153, E-mail: [email protected]. www.ndp-publicity.com (press releases).
