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Harmsworth Cup

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The Harmsworth Cup, popularly known as the Harmsworth Trophy, is a historically important British international trophy for motorboats.

Garfield Wood holding the Harmsworth Trophy

History

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The Harmsworth was the first annual international award for motorboat racing. Officially, it is a contest not between boats or individuals but between nations. The boats were originally to be designed and built entirely by residents of the country represented, using materials and units built wholly within that country. The rules were somewhat relaxed in 1949[1] and may have been relaxed further since.

It was founded by the newspaper publisher Alfred Charles William Harmsworth (later Lord Northcliffe) in 1903.

In 1903, the course was from Cobh (Queenstown) to the marina in Cork, Ireland. It was a poorly organised affair, with many boats failing even to start due to the British organisers claiming the French boats were not completely built in France, and thus they were excluded from the race. Thus there were three entries, but the organisers insisted in running heats before the final race. Mr F Beadel was excluded from competing in the final despite putting in a better time over the 8+1⁄2-mile course than Thornycroft[2][3] England won the trophy in 1903 with Dorothy Levitt driving a Napier-powered, 40-foot steel-hulled boat at 19.53 mph at Queenstown in Cork harbour. It was owned and entered by Selwyn Edge a director of Napier Motors. France won in 1904. In 1907, it was won by Americans for the first time.[4] The US and England traded it back and forth until 1920. From 1920 to 1933, Americans had an unbroken winning streak. Gar Wood won this race eight times as a driver and nine times as an owner between 1920 and 1933.

Time magazine said of the 1920 race: "Many a race between shadowy contraband-carrying rumrunners and swift, searchlight playing patrol boats has been run on the narrow Detroit river. Last week 400,000 persons lined the river's edge to watch millionaires race millionaires."[5]

The Harmsworth was reinstated in 1949[1] and remained in American hands until 1959. In 1959, Canadians won the award.[6] The driver, Bob Hayward, won the Harmsworth again in 1960 and 1961. He died in another race in 1961. The Harmsworth was not run again until 1977, and continued to be run until 1986.[7]

In 1989 it was awarded to Stefano Casiraghi, husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco.

The trophy has been awarded sporadically from 1986 through to 2018, with a total of eleven earned in that time.

Trophy winners

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Napier motor yacht, 1903
 
Miss America II
 
Doug Bricker
Year Venue Boat Owner Country Driver(s) Ave. speed (mph)
1903 Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland Napier I Selwyn Edge UK E. Campbell Muir/Dorothy Levitt 19.53
1904 Solent, UK Trefle-à-Quatre[8] Emile Thubron France Charles-Henri ("Hemri") Brasier 26.63
1905 Arcachon, France Napier II Selwyn Edge UK Lord Montagu 26.03
1906 Solent, UK Yarrow-Napier Lord Montagu UK Lord Montagu 15.48
1907 Solent, UK Dixie I Edward J. Schroeder US Barkley Pearce 31.78
1908 Huntington Bay, United States Dixie II Edward J. Schroeder United States Barkley Pearce 31.35
1910 Huntington Bay, US Dixie III Frederick K. Burnham US Frederick K. Burnham 36.04
1911 Huntington Bay, US Dixie IV Frederick K. Burnham US Frederick K. Burnham 40.28
1912 Huntington Bay, US Maple Leaf IV Sir E. Mackay Edgar UK Thomas Sopwith Sr 43.18
1913 Osborne Bay, UK Maple Leaf IV Sir E. Mackay Edgar UK Thomas Sopwith Sr 57.45
1920 Osborne Bay, UK Miss America I Garfield Wood US Garfield Wood 61.51
1921 Detroit, US Miss America II Garfield Wood US Garfield Wood 59.75
1926 Detroit, US Miss America V Garfield Wood US Garfield Wood 61.12
1928 Detroit, US Miss America VII Garfield Wood US Garfield Wood 59.33
1929 Detroit, US Miss America VIII Garfield Wood US Garfield Wood 75.29
1930 Detroit, US Miss America IX Garfield Wood US Garfield Wood 77.23
1931 Detroit, US Miss America VIII Garfield Wood US George Wood 85.86
1932 Detroit, US Miss America X Garfield Wood US Garfield Wood 78.49
1933 Detroit, US Miss America X Garfield Wood US Garfield Wood 86.94
1949 Detroit, US Skip-a-long US Stan Dollar 94.1
1950 Detroit, US Slo-Mo-Shun IV US Lou Fageol 100.6
1956 Detroit, US Shanty I US Russ Schleeh 90.2
1959 Detroit, US Miss Supertest III J. Gordon Thompson Canada Bob Hayward 104.0
1960 Picton, Canada Miss Supertest III J. Gordon Thompson Canada Bob Hayward 116.3
1961 Picton, Canada Miss Supertest III J. Gordon Thompson Canada Bob Hayward 100.2
1977 Limit Up UK Michael Doxford
1978 Taurus Australia Doug Bricker
1979 Uno Mint UK Derek Pobjoy
1980 US Bill Elswick
1981 Dania, FL Satisfaction US Paul Clauser & Errol Lanier 78.6
1982 Popeyes US Al Copeland
1983 Fayva Shoes US George Morales
1984 UK/Bahamas UK Hill, Jones & Wilson
1985 UK/Bahamas UK Hill, Jones, Wilson & Williams
1986 St. Louis, US/UK US Seebold/ Seebold, Thornton
1989 Atlantic City, US Gancia Dei Gancia Monaco Stefano Casiraghi
1993 Cowes, UK La Nueva Argentina Daniel Scioli 91.6[9]
1994 Cowes, UK BP Marine Norway Andreas Ugland 51.3
1995 Cowes, UK Admiral Casino Tivoli Austria Hannes Bohinc 86.56
2002 Cowes, UK Super Classic 40 Italy Buonomo/De Simone 52.40
2003 Cowes, UK Wettpunkt.com Austria Hannes Bohinc 78.00
2004 Cowes, UK Grand Argentina Sony Italy Fabio Buzzi/Lord Beaverbrook 75.93
2010 Cowes, UK Red FPT Italy Fabio Buzzi 59.58
2011 Cowes, UK Cinzano Germany Markus Hendricks 65.26

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b 1949 Race of the Giants
  2. ^ Cork Examiner 13 July 1903
  3. ^ 1904 Harmsworth Trophy
  4. ^ 1907 Harmsworth Trophy
  5. ^ "Harmsworth Trophy", September 9, 1929, Time.
  6. ^ 1959 Harmsworth Trophy
  7. ^ All Harsmworth races
  8. ^ (the four-leaf clover was the french symbol of Brasier, automobile manufacturer)
  9. ^ "Cowes Winners 1961-2018". Archived from the original on 2019-01-20. Retrieved 2018-08-30.
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