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The Test
A cloudy day at a water sports centre just off the M4… but for the test it had been transformed into our very own Everglades airboat course.
The huge course started with an easy gate and then a hairpin bend before a sprint straight back to the chequered flag. Each team got just two attempts, with the fastest single run winning.
The Diggers caged their monstrous fan and prepared their vessel for battle, while worrying about how heavy their van roof was. Next to them, the Beach Bums had carried out far more extensive tinker time work. Resigned to not floating on two boards, the team had rapidly converted their catamaran to trimaran.
Run one
The Beach Bums' expert Jeremy Harris was first up and gunned the microlight engine into life. He got a flying start but was soon in trouble. The engines cut and wouldn't restart. It seemed the angle of the boat on the plane stopped fuel reaching the engine.
The Diggers' expert Tony Broad stepped up to the plate. Taking off in the motorbike-powered Transit Van roof, he made it look easy, bombing round the massive course in an impressive 1 minute 43 seconds. Despite the great result, Tony was convinced the machine had more to give, but would anyone in the team have the bottle to use it?
Run two
The Beach Bums fixed the fuel problem and were ready to play catch-up on their final run. The new-look trimaran airboat trundled away from the start, with an understandably nervous Jeremy not wanting to test the flighty boat too much. But once he was around the heron hairpin he opened her up and positively shot back to the finish line. It was a great result – 1 minute 41 seconds.
It was the Diggers' Captain Paul up next. He drove the airboat like a pro, with Robert exclaiming: 'For a van roof it's doing very well.' Taking a tight line around the hairpin, Paul headed for home, but the machine didn't sound too healthy as he limped her across the line and it wasn't a good time.
So, by the slimmest of margins, just two seconds, the Beach Bums are into the next round.
