SHELTER VIEW JETSPRINT PARK - WANGANUI
Campbell Live interview with Travis Pastrana at Shelter View
Even Top Gear has noticed us....
Boating isn’t normally something we normally cover on TopGear.com. Unless, that is, said boating involves a properly bonkers, 900bhp turbocharged quad-rotary jetboat. And a video like this one.
Your normal pop-pop, this isn’t. It’s an utterly insane Jetsprint Super Boat with jaw-slackening agility, and so much speed you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d pressed fast-forward on the footage.
Jetsprinting is a form of boat racing where tiny skiffs with lots and lots of horsepower race against the clock, while navigating through channels of water less than a metre deep.
Courses are like PacMan levels, with drivers making 25 to 30 turns while trying not to crash. Navigation of said course is also fantastically simple: no pace notes here, rather a co-pilot flapping their hand around to point the driver in the right direction.
Top-class Super Boats are normally fitted with big V8s, pumped up to 1400bhp and fitted with steering racks so quick they make a Ferrari F12 look like an old Rolls-Royce Corniche. But Team Hujis’ boat, above, gets a turbocharged, quad-rotary powerplant. And it’s an utter water-weapon.