Evening star., 1937-08-22
WORLD MARKS SET
ByROSS|'S MOTORS
Engines Brought to U. S. in
New huIIs for Detroit
Race September s.

New HuIIs for Detroit
Race September 6.
~ John LARDNER.
n YEW YORK, August 21.-The
M Gold Cup, \ sterling silver
N vase With . gold-platsd sur
4 fAoe. Is the Oldest speedboat
trophy h America. They Win r.ce
for 1t On the Detroit River On Sep
tember 8 and among those present
at the starting line will be two highly
dangerous Italian boats, containing
one % highly dangerous Italian
orlver apiece.
This Is the first time In history that
Europeans have competed for the cup
Kaye Don, an Englishman, won It last
year On Lake George, but he was driv-
mg an.American boat, 1mpshi, for N
American owner. Horace Dodge. This
time the threat u 100 per cent Euro
pean. The shipping is from Europe,
and % are the drivers.
Ths most serious menace In the
heh. perhaps, Is . slender. hawk
nosed Malian nohaeman named Count
Theo Rnsi, who arrived Thursday
from Italy with his designer and as
sistant driver, Guido Cattaneo; three
mechanics and . couple hrand-new
amphihAAn thmderboltA Carrying
Isotta-Ffaschini motors md chris
tened after couple Abyssinian towns,
AlaN and AradAm.
The new boats Travelled hanA-in-
hand with Count Rosd all the wy
from Stressa, Italy Ell never left them
out Of his sight. They are . trim pair
Of shallops. If am any Judge. and
the count believes that, II weather and
water conditions favor him, out In
Detroit. he has . good chance for the
Gold Cup.
Beats Never IN Water Before.
"THEBE boats never have been IN
the water before" aY Count
Rossi. "The motors are the same
have been using for the last Two q
three years, but the hulls are COM
paetely new, just designed BY my
friend. Oattaneo. Isn't that night,
CAttaneo?"
Cattaneo, younger Italian, with
. brown, weather -beaten faoe, admits
that the count h absolutely right, up
till now.
"Yes," says Count Rossi That's
right. He also has added supercharg-
en- to the motors. But, aAde from
that. they are the same sort Of boat
which he drove to . world record
two weeks ago"
That was at 6tresa, on August 5.
The world record for speedboah Of
the l l,20o-kilogram cla8 was or1ginally
held by Cattaneo. but . few months
ago the French ace, Maurice VAsssw,
did bstter, and Count Rossi decided
that It behooved him 10 ct out there
and bring the record back 10 italy.
So then he took the wheel Of Q 500
Horsepower hydruplane, IN the calm
vatsr Oh stresa, and drove two nauti-
cal miles for an average Of So.D7os
miles an hour.
That's the reeord, fr boats Of thai
caass." says the count.
That's right" says Cattaneo.
Count Rossi ts q wealthy oorturan
VINO stumbled upon the thrills and ex-
citement OF spesdboat ractnR by &C.
ctdent, nine years ago.
We used to 90 hunting for ducku
on my place in naly," he says. Some
times we used little power bosts run
ahouts, to shoot from. It s,ye u,
good shooting and it gave soma va-
rfety to the sport. Then I rot n
teressed IN the boats more than The
ducks. thkefed around with tt~n
fretty soon Cattaneo and were de-
signing our own speedboats."
Combine HsAtnss, Fuwsr,
The two skiffs he has BROUGHT n
America With him are the TWENTY
second and twenty third 1 Count
Rossis building. They are about I'd
leet long, over Ala combination Al
hghtneB and power.
In fact," says the count. what
we've tted to do is build the lipht.xt
possible hull around the stronerst
possible motor. The only vay h "a
speed Is With light boat. N.ybe thes.
ooea arc too light for their power
Mayoe they won't hold the v~ter
that's what w are gotng to ind out
when We reach Detroit
The only American water rw ..,spd
on before Is tie SEA around florida. n
lsS4. I don't know the Detroit River
But they tell me it is apt to be choupy
and, If It Is, It will hurt our chance,
and give the Americans, who know
the water better. an advantage. I'm
hoping for calm weather and 4 stir
surface"
Count Rossi and Cattaneo both viii
drive In the Gold Cup race, thougt
they haven't decided yet which O,
them will drive which boat. The coun,
brought With him from Italy an ALE.
sorical trophy" to be awarded to tn.
winner Of the fastest heat of the race
The Gold Cup race is run In thru
heats, Of 30 miles apiece.
Last year, the thing vas 4 joke. =,
nasco. and . shambles. Kaye Don
With 1mpshi, was the only man t,
anish the Lake George course. RL,
ssrto, George Refs defending cham
paon. burned out Z connecting rot