Letters
Evoking an age of powerboating pioneers
very much enjoyed reading the article on Despujols in the August issue. In particular, I noted with interest the Sunbeam connection. Victor Despujols campaigned his boats in France before the First World War, but also came to England in 1913 to contest the Harmsworth Trophy on the Isle of Wight in Osborne Bay from 10-12 September. He won the first heat but did not finish the second. War intervened, but he was involved after the war, in 1920, with Sunbeam of Wolverhampton in the construction of a 26ft (7.9m) boat using a Sunbeam engine generating 450bhp. This boat was entered for the Harmsworth Trophy, again taking place on the Isle of Wight, from 10-11 August. The driver of
