Steve Holter, author of our book about Crusader, John Cobb’s jet‐powered boat of 1952, gave a well-received talk at the Brooklands Museum on the evening of Thursday 4 November. He outlined his painstaking research into a spectacular project that should have resulted in a new water speed record but ended in tragedy. Included in his talk — and at length in the book itself — was his assessment of the errors made during the boat’s construction and when running it on the waters of Loch Ness.

Published last May, Steve’s book has received superb reviews. Here are two of the verdicts.

Peter Baker of the website retro-speed.co.uk stated: “A 352-page masterpiece, well-illustrated, painstakingly researched and carefully constructed to reveal, chapter-by-chapter, all the drama associated with Cobb’s attempt on the World Water Speed Record. It is far too cheap at just £30. Not only do I give it five stars, but unless something very special crops up between now and Christmas, I’m making it my Book of the Year.”

Magneto magazine had this to say: “This book details the saga in true detective-story style, thanks to author Steve Holter’s access to key figures and reams of original documents, plus exhaustive analysis of the technical aspects of the ill-fated bid. As a long-overdue crash investigation, it takes some beating.”

Photos by Gary Harman