That little green gecko isn’t the only GEICO Insurance Company icon. The other one is also green but a whole lot bigger. It’s a turbine powered race boat. This icon is 44 feet long, 10 feet wide and weighs 10,000 pounds. It’s powered by two Lycoming T-53 703 series gas turbine engines with 1850 horsepower – each!
So, what do you do with a big green boat like this, besides race in the Extreme Turbine Class races? Well, if you are driver Marc Granet and throttle-man Scotty Begovich, you set a new record from Annapolis to Baltimore. You do it at an average speed of 148 miles an hour, hit top speeds of 185 miles an hour and do it in 10 minutes and 31 seconds! This run took place May 29.
On top of all that, their luck held out. On the way back to Annapolis, they lost one shaft and prop. While trying to make it back the rest of the way, they lost the other chaft and prop. Lucky? Sure, it would have been a whole lot worse if this had happened at speed on the way up.
From the speed run it was on to Ocean City, Maryland to get ready for the first of the GEICO Triple Crown Races.
The Miss GEICO Offshore Racing Team (sponsored by GEICO Insurance) is powered by AMF Offshore Racing, and owned by John Haggin. Driven by Marc Granet and throttled by Scotty Begovich, Miss GEICO has captured three World Championships from 2007.
You can see more of Miss GEICO at www.missgeicoracing.com |
