Thousands of people lined the shores of Lake Macquarie last weekend as the Fast & Loud Festival roared into life. Lake Macquarie Mayor Kay Fraser said the city had never before hosted such an intense program of events and activities over two consecutive weekends.

This is a celebration of all things fast and loud on land, on the water and in the sky. We’ve created a program that makes the most of waterfront locations on both sides of the lake, and we’ve included things this year that will appeal to all ages.

Saturday afternoon saw Race One for the Supercat Extreme class and straight away the Dynamic Racing team of Andy Smith and Hayden Wyld were in trouble.

We had an electrical failure on the first lap and lost all dash gauges, so we stopped rather than risk it.

Also struggling were Simon Isherwood and Mat Humphrey in the ex-Notareal Cougar, Pitman Trucks. With no chance of testing due to the excessive rain over the last couple of months in NSW the boat had only been run on the trailer. When they left the dock to run the sighting lap things seem to be ok but unfortunately as they dropped the throttles the port Stirling engine did not respond.

When Isherwood spoke to PRW he said

As we made our way around the first lap, we were discussing our plan and then Team Dynamic dropped out, so we decided to continue with one engine running strong and the other unresponsive to throttle, it did clear and start to make power and then drop off again continuously.

After just five of the twelve laps they were heading back to the pits where they discovered a broken the water transfer hose that ran between the header and tail pipe spraying water into our flame arrestor. This had also resulted in the engine hydraulic locking as well as running one header dry.

Isherwood also confirmed that it’s their intention to rebuild both engines in their off season and then try and get some testing in to help dial in the boat and extract some better flat-water performance out of her.

Isherwood continued

The good news is all our systems within the boat like trike and steering are all working perfectly, plus the boat is a crowd favourite as well as providing Mat and I with a thrilling ride. We have plenty to prove, and yes, the old Cougar will be back ready to roar next season.

Also booking a place in the 2023 Offshore Superboat Championship will be Maritimo Racing. After the weekend Barry-Cotter told PRW that they plan to run the entire 2023 season and that it had been fantastic weekend for the team.

It was great to be racing back at Lake Macquarie once again and it is always wonderful to see so many people line the foreshore and come out in their boats. The boat was setup perfectly for the conditions and ran flawlessly.

Dynamic Racing did get back out on Sunday after the team had worked into the night but finished a minute down on Barry-Cotter and Willaton in both of Sunday’s races.

All images by Reg Blunt at embphotographics

It probably wasn’t the ‘come-back’ that Mat Humphrey and Simon Isherwood had hoped for as the former NOTAREAL Cougar catamaran made her racing revival in the Supercat Extreme class. Mirror like water conditions were never what this raceboat was designed for, so it was always going to be a struggle against the smaller, lighter Supercat Outboards.

Humphrey had earlier said

This weekend is still really a test. But what better way to test a race boat then in a race.

Mechanical issues with one of the 800hp Sterling Performance V8 engines meant the crew just about managed to limp home and take maximum points for the class.

Andy Taylor and Paul Fowles from AMT Marine Racing in their latest Shifty Cat design hull took maximum points for the Supercat Outboards class although they didn’t cross the finish line in first place. That honour went to the local entry of Saracen driven by Antony De Fina and Matt Kelly, but they received a one-minute time penalty for failing to round Mark D on one occasion, which dropped them back to second place.

Earlier in the race Scott Richardson and Stephen Kelly in TCR Offshore, who were competing in a brand-new hull, stopped after only five laps with a mechanical issue.

The contest gets back under way around Port Phillip Bay on Sunday with two further thirty-minute races in the Offshore Superboat Championship, either side of lunch.

All images: Colin Rosewarne Photography.

Meanwhile, FinnScrew the propeller factory that specialised in marine propulsion technology, marine propellers, and marine design decided to become the main sponsor of the team.

By that time Mattila had teamed up with the Italian Walter Ragazzi and ran a Skater hull in the World Championships.

Later in the second season of competition the FinnScrew boat won the 1992 Offshore Class 1 World Championship title in Dubai.

With no further use for the Cougar, it was purchased by Grahame Horne in New Zealand where it raced as Fleetlease. Then in 1996 the Fleetlease Cougar was involved in a 150kph crash in Waitemata Harbour, Auckland that almost cost Horne his life. In the impact, caused by a ferry wake the open cockpits were destroyed and Horne took the full force ripping his helmet off. Following the accident Horne stopped racing and put the Cougar up for sale.

Simon Isherwood the owner of Race Marine who’ve built, maintained, and repaired some of Australia’s most successful race boats flew to Auckland to inspect the damaged Fleetlease. The hull was then purchased by Tony Low and imported to Melbourne. Here Isherwood was instrumental in its transformation from open canopies to a safer, far more competitive race boat with a single cockpit, BMP drives and rudder. He also throttled the now named Smorgan Steel Cougar with Low in the 2004 season.

Unfortunately, after a race on the Gold Coast an escape hatch fell off, causing the boat to sink. The Cougar sat on the bottom of the Gold Coast seaway for three days before being salvaged and returned to Tony Low’s factory in Melbourne. Low then purchased the ex-Steve Searle Victory Cat and the Cougar was retired. Over time another canopy was fitted but the Cougar was never rigged. Circumstances saw the old hull parked up in a paddock in Braeside.

Here it sat until 2014 when Mat Humphrey flew to Melbourne to inspect the Victory Cat he was hoping to purchase. Sitting next to the Victory boat, was the neglected Cougar. This chance sighting began an eight-year passion project for Humphrey to restore and the old Cougar back to her former glory, with the dream of one day seeing her back racing again.

This weekend that dream becomes reality when, with Isherwood, a three-time Class 1 Australian Champion on the throttles Humphrey will be strapping himself into the driver’s seat and NOTAREAL will be back racing at Round 1 of the 2022 Offshore Superboat Championships at Wyndham Harbour Marina in Victoria with the Australian Offshore Powerboat Club.

Pitman Trucks have come onboard as principle sponsor of the NOTAREAL Cougar cat.

Dave Pitman said

I have always enjoyed offshore powerboat racing and have a keen interest in all forms of motorsport, so when Mat approached Pitman Trucks we were thrilled to get involved. We are really looking forward to seeing the boat back in the water and racing again.

Because of the significant history of the NOTAREAL Cougar, Dave Pitman was happy for the boats design to reflect its original 1990’s colour scheme.

Held at Wyndham Harbour Marina, the weekend will consist of five Offshore Championship races, two of which will be for Sport 65 & 85 classes and three will be for Offshore Superboat in which the NOTAREAL Cougar cat is entered in.