1933 Virginia Gold Cup
Hampton Roads, Virginia, July 9, 1933


Virginia Gold Cup Won by Pep III

With all her twelve cylinders roaring and the exhausts laying down a smoke screen over the course, Pep III, owned by Ernest T. Chase and representing the Maryland Yacht Club, won first place in the initial race for the Virginia Gold Cup held on Hampton Roads, July 9th. Her average speed was 55.05 statute miles per hour. The race was to have been run July 4th, but the end of a two-day northeast gale made a postponement necessary. The event was the first sanctioned race of the Hampton Yacht Club, Hampton, Virginia, and was for a trophy presented by Horace E. Dodge.

Pep III was driven by John Bramble. She got away to a good start and took both heats, the first at a speed of 54.1 m.p.h. and the second at 56 miles, flat. Second honors went to the new Delphine VII owned by Mrs. Delphine Dodge Baker and built to the Gold Cup requirements. In this, her first race, she was driven by Horace Dodge. Her average time for the two heats was 54.05 m.p.h. She handled very well on the turns and ran smoothly, little or no "porpoising" being in evidence. C-Me-Go, owned by Pete Christian of Richmond, Va., and driven by Freeman Collier of the Hampton Yacht Club, placed third, and Walter Leaveau, in a Dodge 16, took fourth place. The best time was made by Pep III with a speed of 57.7 m.p.h. in the third lap of the second heat. Delphine VII's best time was 56.5 m.p.h. A 12-cylinder Liberty motor drove Pep III, while Delphine VII was powered with a Gold Cup Packard motor.

The course was laid out according to Gold Cup rules and was well patrolled and clear of driftwood. Commodore H. H. Holt, Jr., and the regatta committee, headed by George Bulifant, chairman, and William Horn, referee, handled the event in an able manner.

(Reprinted from Yachting, August 1933)


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