DC tries his hand at powerboating.

During the three week summer break in the Grand Prix calendar, McLaren-Mercedes driver David Coulthard satisfied his craving for speed, by trying his hand in a West sponsored Class 1 Offshore Powerboat on Lake Como in Italy.

In misty conditions, but with the lake cooperatively flat as glass, the grand prix driver watched the boat being put through it's paces, while he admired its looks. "The design of the boat comes from the experience we gather from racing," explained throttle man Matteo Nicollini, who sits alongside the driver controlling the engines. "It has two twin turbo diesel engines, with each engine putting out about 1200 horsepower. It is the latest diesel technology and has a lot of power."

"I think these conditions seem perfect for the speed," reflected DC. "This might seem quite easy for them as they are used to having to work the throttle all the time when out at sea. It is ideal for me to get a feel for the speed without the difficulty of having to try and ride the waves. When you see the boat bow on, you can see through the two hulls and see the light at the back. It's pretty impressive."

Ken Thorne, the boat's regular driver began by giving Coulthard a few tips. "The steering at high speeds is very sensitive," he warned. "You don't turn it too much at all or it could actually flip the boat; not at low speeds but at anything over 100 to 120 mph, it has a tendency to flip."

Coulthard looked concerned. "We won't be doing a hundred miles an hour!"

As Nicollini explained the controls, Coulthard was reassured by the fact he could reach the throttle levers. "So I can knock the throttles back if I'm feeling nervous," he said. "How long have you been doing this, because I'm a bit concerned about everything," he added. "I have been doing this for about 15 years and I can tell that you won't have any problems driving this boat," reassured Nicollini.

"It's obviously quite tight in terms of having the hood coming down, making you feel a bit claustrophobic," reckoned DC. "But having watched the boat earlier, it just looks so beautiful on the water, it looks like a Stealth Bomber coming across the top of the water, so I am looking forward to trying it. It's very difficult to know what is going on behind you. What sort of speed are we doing in the turns just now?" "About 95." Coulthard looked suitably impressed. "The acceleration is very impressive."

Watching from the shore, Coulthard's skills met with approval. "He's doing alright and turning well and looks in complete control," said Thorne. "No problem."

As the throttle man increase the speed in relation to Coulthard increasing confidence, the boat appears to come alive, bobbing around on the surface. "We're just floating on top of the water," marvelled the West McLaren Mercedes man. "You're constantly dancing on the waves. It's incredibly hot in the cockpit and the smell of diesel fumes makes you feel a bit uncomfortable, but my first impression, because I'm not used to this and I have everything clenched, trying to hang on, is that sometimes it feels as though the boat is understeering, like you have in the racing car. I'm surprised at that. I can see Matteo is working the throttles and if he doesn't want me to turn so much he gives it more throttle and it creates understeer in the boat. It's a completely different world to that experienced by any of us who have been out on the sea or lake in a little speedboat doing 50 to 60 knots, thinking this is quick. Of course it is quick in a non-racing boat, but this one takes you into a completely different world."

"I was a little bit apprehensive before coming to do this high-speed boating trip on Lake Como. It is certainly the fastest I have ever been on water. The acceleration and the technology is certainly very impressive. It is similar in many ways to what we have in F1 with questions of balance and weight distribution. Unlike our sport of course, you have two people involved: you have the driver and then you have the throttle man controlling the turbos and of course the main throttles themselves. A lot goes into driving the boat."

"It's incredible when it starts to rock on the water. Sometimes it feels as though it doesn't respond. Once you actually get going, the visibility out of the cockpit isn't a problem except if you try and turn left as their is a safety support inside the cockpit, which obscures your vision. I believe most of the turns in the races are right handed so the driver can see what he is doing. As with all sports that involve speed, you are not looking ten metres in front of you, but a hundred metres or more. It's an interesting mix between what I think we have to do in our sport, which is looking fifty to a hundred metres ahead, and you do have this in the powerboat when you are rounding a buoy, but it is also similar to what a pilot has to do in an aircraft."

"David was very fast, because he is professional," was Nicollini's assessment at the end of the day. "He understood the boat immediately and had a feeling with it. Everything was very fast! I just had to show him how tight he could turn and we did get quite close to the degree of turn we would do in a race. I think he liked this sensation of speed on the water."

Coulthard found the whole experience fascinating. "It's always very interesting when you work with a professional in any field, to see how relaxed they are, because they are probably only having to work at sixty percent of their normal level," he reckoned. "When you go into someone else's world, you are on overload, because you can't really take everything in, you're a bit apprehensive and the last thing you want to do is make a mistake. You should leave every professional sport to the professionals. I don't believe you can cross over from circuit racing to rallying for example and be competitive and safe. Turn that idea towards something like boating and it's totally unreasonable."

Nicollini felt that Coulthard's visit was not only enjoyable, but also useful publicity for his sport. "It was very nice to meet a Formula 1 driver like David," said the Italian. "He is a nice straightforward person and this is important. It is nice to find someone who is at the top in his sport and is still a nice person. That is very important. The fact that David has come and driven my boat is very important for the whole of our sport."

So, would Coulthard ever consider switching from the track to the high seas? "I was sitting there thinking, would I want to do this when I stop Formula 1?" he said. "The excitement and the speed and the sensations are fantastic, but I know tarmac! I know it stays the same every lap and it doesn't move!"