Big Year For Whispering Turbines
Schumacher Racing’s 37 Miss Beacon Plumbing was one of the H1 Unlimited Hydroplanes
powered by Whispering Turbines. Photo by Chris Denslow -H1
2013 was a busy, exiting and successful year for the Bratvold family of Hamilton, Montana. Tracy, Cindi and their son Adam have their roots in Unlimited Hydroplane racing and their company – Whispering Turbines, Inc – supplies gas turbine engines to some of the top teams in the sport.
In addition to powering Unlimiteds, WTI turbines can be found in diverse applications such as helicopters and the oil and gas industry.
Bill Tomlinson’s My Way set a LOTO record with a 224 mph mile run on Lake of the Ozarks. Photo by Robert Brown/robertbrownphotography.com
Some of the company’s biggest moments in 2013 came in offshore racing, beginning with Bill Tomlinson’s My Way setting the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout mile record in August with runs of 215 and 224 mph using twin Lycoming T-55s from WTI.
This was followed by the impressive debut of Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani’s new 50’ Mystic, powered by Whispering Turbines’ twin T53 L703 Gas Turbines, on the Hudson River in New York in September, where the team from Qatar scored an impressive victory in the turbine class.
Qatar 96 – QMSF Photo
In late September, Sheikh Hassan and throttleman Steve Curtis crushed the competition in the 5th Annual Bright House Clearwater Super Boat National Championships.
Whispering Turbines is very much a family affair. Founder Tracy Bratvold was a well-known crewman and crew chief in the Unlimited ranks before starting the company in the late 80’s.
In a recent interview in Hammer Down Boating, Bratvold explained, “ I spent a lot of years building V12 engines for teams like the Miss Circus Circus and Miss Budweiser. When the sport of unlimited hydroplane racing started to install gas turbines, I saw this as an opportunity, as turbines were the future…so I decided to tackle the task of learning my way around these new powerplants, in 1988.”
Adam Bratvold (Right) with Qatar 96 crew members. Whispering Turbines photo.
Bratvold continued, “ After a few years of building gas turbines for others in the sport of hydroplane racing, my family and I made the move to our current location, in Hamilton, Montana, and became an FAA approved overhaul and repair station, for the helicopter fleet here in Montana, and across the United States. My true love was always with the boats, but aviation filled a void, and so we serviced both industries.”
Son Adam handles much of the road work now, dividing his time between servicing teams on the H1 Unlimited circuit and the SBI Offshore series and more.
Interviewed by Jason Johnson of SpeedOnTheWater.com, Adam said, “Whispering Turbines has been very busy the last couple of years, not only with the boats and aviation, but also with the oil fields. We’re building a lot of engines for water pumps and frac units and stuff like that. Business has been good and we’re still upholding our great reputation for putting out one of the best products as far as gas turbines are concerned.”
Adam Bratvold – Photo by Jason Johnson
“It’s been such a busy summer that I’m looking forward to winter and hopefully getting in some snowmobiling and working in the shop for a while,” Bratvold said. “It always seems like at the end of race season we’re looking forward to getting back in the shop. But then again at the end of winter, we’re eager to go racing.
“As of right now we have more than a winter’s amount of work lined up,” he continued. “We’ll be busy putting out some more great performance engines and we’re going to continue to help race teams and pleasure boats be as safe as possible but as fast as possible.”
Indications are the crew in the Hamilton, Montana facility will continue to be very busy for some time.
Tracy Bratvold added, ““The phone hasn’t stopped ringing since LOTO ’13. It seems Bill Tomlinson has raised the bar, and a lot of new clientele are asking for direction and guidance in their quest to be the next Top Gun. We have several new customers in the H1 series as well. We took one of those new customers, and raised their performance. We have several Top Secret military projects in the works. We continue to supply oil and natural gas exploration, with reliable gas turbines. In short, we no longer have any time for a much needed vacation…life is good to us, and we’re very blessed! “
By Steve Montgomery – H1 Unlimited
Big Year For Whispering Turbines
Schumacher Racing’s 37 Miss Beacon Plumbing was one of the H1 Unlimited Hydroplanes
powered by Whispering Turbines. Photo by Chris Denslow -H1
2013 was a busy, exiting and successful year for the Bratvold family of Hamilton, Montana. Tracy, Cindi and their son Adam have their roots in Unlimited Hydroplane racing and their company – Whispering Turbines, Inc – supplies gas turbine engines to some of the top teams in the sport.
In addition to powering Unlimiteds, WTI turbines can be found in diverse applications such as helicopters and the oil and gas industry.
Bill Tomlinson’s My Way set a LOTO record with a 224 mph mile run on Lake of the Ozarks. Photo by Robert Brown/robertbrownphotography.com
Some of the company’s biggest moments in 2013 came in offshore racing, beginning with Bill Tomlinson’s My Way setting the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout mile record in August with runs of 215 and 224 mph using twin Lycoming T-55s from WTI.
This was followed by the impressive debut of Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani’s new 50’ Mystic, powered by Whispering Turbines’ twin T53 L703 Gas Turbines, on the Hudson River in New York in September, where the team from Qatar scored an impressive victory in the turbine class.
Qatar 96 – QMSF Photo
In late September, Sheikh Hassan and throttleman Steve Curtis crushed the competition in the 5th Annual Bright House Clearwater Super Boat National Championships.
Whispering Turbines is very much a family affair. Founder Tracy Bratvold was a well-known crewman and crew chief in the Unlimited ranks before starting the company in the late 80’s.
In a recent interview in Hammer Down Boating, Bratvold explained, “ I spent a lot of years building V12 engines for teams like the Miss Circus Circus and Miss Budweiser. When the sport of unlimited hydroplane racing started to install gas turbines, I saw this as an opportunity, as turbines were the future…so I decided to tackle the task of learning my way around these new powerplants, in 1988.”
Adam Bratvold (Right) with Qatar 96 crew members. Whispering Turbines photo.
Bratvold continued, “ After a few years of building gas turbines for others in the sport of hydroplane racing, my family and I made the move to our current location, in Hamilton, Montana, and became an FAA approved overhaul and repair station, for the helicopter fleet here in Montana, and across the United States. My true love was always with the boats, but aviation filled a void, and so we serviced both industries.”
Son Adam handles much of the road work now, dividing his time between servicing teams on the H1 Unlimited circuit and the SBI Offshore series and more.
Interviewed by Jason Johnson of SpeedOnTheWater.com, Adam said, “Whispering Turbines has been very busy the last couple of years, not only with the boats and aviation, but also with the oil fields. We’re building a lot of engines for water pumps and frac units and stuff like that. Business has been good and we’re still upholding our great reputation for putting out one of the best products as far as gas turbines are concerned.”
Adam Bratvold – Photo by Jason Johnson
“It’s been such a busy summer that I’m looking forward to winter and hopefully getting in some snowmobiling and working in the shop for a while,” Bratvold said. “It always seems like at the end of race season we’re looking forward to getting back in the shop. But then again at the end of winter, we’re eager to go racing.
“As of right now we have more than a winter’s amount of work lined up,” he continued. “We’ll be busy putting out some more great performance engines and we’re going to continue to help race teams and pleasure boats be as safe as possible but as fast as possible.”
Indications are the crew in the Hamilton, Montana facility will continue to be very busy for some time.
Tracy Bratvold added, ““The phone hasn’t stopped ringing since LOTO ’13. It seems Bill Tomlinson has raised the bar, and a lot of new clientele are asking for direction and guidance in their quest to be the next Top Gun. We have several new customers in the H1 series as well. We took one of those new customers, and raised their performance. We have several Top Secret military projects in the works. We continue to supply oil and natural gas exploration, with reliable gas turbines. In short, we no longer have any time for a much needed vacation…life is good to us, and we’re very blessed! “
By Steve Montgomery – H1 Unlimited