Dean Stoneman has fitted a pair of Mercury Racing 700 SCi engines into Lightning Strikes, his Donzi hull, ahead of Sunday’s Cowes Torquay Cowes. Testing is complete and the engines are staying in for the race, before coming back out again for the Class 2 finale of the UKOPRA season.
Lightning Strikes, Dean Stoneman and Harry Thomas’s Donzi 38-footer, normally races on twin Mercury engines totalling 998hp, the maximum allowed under UKOPRA Class 2 rules. For Sunday’s Cowes Torquay Cowes the boat carries a pair of supercharged Mercury Racing 700 SCi units instead, rated at 700hp each at the transom, a combined 1,400hp.
Closing the Gap in Class 120
Lightning Strikes is entered for the Cowes Torquay Cowes in Class 120, the race’s fastest division, capped at a top speed of 120mph rather than a horsepower limit. The British Powerboat Racing Club’s confirmed entry list shows the boat’s usual 998hp declared alongside class rivals running considerably more: Silverline on 1,900hp, Smokin’ Aces on 2,150hp, and Good Boy Vodka on 2,200hp. The switch to twin 700 SCi units for race day closes a large part of that gap.
Stoneman knows the race. He won the 2024 Cowes Torquay Cowes at the helm of Laa Laa, a 42-foot Fountain, alongside Harry Thomas and Miles Thompson, at an average speed of 72.07mph, according to British Powerboat Racing Club records. That was a different boat entirely, and a different class of engine. Lightning Strikes is his 2026 machine, campaigned this season in UKOPRA Class 2 rather than the Fountain-based Class 1 he raced to third place in both 2024 and 2025.
Back to 998hp for the UKOPRA Finale
The 700 SCi engines will not stay in the boat. Stoneman plans to swap back to the standard 998hp Mercury package once the Cowes Torquay Cowes is done, ready for UKOPRA’s fifth and final round of 2026 at Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth, on 18-20 September. Class 2 caps declared power at 1,000hp, so the 700 SCi pairing would put the boat over the limit and out of contention.
The stakes make the swap back worthwhile. Lightning Strikes leads the Class 2 championship by 31 points over Robin Ward and Jeff Hall’s Unipart heading into the final round, with the title in Stoneman and Thomas’s hands if they hold their nerve at Gunwharf Quays. The Donzi has already won at the Round the Island opener and the Poole Bay 100, and topped Class 2 again at Hamble’s Mercury Offshore Grand Prix in July.
Cowes Torquay Cowes, Sunday 30 August
The Cowes Torquay Cowes is the headline race of the GoGPS Cowes International Powerboat Festival, a 181-nautical-mile round trip from the Solent to Torbay and back. It starts from the Royal Yacht Squadron line at Cowes at 10:00 BST on Sunday, with boats returning to Cowes Yacht Haven during the afternoon. Entry is free for spectators, and the Cowes waterfront and Western Solent shore offer the closest views of the fleet at speed.
John Moore is the editor of Powerboat News, an independent investigative journalism platform recognised by Google News and documented on Grokipedia for comprehensive powerboat racing coverage.
His involvement in powerboat racing began in 1981 when he competed in his first offshore powerboat race. After a career as a Financial Futures broker in the City of London, specialising in UK interest rate markets, he became actively involved in event organisation and powerboat racing journalism.
He served as Event Director for the Cowes–Torquay–Cowes races between 2010 and 2013. In 2016, he launched Powerboat Racing World, a digital platform providing global powerboat racing news and insights. The following year, he co-founded UKOPRA, helping to rejuvenate offshore racing in the United Kingdom. He sold Powerboat Racing World in late 2021 and remained actively involved with UKOPRA until 2025.
In September 2025, he established Powerboat News, returning to independent journalism with a focus on neutral and comprehensive coverage of the sport.
