The impact was so violent that it caused major damage to the boat but not to Bill, who remarked in his usual droll fashion, “A bit too fast I think.”
Farm. A major undertaking was the building of a dam to provide an adequate water supply for the Station and feed the water wheel as required. Clearly an innovator, Bill developed a highly efficient scoop, which in addition to a home built excavator proved its worth in the construction of the dam. 1n 1927 his sister in law Lucy Wills who was staying at Tekapo, was one of many who operated such machinery in the construction of the dam. Bill’s scoop was so successful he later took it to England in 1936, where it was used in the construction of the Chingford Reservoir near London. In order to further develop the scoop’s use, Bill bought four International crawler tractors and was soon a very busy contractor involved in the
construction of aerodromes at Wigram in Christchurch, Gore, Haast, Okuru, Wainakarua, Keri Keri, and Great Barrier Island. Later he built the four mile stopbank at Karamea. Not surprisingly Bill became interested in racing his Sunbeam, the first car in Australasia to reach 100 mph, so a few days before the 1925 Muriwai Car Races, he with Stan Jones in the Sunbeam, together with Stan’s partner Andy Irving in the Brescia Bugatti, set off for Auckland. Camped in the scrub beside the beach they worked hard on the cars. Bill won by a quarter mile the 50 mile NZ Motor Racing Cup at Muriwai at 81.5mph, as well as the one mile Australasian Speed Record at 100mph, in each case beating the favourite, Jet Boating New Zealand
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