David Helluin has opened 2026 as the first competitor anywhere on the planet to have a Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM) World Record officially certified in the new calendar year. Competing in the Circuit Electric Hydroplane Unlimited Voltage class, the French driver set a top speed of 87.25 mph (140.41 km/h), a mark now formally recognised by the sport's global governing body.
For most of motorsport history, the relationship between a hydroplane and a combustion engine has been considered inseparable. The physics of the hydroplane are demanding and unforgiving: the hull is designed to trap a pocket of air beneath itself, riding up and clear of the water to eliminate drag. Weight is the central problem in that equation, and for years battery technology simply could not solve it. Any pack capable of delivering genuine power carried a mass penalty severe enough to prevent the craft from behaving as it must.
That constraint has since dissolved. Improvements in lithium-ion cell technology have fundamentally altered the landscape, making it possible to produce extraordinary power without loading a craft with the kind of weight that would have ruled it out in an earlier era. Matched with high-efficiency axial-flux motors, modern electric drivetrains deliver instant, massive torque, something no combustion engine can replicate in the same way. Without a heavy fuel load on board and without the mechanical lag inherent in traditional powerplants, an electric hydroplane can reach the plane almost from a standing start and hold it with consistency. Helluin's run makes a persuasive case that clean marine propulsion has now reached the top tier of speed sport.
The Unlimited Voltage classification under which the record was set imposes no restrictions on battery capacity or motor output, giving Helluin's engineering team total freedom in how the craft was conceived and constructed. The category is designed precisely to find the outer boundary of what electric propulsion can do on open water.
Motorsport photographer Kevin Daudigny was on hand to document the record attempt, recording a significant moment for the French team.
