Sports / Belle Isle
Detroit Hydrofest
Closed – archive entry · 2019
For a century, unlimited hydroplanes roared down the Detroit River off Belle Isle; the last Gold Cup here was in 2018 and the final Hydrofest in 2019.
01 / The story of this place
Make time for these
Detroit's boat racing goes back to 1916, when the community-owned Miss Detroit defended its Gold Cup on the home waters of the Detroit River. Between 1982 and 2018 the city hosted the APBA Gold Cup, first awarded in 1904, 30 times, as hydroplanes skimmed the river off Belle Isle at well over 100 mph. When the Detroit River Regatta Association bowed out, the Spirit of Detroit Hydrofest took over in 2015 with UAW-GM as sponsor. The 2018 Gold Cup was the last H1 Unlimited race in Detroit, and the 2019 Hydrofest, with piston-powered boats, was the final edition; the 2026 Gold Cup ran in Madison, Indiana.
- Unlimited hydroplanes topping 200 mph on the Detroit River
- The APBA Gold Cup, first awarded in 1904
- Packed shorelines around Belle Isle
- 30 Gold Cups in Detroit between 1982 and 2018
A closer look
Photos were taken at different times; images are resized and cropped on cards.
Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-10-01
An independently written bilingual guide. This collection is not an attendance-based ranking.
03 / Events
Events at this place
Published events automatically linked from our event guide. Times are local to the venue.
We have no published upcoming events linked to this place yet. That does not mean the venue has no events; check its official calendar too.
Source and former website ↗