"Heat Race" speeds

[Andy Brown]

I know this post will not be well received by some......but.....All of these posts about hitting 90 and better in "heat race" trim as though it is something new have me thinking that maybe some of you think this is a new development. I remember in 1996 I radared Jeff Lutz's single engine F hydro IN ACTUAL HEAT RACES well into the 90's. I remember him winning F hydro at the Slidell races by winning SIX races in a row with perfect scores. That is TWENTY FOUR F-Hydro first place finishes in a row!!! In terms of a "heat race trim" boat running alone at a practice pond, I will not even post the speeds I have radared Jeff's boats at time and time again. Art Mc Means and Andy Brown have also run 90 in actual heat races over 15 years ago. This is in no way meant to take away from the hard work put in by those running those speeds at practice ponds today, that is a great accomplishment. I just wanted to let you know that some racers have been running well over 90 IN HEAT RACES for almost two decades.

Eric, over the last few years I have been using the truthalizer at just about every race i attend to check the end of straightaway and corner exit speeds during all classes and most heats, to date there has been only 1 boat to run over 80, actually ran 82 was T Foleys twin during a twin race and 1 twin ran 85 in open water last year. I have most of the data in my little black book of races from stock .21 outboards thru all the nito classes and gas,, I looked back in the book thyu last year and found a gas twin running alone in open water that came from the far side at riverview, "longgest side" that had one pass of 83. At the recent race in Brandon, most of the boaters that were interested in the speeds I was getting on the truthalizer were guessing way high on the speeds compared to the actual speeds I would show them.

JM2CW

dick

Dick, Well I guess alot of guys are not running these internet speeds. But in a heat race its hard to get a good straight shot at a boat with a radar gun. But, good speeds are coming more and more with todays stuff making competition good. I remember Atlanta years ago John Browns picco 67 sg was radared 86 mph in the race in BAD water.(He passed a couple of guys on the outside lane). ----------1992------------ I watched Andy stick some 2167's on Manard Cagle's twin and it was radared 92 mph heat race trim. Andy brought a twin to Slidell years ago, he said him and Donna had it at the I 75 pond going 93 mph, he pulled the pipes for the race still running high 80's. Joe Ingrao 2001 nats had a twin 93 mph. 2001 Nats I brought a friends twin with tired piston and sleeves had to back the 1667's to 5.5" cup it still ran 87 mph heat trim, guess what ( You pitted for me and said God this boats fast! ) Remember? 2002 Eric Canto Slidell had a twin running 88-91 easy, he was in a heat and came up on Ernie's John Deere, Eric said "I'm going to pass him on the outside", "I said take him now", Eric passed Ernie off bouy 6 like he was draggin a cedar log. I did come to Slidell a couple of times with 90+ singles, back then the pistons did not have the geometry of today and I could only do those speeds for about 6-8 gallons of fuel. After that, had to back them off. Dick, you yourself had a little 80 sg with a k90 and a h-50 run 90 heat trim.(Correct me if I'm wrong I thought thats what you said,I never saw the boat).I could keep going on and on....

Jeff

I just use the gun during the heat racing for real heat racing speeds, mostly rough water racing numbers, yes i ran 90 in open water with a 90 eagle and k90 motor in standard heat trim at the corning NY internats before the time trials however it was not a heat raceable boat with that prop, my point is during open water or running in lane 12 on a lake by yourself a boater has alot more variables to reach some good speed, but those speeds will be less during heat racing with more boats on the water and the water roughed up, I remeber watching A brown runing a 127 MPH pass with a pretty stock Mac .84 and .620 carb and .150 spray bar however it would not have stayed on the water 5 seconds in a heat race.

dick

HaHaHA...got to keep you honest Dick! That was 125.77 mph....backed up by a 124.10 and a 124.86. I still have it all written down on paper in your hand writing from the SAW event you put on at Legg Lake in 2002. Oh and the carb was .605" and the spray bar .130". :lol: Oh and on my last pass the wind instantly came up and roughed up the back straight pretty bad. I eased the boat through the pass at 3/4 throuttle and still came through the traps at 116.76 mph. But no way that boat could heat race. B)

 

[Tom Foley]

It truly is a great time period to be running RC boats !!! Having a ball !

 

[Andy Brown]

It truly is a great time period to be running RC boats !!! Having a ball !

I'll second that Tom!

 

[Jeff Lutz]

I know this post will not be well received by some......but.....All of these posts about hitting 90 and better in "heat race" trim as though it is something new have me thinking that maybe some of you think this is a new development. I remember in 1996 I radared Jeff Lutz's single engine F hydro IN ACTUAL HEAT RACES well into the 90's. I remember him winning F hydro at the Slidell races by winning SIX races in a row with perfect scores. That is TWENTY FOUR F-Hydro first place finishes in a row!!! In terms of a "heat race trim" boat running alone at a practice pond, I will not even post the speeds I have radared Jeff's boats at time and time again. Art Mc Means and Andy Brown have also run 90 in actual heat races over 15 years ago. This is in no way meant to take away from the hard work put in by those running those speeds at practice ponds today, that is a great accomplishment. I just wanted to let you know that some racers have been running well over 90 IN HEAT RACES for almost two decades.

Eric, over the last few years I have been using the truthalizer at just about every race i attend to check the end of straightaway and corner exit speeds during all classes and most heats, to date there has been only 1 boat to run over 80, actually ran 82 was T Foleys twin during a twin race and 1 twin ran 85 in open water last year. I have most of the data in my little black book of races from stock .21 outboards thru all the nito classes and gas,, I looked back in the book thyu last year and found a gas twin running alone in open water that came from the far side at riverview, "longgest side" that had one pass of 83. At the recent race in Brandon, most of the boaters that were interested in the speeds I was getting on the truthalizer were guessing way high on the speeds compared to the actual speeds I would show them.

JM2CW

dick

Dick, Well I guess alot of guys are not running these internet speeds. But in a heat race its hard to get a good straight shot at a boat with a radar gun. But, good speeds are coming more and more with todays stuff making competition good. I remember Atlanta years ago John Browns picco 67 sg was radared 86 mph in the race in BAD water.(He passed a couple of guys on the outside lane). ----------1992------------ I watched Andy stick some 2167's on Manard Cagle's twin and it was radared 92 mph heat race trim. Andy brought a twin to Slidell years ago, he said him and Donna had it at the I 75 pond going 93 mph, he pulled the pipes for the race still running high 80's. Joe Ingrao 2001 nats had a twin 93 mph. 2001 Nats I brought a friends twin with tired piston and sleeves had to back the 1667's to 5.5" cup it still ran 87 mph heat trim, guess what ( You pitted for me and said God this boats fast! ) Remember? 2002 Eric Canto Slidell had a twin running 88-91 easy, he was in a heat and came up on Ernie's John Deere, Eric said "I'm going to pass him on the outside", "I said take him now", Eric passed Ernie off bouy 6 like he was draggin a cedar log. I did come to Slidell a couple of times with 90+ singles, back then the pistons did not have the geometry of today and I could only do those speeds for about 6-8 gallons of fuel. After that, had to back them off. Dick, you yourself had a little 80 sg with a k90 and a h-50 run 90 heat trim.(Correct me if I'm wrong I thought thats what you said,I never saw the boat).I could keep going on and on....

Jeff

I just use the gun during the heat racing for real heat racing speeds, mostly rough water racing numbers, yes i ran 90 in open water with a 90 eagle and k90 motor in standard heat trim at the corning NY internats before the time trials however it was not a heat raceable boat with that prop, my point is during open water or running in lane 12 on a lake by yourself a boater has alot more variables to reach some good speed, but those speeds will be less during heat racing with more boats on the water and the water roughed up, I remeber watching A brown runing a 127 MPH pass with a pretty stock Mac .84 and .620 carb and .150 spray bar however it would not have stayed on the water 5 seconds in a heat race.

dick

Im completely with you, I don't try for crazy fast heat race speeds myself anymore. Some people on here do,and act like it has never been done. I would love to see a 400 straightaway course with wider turns though! It would be fun for some fast twin racing but thats all.

 

[Jeff Lutz]

Only ever see one Twin that could have raced 100mph in Slidell. Andy brought it to the race & i believe it belonged to Virgil erickerson. Made many upper 90 MPH passes 97-98mph many times with a pair of .630 carbs on MAC84`s and some pitched up V967 props!!!!! it was a Animal to keep it in the Pond!! Most seasoned boaters dont drag out a radar gun unless he already knows it is well over 80 mph........ Maybe we need to find out how to heat race those V967`s

Joe, John raced virgils twin before giving that boat to Virgil, he ran 95 one way in straightway at the Nats with it, Virgil ran the boat with cut 1667's at 87-88 mph. I never saw Virgil run v 967's. V 967's are fast and on my 90 sg would heat race pretty good, (I tested it with a few boats at the local pond) but I never raced with them because I did not need that much speed. A modified pair of 2170's could do really good also.

 

[Andy Brown]

I know this post will not be well received by some......but.....All of these posts about hitting 90 and better in "heat race" trim as though it is something new have me thinking that maybe some of you think this is a new development. I remember in 1996 I radared Jeff Lutz's single engine F hydro IN ACTUAL HEAT RACES well into the 90's. I remember him winning F hydro at the Slidell races by winning SIX races in a row with perfect scores. That is TWENTY FOUR F-Hydro first place finishes in a row!!! In terms of a "heat race trim" boat running alone at a practice pond, I will not even post the speeds I have radared Jeff's boats at time and time again. Art Mc Means and Andy Brown have also run 90 in actual heat races over 15 years ago. This is in no way meant to take away from the hard work put in by those running those speeds at practice ponds today, that is a great accomplishment. I just wanted to let you know that some racers have been running well over 90 IN HEAT RACES for almost two decades.

Eric, over the last few years I have been using the truthalizer at just about every race i attend to check the end of straightaway and corner exit speeds during all classes and most heats, to date there has been only 1 boat to run over 80, actually ran 82 was T Foleys twin during a twin race and 1 twin ran 85 in open water last year. I have most of the data in my little black book of races from stock .21 outboards thru all the nito classes and gas,, I looked back in the book thyu last year and found a gas twin running alone in open water that came from the far side at riverview, "longgest side" that had one pass of 83. At the recent race in Brandon, most of the boaters that were interested in the speeds I was getting on the truthalizer were guessing way high on the speeds compared to the actual speeds I would show them.

JM2CW

dick

Dick, Well I guess alot of guys are not running these internet speeds. But in a heat race its hard to get a good straight shot at a boat with a radar gun. But, good speeds are coming more and more with todays stuff making competition good. I remember Atlanta years ago John Browns picco 67 sg was radared 86 mph in the race in BAD water.(He passed a couple of guys on the outside lane). ----------1992------------ I watched Andy stick some 2167's on Manard Cagle's twin and it was radared 92 mph heat race trim. Andy brought a twin to Slidell years ago, he said him and Donna had it at the I 75 pond going 93 mph, he pulled the pipes for the race still running high 80's. Joe Ingrao 2001 nats had a twin 93 mph. 2001 Nats I brought a friends twin with tired piston and sleeves had to back the 1667's to 5.5" cup it still ran 87 mph heat trim, guess what ( You pitted for me and said God this boats fast! ) Remember? 2002 Eric Canto Slidell had a twin running 88-91 easy, he was in a heat and came up on Ernie's John Deere, Eric said "I'm going to pass him on the outside", "I said take him now", Eric passed Ernie off bouy 6 like he was draggin a cedar log. I did come to Slidell a couple of times with 90+ singles, back then the pistons did not have the geometry of today and I could only do those speeds for about 6-8 gallons of fuel. After that, had to back them off. Dick, you yourself had a little 80 sg with a k90 and a h-50 run 90 heat trim.(Correct me if I'm wrong I thought thats what you said,I never saw the boat).I could keep going on and on....

Jeff

I just use the gun during the heat racing for real heat racing speeds, mostly rough water racing numbers, yes i ran 90 in open water with a 90 eagle and k90 motor in standard heat trim at the corning NY internats before the time trials however it was not a heat raceable boat with that prop, my point is during open water or running in lane 12 on a lake by yourself a boater has alot more variables to reach some good speed, but those speeds will be less during heat racing with more boats on the water and the water roughed up, I remeber watching A brown runing a 127 MPH pass with a pretty stock Mac .84 and .620 carb and .150 spray bar however it would not have stayed on the water 5 seconds in a heat race.

dick

Im completely with you, I don't try for crazy fast heat race speeds myself anymore. Some people on here do,and act like it has never been done. I would love to see a 400 straightaway course with wider turns though! It would be fun for some fast twin racing but thats all.

I've been looking at a pond over here near Valdosta that is big enough to handle a 400' straight. Blue lake is a bit narrow for six Twin 101's. I do think keeping the same turn radius would level the playing feild for the "not so fast" boats that could turn tighter. They would gain in the turns and the fast boats would gain in the long straight. Could make for some intense racing.

 

[Joe Warren]

Only ever see one Twin that could have raced 100mph in Slidell. Andy brought it to the race & i believe it belonged to Virgil erickerson. Made many upper 90 MPH passes 97-98mph many times with a pair of .630 carbs on MAC84`s and some pitched up V967 props!!!!! it was a Animal to keep it in the Pond!! Most seasoned boaters dont drag out a radar gun unless he already knows it is well over 80 mph........ Maybe we need to find out how to heat race those V967`s

Joe, John raced virgils twin before giving that boat to Virgil, he ran 95 one way in straightway at the Nats with it, Virgil ran the boat with cut 1667's at 87-88 mph. I never saw Virgil run v 967's. V 967's are fast and on my 90 sg would heat race pretty good, (I tested it with a few boats at the local pond) but I never raced with them because I did not need that much speed. A modified pair of 2170's could do really good also.

I was speaking of the weekend that Andy delivered it to Virgil at the Slidell lake. They were late getting there and Ran the Boat Early Saturday Morning before the drivers meeting. Dont recall if John or Andy did the driving. But the lake was Not Big Enough!!!! I held Bill McGraws STALKER Radar gun on it after i seen it make the 1st lap... I never recalled Virgil actually racing or running the boat at Slidell. Andy mentioned it had been over 100 mph earlier in the week.. I HAVE NOT SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT SINCE.... Even at the record trials..... Very Quite, Had to bring it up very slowly from a launch... Maybe because of the big bore carbs?? it would have been SERIOUS if it had Third channel mixture controls on board!!!!!!!! :blink: :blink: ... The Boat had manual needles standing vertical... the Boat had PLENTY MORE.. Just needed a larger lake

 

[aaron alberico]

Guys I feel left out, some of the years you guys are talking about I was just a little bubz.....lol

Enjoy reading all this!!!

 

[dwilfong]

I am new to all this just about 4 years. but in this short time have found that speed is not the problem getting tight on the corner is. the props that get the most speed will not let you change lanes at will in the corners. When testing a prop I see how I can turn in after I set in the corner. I call it turning in on the exit.

Also will the roster tail stay full with no break outs in rough water and thew the turns.

IE hooking up. See lots of videos of boats running fast and it seams thy all break out when pushed in tight or get some chop under them.

The 3 blade props seam to hook up the best so far in my testing. But it dose take some eng to pull them at RPM.

I think the eng have progressed but the props are the same old same old that every one has run for years.

If prop design would advance as much as the eng have then we will see some real results. in race speeds.

David

 

[Andy Brown]

Yes Aaron! I think you were just a young boy when we first started hitting these big speeds. I think in the early 1980's a lot of guys were stuck on 65mph...74 at the most with their bigger heat race boats. I remember the fastest passes at the Internats were around 72 mph in 1985. Larry Beals did pull off 80mph with a twin K&B 7.5 cc Coyote in Bartow Internats, 1984. And I saw Cal Lang run a Disc valved K&B 3.5 powered Coyote through the electronic timers at the 1982 Orlando Internats @ 72 mph using an Octura 2.0 prop. About 1986 the IMPBA officially adopted the new electronic timing system and wiped the old manually timed records off the books. The first New F hydro record was set by Dr. Gary Turner with his twin Coyote with Rossi 80 power, I believe. Record was set at 74mph.

About that same time my friend Joe Ingrao got a radar gun. A new toy for us r/c boaters. Our single .67 boats were running about 68mph with Rossi 65 power. The radar gun helped us make big gains fast and Joe soon broke Doc's F hyrdo record with a CMB 90 powered Mongoose @ 79mph. The speeds just accelerated from there. The Mongoose, Eagle, Jaguar, and Eagle SG continued to increase the IMPBA F hyrdo record year after year. We struggled for awhile getting through that 100mph wall which came about in 1997, but as you know, it was just 4 short years when we surpassed 125 mph. So it took us 10 year to go from 75mph to 100 mph, but only 4 years to go from 100 to over 125.

Some guys are not going to like this statement, I will certainly ruffle some feathers, but not one of the guys that held the old manually timed records many of which were in the 80's and even mid 90's mph range ever reclaimed their records on the new electonic system. At least a couple of them did come out and try. Maybe they where just getting too old.

While we have been running our bigger race boats in the high 80's low 90's for about 15 years know, I think it will be more difficult to make the big gains like we did 20 years ago. Mainly because the size of our race course. And as we do make small gains we will also need to make gains in our abilty to drive them around the course at those speeds. Still lots of great challenges to overcome! So keep pressing on you younger guys like Aaron!

 

[Jeff Lutz]

Yes Aaron! I think you were just a young boy when we first started hitting these big speeds. I think in the early 1980's a lot of guys were stuck on 65mph...74 at the most with their bigger heat race boats. I remember the fastest passes at the Internats were around 72 mph in 1985. Larry Beals did pull off 80mph with a twin K&B 7.5 cc Coyote in Bartow Internats, 1984. And I saw Cal Lang run a Disc valved K&B 3.5 powered Coyote through the electronic timers at the 1982 Orlando Internats @ 72 mph using an Octura 2.0 prop. About 1986 the IMPBA officially adopted the new electronic timing system and wiped the old manually timed records off the books. The first New F hydro record was set by Dr. Gary Turner with his twin Coyote with Rossi 80 power, I believe. Record was set at 74mph. About that same time my friend Joe Ingrao got a radar gun. A new toy for us r/c boaters. Our single .67 boats were running about 68mph with Rossi 65 power. The radar gun helped us make big gains fast and Joe soon broke Doc's F hyrdo record with a CMB 90 powered Mongoose @ 79mph. The speeds just accelerated from there. The Mongoose, Eagle, Jaguar, and Eagle SG continued to increase the IMPBA F hyrdo record year after year. We struggled for awhile getting through that 100mph wall which came about in 1997, but as you know, it was just 4 short years when we surpassed 125 mph. So it took us 10 year to go from 75mph to 100 mph, but only 4 years to go from 100 to over 125. Some guys are not going to like this statement, I will certainly ruffle some feathers, but not one of the guys that held the old manually timed records many of which were in the 80's and even mid 90's mph range ever reclaimed their records on the new electonic system. At least a couple of them did come out and try. Maybe they where just getting too old. While we have been running our bigger race boats in the high 80's low 90's for about 15 years know, I think it will be more difficult to make the big gains like we did 20 years ago. Mainly because the size of our race course. And as we do make small gains we will also need to make gains in our abilty to drive them around the course at those speeds. Still lots of great challenges to overcome! So keep pressing on you younger guys like Aaron!

Andy, Don Pinckert will be blowing your phone up soon!!!!

 

[Andy Brown]

Yes Aaron! I think you were just a young boy when we first started hitting these big speeds. I think in the early 1980's a lot of guys were stuck on 65mph...74 at the most with their bigger heat race boats. I remember the fastest passes at the Internats were around 72 mph in 1985. Larry Beals did pull off 80mph with a twin K&B 7.5 cc Coyote in Bartow Internats, 1984. And I saw Cal Lang run a Disc valved K&B 3.5 powered Coyote through the electronic timers at the 1982 Orlando Internats @ 72 mph using an Octura 2.0 prop. About 1986 the IMPBA officially adopted the new electronic timing system and wiped the old manually timed records off the books. The first New F hydro record was set by Dr. Gary Turner with his twin Coyote with Rossi 80 power, I believe. Record was set at 74mph. About that same time my friend Joe Ingrao got a radar gun. A new toy for us r/c boaters. Our single .67 boats were running about 68mph with Rossi 65 power. The radar gun helped us make big gains fast and Joe soon broke Doc's F hyrdo record with a CMB 90 powered Mongoose @ 79mph. The speeds just accelerated from there. The Mongoose, Eagle, Jaguar, and Eagle SG continued to increase the IMPBA F hyrdo record year after year. We struggled for awhile getting through that 100mph wall which came about in 1997, but as you know, it was just 4 short years when we surpassed 125 mph. So it took us 10 year to go from 75mph to 100 mph, but only 4 years to go from 100 to over 125. Some guys are not going to like this statement, I will certainly ruffle some feathers, but not one of the guys that held the old manually timed records many of which were in the 80's and even mid 90's mph range ever reclaimed their records on the new electonic system. At least a couple of them did come out and try. Maybe they where just getting too old. While we have been running our bigger race boats in the high 80's low 90's for about 15 years know, I think it will be more difficult to make the big gains like we did 20 years ago. Mainly because the size of our race course. And as we do make small gains we will also need to make gains in our abilty to drive them around the course at those speeds. Still lots of great challenges to overcome! So keep pressing on you younger guys like Aaron!

Andy, Don Pinckert will be blowing your phone up soon!!!!

LOL.....Don's a good guy...means well......just a little stuck in the past....which I better becareful and quit talking about the past so much myself and get out to the boat pond more! LOL

 

[Mark Bullard]

Yes Aaron! I think you were just a young boy when we first started hitting these big speeds. I think in the early 1980's a lot of guys were stuck on 65mph...74 at the most with their bigger heat race boats. I remember the fastest passes at the Internats were around 72 mph in 1985. Larry Beals did pull off 80mph with a twin K&B 7.5 cc Coyote in Bartow Internats, 1984. And I saw Cal Lang run a Disc valved K&B 3.5 powered Coyote through the electronic timers at the 1982 Orlando Internats @ 72 mph using an Octura 2.0 prop. About 1986 the IMPBA officially adopted the new electronic timing system and wiped the old manually timed records off the books. The first New F hydro record was set by Dr. Gary Turner with his twin Coyote with Rossi 80 power, I believe. Record was set at 74mph.

About that same time my friend Joe Ingrao got a radar gun. A new toy for us r/c boaters. Our single .67 boats were running about 68mph with Rossi 65 power. The radar gun helped us make big gains fast and Joe soon broke Doc's F hyrdo record with a CMB 90 powered Mongoose @ 79mph. The speeds just accelerated from there. The Mongoose, Eagle, Jaguar, and Eagle SG continued to increase the IMPBA F hyrdo record year after year. We struggled for awhile getting through that 100mph wall which came about in 1997, but as you know, it was just 4 short years when we surpassed 125 mph. So it took us 10 year to go from 75mph to 100 mph, but only 4 years to go from 100 to over 125.

Some guys are not going to like this statement, I will certainly ruffle some feathers, but not one of the guys that held the old manually timed records many of which were in the 80's and even mid 90's mph range ever reclaimed their records on the new electonic system. At least a couple of them did come out and try. Maybe they where just getting too old.

While we have been running our bigger race boats in the high 80's low 90's for about 15 years know, I think it will be more difficult to make the big gains like we did 20 years ago. Mainly because the size of our race course. And as we do make small gains we will also need to make gains in our abilty to drive them around the course at those speeds. Still lots of great challenges to overcome! So keep pressing on you younger guys like Aaron!

I love all this talk on history. Doc's record was done with a single coyote/rossi 80. Doc had just finished the boat when he did that. I was still working on mine that I went on to set the oval record that summer at the 86 internats. We did not build the coycote twins untill next winter.

 

[Andy Brown]

Yes Mark, I remember when you set the F hydro oval record at the Huntsville Internats...I think I even remember the time. 21.95 sec. That was a big deal to set a record at the Internats.

We've come a long way in that area of oval times too. The days of setting records at the Internats is long gone. I set two records at the internats. F hydro 1993, 89 mph and E hydro 1994, 86 mph. I should have had a 3rd record in 1995. I made some 77 mph passes with my .21 Eagle at the 1995 Ft. Worth Internats.

The guy reading the clock kept saying that the "clock messed up". The reason was that 77 mph was in the 2.9 sec range and this guy could not associate 2 sec passes with a 21 boat. Finally I ran out of fuel. After much protest I convinced them to let me run again. They decided I could have ONE set of passes. Since I would only get one chance I when out a little conservative and still ran a 75 mph average. Bill McGraw had the record at 75+ mph. I was disappointed, not because of not getting the record so much as missing the chance to have set SAW records at the Internats 3 yrs in a row.

 

[Bill Pos]

The good ole days.. I remember doing 18 sec laps and winning " F " hydro at 1991 nats which was great for that time. I was a young pup back then and I was honored to have Don Pinckert pitting for me !

 

[Tim Kish]

I don't think anyone would argue that today with better boats ,engines , props etc. it's easier for us to go fast but I think the biggest change over the last fifteen years or so has been the use of the internet.

When I started in this hobby you could only get info by word of mouth and that's only if people would talk lol , or you could spend a ton of money testing everything you could get your hands on..

Now you come to a website like I.W. and with just a little research and a couple questions you can find out what is working and what is not .

I believe this sharing of information has helped raise the average speeds and level of competition in our hobby more than anything else.

It's a great time to be in this hobby !!!

Tim K

 

[Jeff Lutz]

The good ole days.. I remember doing 18 sec laps and winning " F " hydro at 1991 nats which was great for that time. I was a young pup back then and I was honored to have Don Pinckert pitting for me !

18 secs for 1 lap? Not good even for 1991. I saw a couple of twins run 11 secs at the 1990 nats.

 

[Dasboatman]

"....which I better be careful and quit talking about the past so much myself and get out to the boat pond more! LOL"

Hey Andy,

Bingo!!! Hell, we'd all be doing 100 mph if it weren't for those pesky timing devices.

Guess that's why I like heat racing so much - Fire 'em up, Throw 'em in, Start, run 5 or 6 laps, and see who crosses the line first. Just not as much "Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda" involved I guess. And the stop watch never distorts the truth.

I agree with Jeff. I hear a timer ticking on your phone - Har, Har !!! CHEERS !!! Bob

 

[Ray Sametz]

"....which I better be careful and quit talking about the past so much myself and get out to the boat pond more! LOL"

Hey Andy,

Bingo!!! Hell, we'd all be doing 100 mph if it weren't for those pesky timing devices.

Guess that's why I like heat racing so much - Fire 'em up, Throw 'em in, Start, run 5 or 6 laps, and see who crosses the line first. Just not as much "Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda" involved I guess. And the stop watch never distorts the truth.

I agree with Jeff. I hear a timer ticking on your phone - Har, Har !!! CHEERS !!! Bob

I hear ya Bob, first year I raced I was the 100 point king, 4 rounds 4 dnf's. Remember winning my 1st place trophy (you got wet in the lake) still have it today. Sometimes one good win on Sunday makes the ride home allot better. Tim, the internet has helped out, good and bad, pics of GPS units. Then there's the truth!!!! Like my sig says 0 DNF's = Wood. B)

 

[stan simpson iv]

Well here is another Twin/Single story. Atlanta I wanna say 2001? David vs David Jr, David Showers was driving a single CMB 90 Micro Burst,David Jr was driving my SG Twin 84 that Andy and my dad had built. While they were racing,Holly,David's wife shot the twin doing 96... the single 93 during the race.My friends from Bermuda have it on video...nice. That SG was slower in flat conditions,it loved to fight in choppy water.I wished we would have NEVER sold that boat,it drove like a Cadillac the fastest HEAT race boat I ever owned. Oh yeah I forgot,they were stock 84s if you can believe that...Thx to Andy and my Dad