- Joined
- Dec 10, 2002
- Messages
- 3,327
Sorry it took me so long to get this posted...lots of catching up to do after the long dive home.
Speed Week IV started on Wednesday, Dec 27th. Ross and I got to the pond about 8:00 am with temps in the low 30’s, calm winds and no other boaters. Since no one way there to run we took our time getting the timing equipment set up and the sub buoys set for the oval course. By the time we got done with that it had warmed up nicely and we started doing some test running on his .12 hydros (first time they had been run since the record trials last year). The changes I had made since we ran last time seemed to work OK with the motors finally making some heat. The speeds were good, but the acceleration taking way too long. I estimate the speed to be well into the mid 80’s, but the boat wasn’t really “turning on” until about 2/3 of the way down the lake. By late in the afternoon Ross wanted to go hang out with some of his old friends and I was tired of chasing changes so I spent the last hour of daylight just enjoying a beautiful day setting in a chair beside the pond. All in all it was a beautiful record trial day and even though no one else showed up it was all good.
Day 2 started out again with cold temps, clear skies and calm winds. By mid-morning Mike Whitley and his son Mike Jr. showed up followed shortly after by David Hall. Mike was running his beautiful LS 27 cat. It was a pleasure watching him make changes during the week going from a speed on his first pass of around 55 mph to his fastest pass of 72.092 mph! I think if we had a little choppier water he would have been right at record speeds…the water was just a little too smooth the really get his boat to run free.
David started out running a really neat .12 hydro Rod Geraghty had built. Dave had only made one test run on the boat before he got there, but it worked very good right from the start. Radio problems kept him from getting full speed from the boat, but he did get a fast pass of 3.055 sec (73.649 mph). He also worked with his record holding.12 outboard tunnel trying to get his record over 50 mph. He had lost his record prop in Huntsville last month and just wasn’t able to get another prop to work quite as good. For those of you who don’t know Dave, he is one of the true gentlemen in the sport and a great boater.
Ross and I continued to mess with his .12 hydros (we had both last year’s boat and the new one with the rear exhaust motor David had made for us). I made changes to get better acceleration which worked good, but then we were finding that it took a couple of passes to get some heat to build up and by the time it was really wanting to run it had burned enough fuel that it would blow off. He was with in a few feet of setting the record with a 80+ mph pass on the front and an even faster pass happening on the back, but it blew off just before it completed the pass (I think it actually blew OVER the beam). Both he and I were disappointed, but that is the coolest thing about record trials…it takes back to back passes to set records…one way passes and radar gun speeds just ain’t the same!!! His boats ran good all week with many passes right at record speeds, but I was unable to run the event and spend the time to find the right balance to set the record. It looks like Preston will be able to keep his name on the top for a while longer! Ross’ best pass was 2.811sec (80.042 mph). I learned a lot and will have all new boats next time in search of my goal of 90mph.
Days 3 and 4 were again PERFECT with temps in the 40’s in the morning warming to the high 60’s/low 70’s in the afternoon, clear skies and calm winds. Chris Harris, Doug Smock and Chris G. showed up with their FE boats…and the records started falling! Both Chris H. and Doug had their sights set on some very lofty records and Chris G. was looking for some personal best goals.
Chris H. started off with his first run to raise the L hydro by about 4 mph! His average was 4.607sec/ 48.838 mph. Not bad for 4 cells!! He also ran his N-2 hydro to bump the old record to 69+ mph and later ran it to a fantastic 2.864 sec/ 78.561 mph ave! This raised the old record by more than 12 mph! Then he brought out the Big Daddy! This was a brand-new, never been in the water 12 cell version of his 6/8 cell boat. His goal was 100 mph (only two other boaters in the world have run over 100 mph with 12 cells and neither one was able to make a back-up pass) and all of us around the pond were hoping he would do it. After a quick shake down run (YEA, IT FLOATS!!!) he ran a 2.381sec/94.498 mph ave for the record. But wait, a quick battery charge and a little prop tweak and he came back with a 2.312 sec/ 97.318 mph ave to make this the fastest 12 cell hydro record in the world! He had a fast pass of 2.293 sec/ 98.124mph. I have heard that Blue Lake was too short to make a FE boat go 100 mph, but Chris proved that wrong! Even at 98+ mph he had NO PROBLEM with the length of the lake! He simply launched his boat drove down to the right end of the lake (he didn’t even go all the way to the end) turned his boat around (it turns good with the REALLY ingenious turn fin he had) hit the throttle, made the pass, drove the rest of the way to the end of the lake (again, he didn’t get really close to the end) turned around, squeezed the trigger, made the pass, turned around at the end and drove the boat back to the launch area. It looked much more like a nitro SAW run than the typical FE stop and turn type of run. The extra 15 or 20 mph and already being on plane at the start of a pass makes a BIG difference. Chris then brought out his O-2 hydro and bumped up his 80 mph record he set at FEII to 89.179 mph. Chris did a fantastic job designing and building these carbon fiber boats and I am very proud for him! Great job Chris!
I first meet Doug last March at FE II when he came down from north Georgia to watch…to say that he got bit by the record trial bug is an understatement!!! Watching Doug work on and run his boat this week was, like Mike, a great joy for me. Here is a fairly new boater running a brand new boat at his first record trial and he has able to step up and make it happen. His first run of the event was 4.435 sec/ 50.732 mph wild, bucking, anything but straight, hold on for life kinda pass. By the next day he was making very nice smooth, straight, beautiful passes faster than the record. His fast pass was 3.446 sec/ 65.293 mph and his ave for the record was 3.582 sec/ 62.814 mph. I don’t even need to say that he was excited and we were all excited for him!
Chris G. is another fairly new boater and even though he didn’t come with the expectations of setting a new Q mono record he came with the goal of learning how to make his boat faster. With the help of Chris and Doug, he was able to go from a 43 mph first run to a fastest pass of 54.151 mph! He did a great job, and I think we have another guy bit by the bug!
The last guys to show up were my long time friends Carl Van Houten and Mike Talley. Mike started out running a REALLY sweet round nose sport 20 hydro that he just designed. The boat was superbly built with great workmanship and attention to detail, is a really sleek design and was running an OS Max outboard engine turned around so the pipe came straight out the back. This boat is COOL! Mike had only run the boat a few times just before coming to Speed Week. But it only took a few passes to get things dialed in and bump the record to 57.885 mph and only a few more runs to raise it to
3.816 sec/ 58.962 mph. His fast pass was 3.782 sec/ 59.492 mph. With some more tinkering I think this boat can do 65 mph. Mike then brought out his record holding Lynx sport 20 tunnel and just wanted to make a few passes to get the needle set before trying to lower his oval record. As he was running his boat on the light chop and making needle adjustments we were calling out his speeds. Before we new it he was running over 59 mph and knocking on Eric’s SAW record. I think this kinda surprised him and he didn’t make any more SAW runs. After a few minutes he and Carl decided to skip the oval record and try for the SAW record. Although he tried hard, we just never got that little chop back on the water and the best he could do was a 3.842 sec/ 58.563 mph pass.
Carl brought out a radical 20 tunnel that has run very fast in testing, but he just couldn’t get it dial in perfectly this time. It is very fun watching Carl work on tunnels…he is an absolute MASTER with them! I am always amazed at how well his Lynx design runs. Oh yeah, Carl was running for the regular (not Sport) B Tunnel record with a STOCK motor…if anybody can do it, it will be him. Great job Buddy!
Glenn
Speed Week IV started on Wednesday, Dec 27th. Ross and I got to the pond about 8:00 am with temps in the low 30’s, calm winds and no other boaters. Since no one way there to run we took our time getting the timing equipment set up and the sub buoys set for the oval course. By the time we got done with that it had warmed up nicely and we started doing some test running on his .12 hydros (first time they had been run since the record trials last year). The changes I had made since we ran last time seemed to work OK with the motors finally making some heat. The speeds were good, but the acceleration taking way too long. I estimate the speed to be well into the mid 80’s, but the boat wasn’t really “turning on” until about 2/3 of the way down the lake. By late in the afternoon Ross wanted to go hang out with some of his old friends and I was tired of chasing changes so I spent the last hour of daylight just enjoying a beautiful day setting in a chair beside the pond. All in all it was a beautiful record trial day and even though no one else showed up it was all good.
Day 2 started out again with cold temps, clear skies and calm winds. By mid-morning Mike Whitley and his son Mike Jr. showed up followed shortly after by David Hall. Mike was running his beautiful LS 27 cat. It was a pleasure watching him make changes during the week going from a speed on his first pass of around 55 mph to his fastest pass of 72.092 mph! I think if we had a little choppier water he would have been right at record speeds…the water was just a little too smooth the really get his boat to run free.
David started out running a really neat .12 hydro Rod Geraghty had built. Dave had only made one test run on the boat before he got there, but it worked very good right from the start. Radio problems kept him from getting full speed from the boat, but he did get a fast pass of 3.055 sec (73.649 mph). He also worked with his record holding.12 outboard tunnel trying to get his record over 50 mph. He had lost his record prop in Huntsville last month and just wasn’t able to get another prop to work quite as good. For those of you who don’t know Dave, he is one of the true gentlemen in the sport and a great boater.
Ross and I continued to mess with his .12 hydros (we had both last year’s boat and the new one with the rear exhaust motor David had made for us). I made changes to get better acceleration which worked good, but then we were finding that it took a couple of passes to get some heat to build up and by the time it was really wanting to run it had burned enough fuel that it would blow off. He was with in a few feet of setting the record with a 80+ mph pass on the front and an even faster pass happening on the back, but it blew off just before it completed the pass (I think it actually blew OVER the beam). Both he and I were disappointed, but that is the coolest thing about record trials…it takes back to back passes to set records…one way passes and radar gun speeds just ain’t the same!!! His boats ran good all week with many passes right at record speeds, but I was unable to run the event and spend the time to find the right balance to set the record. It looks like Preston will be able to keep his name on the top for a while longer! Ross’ best pass was 2.811sec (80.042 mph). I learned a lot and will have all new boats next time in search of my goal of 90mph.
Days 3 and 4 were again PERFECT with temps in the 40’s in the morning warming to the high 60’s/low 70’s in the afternoon, clear skies and calm winds. Chris Harris, Doug Smock and Chris G. showed up with their FE boats…and the records started falling! Both Chris H. and Doug had their sights set on some very lofty records and Chris G. was looking for some personal best goals.
Chris H. started off with his first run to raise the L hydro by about 4 mph! His average was 4.607sec/ 48.838 mph. Not bad for 4 cells!! He also ran his N-2 hydro to bump the old record to 69+ mph and later ran it to a fantastic 2.864 sec/ 78.561 mph ave! This raised the old record by more than 12 mph! Then he brought out the Big Daddy! This was a brand-new, never been in the water 12 cell version of his 6/8 cell boat. His goal was 100 mph (only two other boaters in the world have run over 100 mph with 12 cells and neither one was able to make a back-up pass) and all of us around the pond were hoping he would do it. After a quick shake down run (YEA, IT FLOATS!!!) he ran a 2.381sec/94.498 mph ave for the record. But wait, a quick battery charge and a little prop tweak and he came back with a 2.312 sec/ 97.318 mph ave to make this the fastest 12 cell hydro record in the world! He had a fast pass of 2.293 sec/ 98.124mph. I have heard that Blue Lake was too short to make a FE boat go 100 mph, but Chris proved that wrong! Even at 98+ mph he had NO PROBLEM with the length of the lake! He simply launched his boat drove down to the right end of the lake (he didn’t even go all the way to the end) turned his boat around (it turns good with the REALLY ingenious turn fin he had) hit the throttle, made the pass, drove the rest of the way to the end of the lake (again, he didn’t get really close to the end) turned around, squeezed the trigger, made the pass, turned around at the end and drove the boat back to the launch area. It looked much more like a nitro SAW run than the typical FE stop and turn type of run. The extra 15 or 20 mph and already being on plane at the start of a pass makes a BIG difference. Chris then brought out his O-2 hydro and bumped up his 80 mph record he set at FEII to 89.179 mph. Chris did a fantastic job designing and building these carbon fiber boats and I am very proud for him! Great job Chris!
I first meet Doug last March at FE II when he came down from north Georgia to watch…to say that he got bit by the record trial bug is an understatement!!! Watching Doug work on and run his boat this week was, like Mike, a great joy for me. Here is a fairly new boater running a brand new boat at his first record trial and he has able to step up and make it happen. His first run of the event was 4.435 sec/ 50.732 mph wild, bucking, anything but straight, hold on for life kinda pass. By the next day he was making very nice smooth, straight, beautiful passes faster than the record. His fast pass was 3.446 sec/ 65.293 mph and his ave for the record was 3.582 sec/ 62.814 mph. I don’t even need to say that he was excited and we were all excited for him!
Chris G. is another fairly new boater and even though he didn’t come with the expectations of setting a new Q mono record he came with the goal of learning how to make his boat faster. With the help of Chris and Doug, he was able to go from a 43 mph first run to a fastest pass of 54.151 mph! He did a great job, and I think we have another guy bit by the bug!
The last guys to show up were my long time friends Carl Van Houten and Mike Talley. Mike started out running a REALLY sweet round nose sport 20 hydro that he just designed. The boat was superbly built with great workmanship and attention to detail, is a really sleek design and was running an OS Max outboard engine turned around so the pipe came straight out the back. This boat is COOL! Mike had only run the boat a few times just before coming to Speed Week. But it only took a few passes to get things dialed in and bump the record to 57.885 mph and only a few more runs to raise it to
3.816 sec/ 58.962 mph. His fast pass was 3.782 sec/ 59.492 mph. With some more tinkering I think this boat can do 65 mph. Mike then brought out his record holding Lynx sport 20 tunnel and just wanted to make a few passes to get the needle set before trying to lower his oval record. As he was running his boat on the light chop and making needle adjustments we were calling out his speeds. Before we new it he was running over 59 mph and knocking on Eric’s SAW record. I think this kinda surprised him and he didn’t make any more SAW runs. After a few minutes he and Carl decided to skip the oval record and try for the SAW record. Although he tried hard, we just never got that little chop back on the water and the best he could do was a 3.842 sec/ 58.563 mph pass.
Carl brought out a radical 20 tunnel that has run very fast in testing, but he just couldn’t get it dial in perfectly this time. It is very fun watching Carl work on tunnels…he is an absolute MASTER with them! I am always amazed at how well his Lynx design runs. Oh yeah, Carl was running for the regular (not Sport) B Tunnel record with a STOCK motor…if anybody can do it, it will be him. Great job Buddy!
Glenn
