Grimracer said:
As for the question if the Sport tunnel class is not a beginners class what is.. ??? Tim, I will be honest with you.. I do not know.. im thinking its not one class of hull at all... maybe the combination of many? maybe its the little bud boats? I just do not know..
Since I knew I would not get to go to the internats, I had not taken the time to read this thread till now. Glad I did, it's an interesting discussion. I'll throw in my 2 cents. I think something like sport tunnel is a good beginner class. Tunnels are easy to build, and with some help from an old timer, can be made to run pretty well fairly quickly. I think sport hydros could be good transition classes to help beginners advance to other classes. Unfortunately, loosely worded rules allow so much wiggle room that the beginner who shows up with a moderately priced stock motor will have a tough time competing against people who spend huge sums for high end motors and those who sneak in extra mods.
Beginner, and casual racer (perhaps sport), classes should be about learning skills, not outspending the other guy. People in these classes should be able to compete against the other person's driving and setup abilities, not their wallets. I've said this in other threads, but if the sport wants to attract and keep more people, classes need to be established to allow people who are not interested in spending $400 on a .21 inboard engine. Put $ limits (rather than loosely worded descriptions of stock engines) on engines in these classes so that the cost of getting started, or growing into new classes, is not so high. In addition to having these classes in the rule books, experienced people need to agree to keep running boats in these classes (and resist the temptation to "tweak" their engines) so beginners have someone to race against.
One of the ways to deal with people who would modify engines is the buy out clause common in other types of competition. I realize that the sport tunnel rules already have such a thing, called the "Engine claim procedure". However, it has limited value because the cost of "claiming" an engine is 25% over manufacturer's
suggested retail price. Changing this to something like $20 (amount chosen for discussion sake) over the real retail price (the price one would typically pay) would be a much stronger disincentive to prevent people inclined to making internal mods. For example, the current claim price for a K&B SS would be $406.25 ($325 + 25%). This is $146.25 more than the cost of this engine. A person who wants to sneak in a few mods can feel pretty comfortable with this amount. Change the claim price to $280 ($260 + $20) and there's much more risk of losing money for anyone who tweaks an engine. Will this stop everyone who is so inclined? Probably not, but it certainly would reduce the number.
This is just my opinion. If the organizing bodies are serious about attracting, and retaining new people, establish 3 or 4 beginner and casual racer classes that encourage reasonably priced stock motors. At the local level, clubs need to recognize that these classes attract new people and keep them viable.
