Hea Gener and gang
This is a way cool site dont you think! Thanks Tom.. I feel that this will bring tunnel boat design and tuning to a new level. Lets get those posts rocking..
Gener
The Villain S1 came from many ideas that were floating around in my head. Ask Big B, he will tell you that I think off the wall and sometimes he says that Im crazy.. what did you say,,, if I take a cast lower unit and,, you have to be kidding,, Im trying to post a message,,,, dam voices!!
Anyway.. I started by setting a goal to run 40 with a stock tunnel using a water cooled K+B motor.. This was in 1997. I had been racing for a few years but never thought much about boat design. I had designed model airplanes for years but not boats. I got this speed I wanted using a hotshot sprint. The next year I took the boat and ran it across a table saw and cut the sponsons off. I did not like the way the boat would pitch up so high to run fast. I glued some plates on the inside of the center and built a new set of sponsons for the boat without any rocker. I attached the sponsons with servo tape and used the boat for a test bed. Test and change, test and change. Build more sponsons and test and change again. If i saw a tunnel for sale I would buy it to look at the way it was designed. I bought quite a few.. Kits, built, glass, you name it.
The boat ran good so to the races I went..
I went to a race here in WI and got my you know what handed to me by a big guy buy the name of Todd Tribbit. This guy was fast, real fast. He had a SS powered stretched hot shot.
I said thahs it, I need to beat Todd. That is when I started doing drawings of a boat I thought would help me approach 50MPH in stock trim. The boat would need to light and lift to the point that if the water was going to pull it under the faster it went. After designing airplanes i thought why not place a wing in the center that lifts on the CG.. As I was telling a racing friend the other day the faster a Villain goes the more it stays the same, Lift-vrs-drag. At low speeds or high.
After completing the Proto hull I got news that Todd had passed away.
The same race the next year I ran the proto boat and killed the field.. I dedicated the win in Todds name.. darn,, I wanted a shot at this guy..
Hea Todd RIP.
There is much more to this whole thing but Im getting finger cramps..
After the success of the proto Villain the Leecraft XTR21 was shelved. The LeeCraft just did not like my driving style. I did what I could and I was lucky enough to win the Internats in 99 with it but it just did not agree with me. I could not get rid of the Tommy tip over.
Sorry to cut the post short but I have to go check a glue test that Im conducting. I will have to get back to this post later.
Rock on
Grimracer
