Pete B

It is of my opinion that the day of Factory style boats have passed, unless you are running a P-class boat. Yet that appears to be a ivitation to disaster when you have boats that are small runnig the same time as boats capable of twice he speed, IE 24 skater against a 38 cig. Look at the boat count of the factory classes, no one is buying them or racing them, The Ross's just recieved thier new canopied MTI to race SCL, they still have thier F-2 Donzi but seen that no one else is racing the class, being from Canada it was not good business to drive to Florida 8 times a year to race no one.

In St Pete 2001, A F-1 boat spun tossed the crew, a guy almost lost a arm.
As A boat Builder I think you should put a canopy on the Joker and see where that takes you or at least offer it and see if you have any intrest.

T2x

More.......

1. One death...cancels tens of thousands of good impressions and efforts...... It is never "worth it".

2. Skip the "exotic" hocum......those late model F-1 and F-2 potato chips have more "exotic" materials in them than the space shuttle.

T2x

Panther

Sign of the times.

If I wanted to watch a roundy-round race I would go to Brick Stadium.

They say they brought the races inshore for the fans but I thought the old format was better. Plus the footage they have nowadays is boring. The new format doesn't lend itself to TV very well, the old format was much better to watch on the couch in my den!

THEJOKER

Let's say engine was a 425hp spec engine and a checkered flag got you $25,000.

HuntingtonBeach

As one looking into racing next season, I have put a lot of thought into what classes to run vs. safety vs. cost. Factory sounded good but didnt seem like the racing was as close as it should be (even with the same specs some of the boats were just faster then others) which left "P" classes as an entry level point. And I agree that there should be some seperation on the race course with boats doing 75ish and others going 125+ but how would you do that and not have 2 courses? Also wasn't the point of shorting the course and being it in closer to the beach to attract spectators? A long offshore race might be more fun for the racers but it sucks to watch from a beach or pier?

THEJOKER

2 Classes - F1 / F2 ...no Big Boats Allowed.

Panther

That's what I heard but when the races were offshore they would still run down the beach, just many miles further. The fans would gather on the beach for 15-20 miles, now we're all packed into a 2 mile area and can't see the back half of the course well anyway.

BRUCE SEROFF

When Factory 1 was at its peak, a new boat w/ HP500 was what, $90,000?

A new SVL isnt much more. And you dont need to buy brand new to get into a competitve boat.

I loved to watch F-1 races, I just think the class is dead and will never make a comeback. Its been tried and unfortunately failed.

I also think there are reasons why it failed when it was brought back last year. But thats another story.

If there were a 25k check for a checkered flag, and an association willing to support the class, it may spark some interest. But who is putting up the money and who will sanctioning the event? With that kind of $ involved, you better be damn sure the rules are iron clad and enforced.

FeverMike

What powerboat racing on TV?

HuntingtonBeach

Theres the same problem in Desert racing... there solution was to make a short course section for the trucks to fly through then head back out on the open course for the racing part of it. Maybe theres a way to get the boats to do something similar- like a spectator section of the race then the open long section?