A lot of good ideas and I hope they can come up with something.

Remember with the buffer zone if you are doing timing lights there will be about 300' between the lights as that is the approx. area between the cliff and the safety zone. Also I assume you would have to mount them on a barge and get it anchored and keeping it there for 3 days and nights I would assume presents a problem.

Remember we need a system that works for 50 different kinds of boats, there were 111 different entries this year.

One thing different about this than shooters is the radar is shooting down and at the boats rather than across at the boats when at shooters I don't know what kind of difference that is making.

Even with NASCAR which uses fairly good equipment there are always issues when pit road speeds are broken as to the accuracy.

It seems that most of the issues come up with the very fast and sleek boats. A guy that runs 83 in his Cig top gun doesn't see any error (at least I didn't) GPS said 83 and radar said 83.

for 90-95% of the boats the current system works fine, its the very sleek and fast boats something needs to be worked out. It may be as simple as coming up with a radar reflector that works well in the system or may need a totally different system. One thing Turbines have is a pretty good reflector known as the fan blades. Stealth aircraft go to great length to hide both the engines and exhaust. In myway the intake area was pretty large and the exhaust stack was clearly visable so you'd think there was a pretty good radar cross section but maybe the radar guns are not sensitive enough since they were built for cars and most cars aren't running at 200+ MPH. Maybe they need to set up another 3 guns closer to the water level at the finish.

Maybe a transponder system similar to what Mode C is in aircraft.

May only need a different system for the top 5% of boats.

I am sure Ron and the gang are working on it and I hope they are able to test whatever they are going to use and give us some feed back on it.

There is good equipment out there,Remember some Radar domes are made out of fiberglass (Our Doppler down here),that is like trying to shoot a ghost,laser beams would be a great choice, The hard work that goes into this, only to have popcorn speeds as a result, would be extremely frustrating.

Hopefully they are working on a solution I'd hate to see the big gun's skip the event because of issues with getting their speeds recorded accurately. When I read the quote from Ron Duggan in todays Lake Alert it was the first time I've ever heard that the speed is recorded 400' downstream of the finish line. I'm sure it's true but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense why they would be taking readings with over 7% of the racecourse to be covered... With most of these boats still accelerating through the finish the actual records should be quite a bit higher...

Was this the case when it was down at Shooters? If it was its not an issue if it's different they you can't even begin to compare My Way's and Dave Scott's numbers to Callan's, they would be apples and oranges...

Btw: Only the drivers have issues with Pit Road Speeds, Nascar always gives them the timing loop info where they exceeded the speed limits... After they opened up this year and put it on TV most of the complaining stopped...

I can also say that the owner and crew of MY WAY have nothing but good things to say about the organizers and all the volunteers that worked so hard to put on the Shootout.

I personaly found evryone freindly and more than happy to help with anything that we needed over the weekend, from the moment that I arived on Thursday till I pulled out again Monday morning.

Thanks to Capt. Ron and his CREW for a great experience.

Stan

""SHARKS WITH LASER BEAMS"" that's all I want...

I think that would do the trick.

Sometimes its hard to convey the proper tone over the keyboard.
The Hard work and dedication that the organizers and promoters
do should be commended.

1) disqualified
2)No radar
3)208
4)no radar
5)208
6)208


Does the above trials appear a little odd to you?
Lets drop the PR for a moment and come to the realization
that if your going to go 200mph+ six times in one day.
Do you think there may be a better way to measure the speed?

GPS reads 221 and the radar gun is stuck on 208...Please :eek:


Great points and ideas are giving in this thread.

Congrats to all the contenders.
Thanks to all the the organizers and all the volunteers.:drink:
KR

Pretty cool info,Thanks Buck for sharing:drink:

Thought you guys would like it. I thought it was cool as hell. Also shows me that the My Way crew seem to be a group of class act people. I admire them for their efforts and understanding. Just wish I was there to see it in person.

Buck

Yea the dedication it took,the time getting the set up,and alittle money too:drink:


Ive never been to the shootout before,I would like to get a chance to go one year.

Let me know when you're ready to check it off your bucket list. I'll make sure I'm there to help show you around.

Buck