littlenige

The old argument about 'real' offshore racing is a fair one. Yes in the olden days the boats may have been bullet proof and run in much bigger seas than today, but I spent many an August Bank Holiday at Cowes listening to the commentary over the PA system about which boat was first past Anvil Point and later at Torquay and numerous other marks inbetween. The fact is I would rather have seen the boats more than twice after having waited a whole year for the event to come round again on the calender!! The start was great, the ending was usually strung out with boats sometimes finishing hours apart. I would have preferred to see the boats doing laps around the Solent - which I can assure you can provide just as challenging an environment at times as far offshore. The race certainly proved man and machine, there's no question about that, but I believe that any modern sport can't survive without some kind of coverage (= close to shore/multi-lap), otherwise it becomes an elitist 'fringe' sport, which doesn't help to promote the boats the manufacturers are essentially building in order to sell commercially.

T2x

Supercat has always been a "spec engine" class and it still features the 750-800 hp engine that it had at its inception in 1998. The 525 is the engine for Super Cat Lite class. Supercat has NEVER been a "run what ya brung class". When did you race...and in what?


His name is Scott Gillman and he is one of the finest tunnel boat racers in the world. Scott is far from Un-American. In fact he uses capitalism to get a sponsor for his boat..... Since the F-1 boats do not race here...... why would an American company sponsor him? Only a multinational can benefit from the obscure publicity in the US.......

By the way Scott Speed doesn't "suck" either....but he could do with a better car........

T2x

Maximus

"The old argument about 'real' offshore racing is a fair one. Yes in the olden days the boats may have been bullet proof and run in much bigger seas than today."

"I honestly think that part of the reason that there are no Americans in class 1 is do to the "pussification" of American offshore racing. Long gone are the days of "real" offshore racing now we have nacar style courses and it seams every year that the "supercat" (if you can still call it that ) class has a rules change on what kind of boat you can run. Back when i raced supercat was almost a run what you brung type of field,"
"

Real offshore, Well...70 % of Sbi's races are in the ocean KW, MIAMI, DANIA, HOllywood...(is this not offshore?) OSS has PR, Ft Myers,Destin Etc. is this not offshore? OPA is racing off of NJ this weekend, OC as well...offshore? Porpra is holding a race from LA to Catalina and back....offshore?

I know the seas were BIGGER back then.....(snicker) see pic. Oh and the boats were built stronger? Please. more resin does NOT mean stronger...it means heavier. These days an offshore boat has to provide double duty. One it has to be extremely fast and two it has to be extremely durable and lightweight. Give me an epoxy built DW/Skater/Outer/Fountain/Cig over yesteryear's laminate any day.

Elitist...ha! obviously you havnt been to a race lately....these guys SBI/OSS,OPA,Porpra would gladly invite anyone into their camp for a beer, food or just boat talk.

Enough of the armchair, stirring the pot.

BD93 as a former supercat racer you know what these guys put on the line when their out there...I'm surprised at your comments (what boat did you race?).

The current supercats run over 150mph with 800hp mercs..How could one call that being a p***y?????????

"Run what you Brung" has stepped up a bit and is know called extreme. 2000hp? 3000hp? 4000hp? bring what you want. These boats are all capable of running 180+ mph...How could this in any context be called being a P***y?

All the classes SCL/CO/ SVL/SV and the P classes lay it on the line every time they start their engines.

I guess I'm biased. I just find it incredulous that people who sit around and do nothing just find fault and tear down what some are working hard to rebuild. Is it perfect ..No...is it moving in the right direction...absolutely

Big Smile,

Marc

BigDadys93x

First off i could have sworn that a few months ago i heard that the APBA was making a change and that the super cat lite class was going to be the new supercat class and all the old supercats were going to have to race in one of the "P" classes i could be wrong. As far as Scott Gillman is concerned , yes he is a great racer and has won world championships but as far as his patriotism I was a little upset when I was watching a recent race and he commented on how he would love to bring home another world title to The Untied Arab Emrites (yes I know they are his sponsor and he needs to pimp for them) I have never heard himonce say anything about his home country. As far as Scott Speed goes he does race for a very underfunded team (old Minardi team with Red Bull sponsorship) but i dont think he would even be in contention if he drove a Ferrari ( I have seen him race personally hes not that good).

I raced in SBI supercat unlimited in the mid to late 90's with a very underfunded team with a small sponsorship from Mountain Dew we ran a 40' Skater with twin 1200hp Sterling engines. Only ran 2 races NYC and Key West.

Im in total agreement with Maximus I believe that every racer takes a big risk when they strap the helmet on and fire up the engines im not denying that at all. What I meant by pussification of the sport was that the classes with the most boats ie. supercat and super v seem to be getting more restricted than ever and the classes with the faster boats have almost no competion. For example a few years ago when the PX class started up Dave Scotts Bacardi Silver boat was one of the only boats to race in the class how could you call yourself a "world Champ" if you were only racing against yourself? Dave Callan came along with his turbine boat and started taking away some of Daves wins and bam APBA said your boat is to fast so they started the PT class where Callan had the only boat running . I guess what im getting at is the competion for the fastest boats is gone and to seperated.

T2x

Sorry BD93...but...you ran in Super BOAT Unlimited....not Super CAT.

Super Cat is a newer class developed around single carbureted "spec" engines.

T2x

T2x

One last thought.....the greatest driver in the world...maybe in history...Michael Schumacher...a German...drives for an Italian National Team (The Italian government sponsors Ferrari).... Does that make him disloyal?

T2x

BigDadys93x

no he is not disloyal he has always said he is proud of his German heritage and he has always said his 2 favorite races to win are the German gp for his homeland and the italian gp for his sponsor. I think this thread has gone a totally different direction than i wanted it to . At the beginning I was hoping to hear from more racers on why they think there is no American presence in UIM class 1 racing. I hope someday it can happen.

P.S. yes sorry it was Superboat Unlimited I miss spoke.

littlenige

Maximus Mark. Point taken!

T2x

No problem...and a good question/topic. But you must be very careful when bashing a great racer like Scott Gillman. Scott has represented the U.S, in the best way....by beating the stuffing out of the vaunted Guido Capellini....... and re-establishing American tunnel boat drivers as the best in the world..... in the tradition of the greatest boat racer in history....Billy Seebold.

One other teeny, weeny little point........the power on Scott and Guido's boats?....... good ol' American Mercurys...... with props by Reading, Pa's. own......Dewald.

Nuff said?

T2x

Airpacker

Wow, pretty up to date for a dinosaur aren't you ?