Drop it from a helicopter; really? And who's going to sit in it for the test? The real question, that's already been asked, who's going to put it in their boat? Owning a 2 seat race boat is very limiting to it's usage.

Yes, the 550kt canopy is an awesome product and will have to be cut, albeit not w/lids. The canopy is designed to deform, the bird strike posted earlier shows the deformation, it's meant for air, not water. I like the idea of a full canopy hinged at the front but if your underwater it's going to be a problem. The lids; yes a 260lb person can jump up and down on them and not break. The problem is the may not open. Also, I believe the rulebooks state something about a required tunnel escape hatch for new rides. Still think finite method in a psychics simulation engine is the way to go. Autodesk just released a simulation 2012.

NO ONE WOULD BE IN IT for Gods sake!and second as one makes things Larger, the loading increases as well, the escape tunnel will have to be passed on as, The Tunnel can become a very high pressure water MAIN! Programs are nice but real world testing and proofs of concept are the finial word on it.

Rules suck some times, when we were racing the 6 liter S Class I was building a 11 meter boats, The geniuses cut the length,, mind you back to “10” I protested in the name of safety but to no avail, I had a 38 footer in the works But they like the short boats blowing over and such I guess.

I recall that they were all done in house down at Marc and Scott's shop in Florida. One of the Photographer's did a shop tour and posted alot of the pictures.

citron and miss G are both mystic. mystic canopys too date have seemed to hold up. i think the problem was more a "rigging" issue, since when you cut a 12" x 18" hole in the rear bulkhead for a fuse panel, no one thought about water intrusion or affecting the structural integrity. plus you always need 4 seats for taking people for joy rides.

talkin trash is a Skater with mask built by geico's inhouse shop. that another story within it's self.......


and as too Lighthouse's keen observation that owning a 2 seater race would limit it's usage............

of course it's a raceboat.

side note: the full "fighter pilot" canopy test video that has been brought up here shows only a frontal impact. curious how the same canopy would hold up on a side impact ?

it didn't look like the same locking setup as the drag boats. plus the sides are much more of a flat surface.

It was a team approach. My company built the thicker laminated windows on all these boats and recommended stronger wider inside retainers to keep the window from caving in to the cockpit and an outside mask to reduce overall exposed windshield area and keep the windshield from departing when the boat is stressed during a roll over or whatever. DW boats have the same improvements. All the boat manufactures except Skater adds the very important outer retainer that holds the windows in place. I'm glad Vinny and Jimmy added the recommended mods to their Skater after luckily surviving a crash where the windows left the boat. If they didn't land right side up it would of been tragic. Racers with Skaters and older MTIs should learn from this and add what I call a retainer kit.. These are only upgrades and are stronger then what was available when the boats were built. Its a move in the right direction but can still fail at some higher speed. We just don't know what that is and hope we dont find out. Its still racing and unfortunately you can die in an accident when you push the envelope. Still work to be done.

F16 doesn't hold up very good on a side impact. Killed some people.

Did the acrylic polycarbonate fail? Thanks.

When Ettore stuffed in 2001?? the lens stayed intact on one side and failed on the other. The flashing that held the lens in was peeled outward not inward.

The deck flexed ejecting the lens. It shattered through the hole used to secure them to the deck/lid. They had full time air but the rush of water blew the mask and helmet off. The key to the stuff senario is to keep the lens intact.

The Vic boat entered the water at 109mph on data.

just some more food for thought.

pat W

When I talked to Scott about that incident, I seem to remember him saying the boat started to twist on the way in, which contributed to his side popping out. Maybe I'm wrong. I block alot of stuff out from Scott.....

I failed to recognize the 90 degree inside/outside bonding points and absence of vertical support on the inside flat deck as issues. The f16 canopy is not representative of what's under the deck,inside the cockpit. "false sense of security" is always a concern; I have a little clearer understanding of the potential points of failure and appreciate all the information and time, thank you.