Offshoreonly.com - Racing Opinions

No matter the class in offshore racing, north or south, bracket or spec, racing is wallet racing. Down to can you afford a bravo 1 prop(s) or that fancy Herring 6 blade. Can you afford to send the prop(s) out 20 times to dial it in right with your boat? Some can and some cant. Props are just an example, you can add, blueprinting bottoms and drives, the list could go on and on. I am one of the few that race on both sides of the fence and have a great time at both places for different reasons. The one drawback to racing bracket classes is that I dont care if you have 100 boats in your class, you are just racing a computer(gps). Does this take skill? Absolutely, however the trick is build huge stupid power and get to your number, run 1/2 to 3/4 throttle hoping you dont go over the speed limit. Being a throttleman in the brackets, I really never saw any racing going on, not because there wasnt, it was the fact that I had to stare at a GPS screen the whole race and since i was on such a tight rope with the speed limit, I couldnt afford to look up. I did once and got DQ'd for going .04 mph over my bracketed speed(not fun). On the spec side, per the letter of the rule book, you have equal power and similar boats, it boils down to driver/throttleman skills which determines the winner, however spec takes tech in order to make sure things are equal. Offshore doesnt have the Nascar/Indy budgets to give complete tech, some groups dont even have any tech, but thats not a bad thing, the racers are happy with that.... The one huge drawback to SVL right now is that the rules are based around a discontinued motor(525 EFI) SBI is working on a new motor package that is similar in spec to the 525 with the opportunity for any engine builder to build them. Everyone is still awaiting the rules for this new package. It doesnt make to much sense to buy a new boat and be forced to buy a 5-10 year old motor....

Yeah some negativity above, however the racers are a great group of people, I wouldnt trade it in for the world, being involved with the JD Byrider Vee team this past week and how everyone rallied around us even to the point of giving me a choice of motors to chose from, you cant replace the comradery. And to even see arch enemies put aside their differences and work side by side cleaning up the mess, I was in total awe. Its a feeling that really cant be put into words...

Good luck if you chose to join the racing ranks, the are all kind of options. Once you speak with Doc, I am sure he will steer you in the right direction and help you chose your best option(s)