Traction Control for Boats??
 

I ride motorcycles on the track a good bit (road courses, not drag strip) and am very familiar with the technological advances within the sport. One of them that I have been pondering over the past few weeks has been traction control. One of the traction control systems that is used on sport bikes uses a throttle position sensor combined with a computer to measure for sudden spikes in RPM, which indicates the loss of traction at the rear wheel. When this occurs, the computer automatically prevents this with a "soft" rev limiter, which prevents the RPM's from increasing quickly, allowing the rear wheel to regain traction. It does this within milliseconds. The amount of slip allowed is user adjustable on the higher end models.

Now, why couldnt something like this be used to automatically cut power, or at least keep the RPMs from spiking up, on offshore boating applications? When used in conjunction with a throttle position sensor to detect increases in throttle, when prop slip is detected due to either leaving the water, blowout during planing, or high speed turns (less for that one) the RPMs would be maintained at their current level until "traction" is regained. This could be a useful planing tool, as you could just put the throttles in the notch and let the system get you on plane. It could also help prevent broken drives due to not getting out of the throttle when jumping, the prop biting during reentry, and breaking drives. A computer could keep the RPM at the exact same level prior to the jump, while in the air, and during reentry, only reapplying power when traction has been regained, which is the goal of every throttleman to keep forward momentum and keep drives alive.

Has this ever been done? I would certainly think that it has at least been considered before, maybe even tested but found not to work as well as hoped. Just a thought.

If you could actually get it to work properly it would save some people a Bravo or four!

Popped my second bravo of the season this weekend, but boy were we having fun! :coolcowboy:

I believe race boats are often run wot on the rev limiter. Its a similar concept to what you suggest philm.

I know at the drags a good driver will run faster every time with traction control off,
same for cars on a road course or autocross, I imagine race boats are no different.
If you need computer help to throttle your car or boat chances are you cant run with the big dogs..

That sucks... :(

I haven't blown up any Bmax's this year and I've been running in some big water lately. Fingers crossed I keep it that way! :)

Victory had developed a system that was basically traction control. It would monitor throttle, trim, slip and steering input to aid the throttleman in whatever he was trying to do.

It has since been banned (with most electronics like it) in Class 1.

Todays modern traction controls are much better than previous versions, the one that Ducati runs on their new bikes is pretty sweet.

The easiest way would be to use a lateral G-meter and vert g-meter and as the boat leaves the water, the computer would limit the motor to a pre-defined rpm, then allow it to return once the parameters are set. You'd have to initially set the g-meters, which might take a few high mph blasts, but once it is set....

One way to "incorporate" it into a race baot application would be through the racepak, which monitors both g-meters. But that is simply just an idea:party-smiley-004:

This isn't really accurate ... For "stock" traction control systems you're correct. For traction control systems that are race oriented and designed for maximum effort applications a computer can measure slip, and respond to it, faster than a human can. Most all top level racing organizations have already addressed this in their rules - F1, Moto GP, ect.

I have a close personal friend who does factory performance race car work who has freelanced in this type of design for independent race teams. If your pockets are deep enough we've already discussed, and he'd be happy to do, a marine system.

Brian

Guess with enough money you could build a computer that could drive the boat too and get rid of the human factor all together.

Wheres the fun in that??