LostinBoston:

Your Superstock in virtually identical to our 6-litre Class 3S here in Europe but the Middle East is where they have the most boats and racing. Suggest, as others have done, to buy a Doug Wright boat and go over there during the winter and win some money. This year the 6-litre World Championships are in Italy in September. Three races inside five days just like Key West but without Duval Street!

Can't see P1 ever wanting to have a cat class running alongside but I could see the UIM make an attempt to create a new premier cat class based on American product ... but don't hold your breath!

Hi Pat,

Knowing the P1 management team as I do, I'm sure they'd love to have a race in the USA and Key West would be a great venue to stage a "World Cup" as you put it. Nathan Knight, their American CEO, came with me to Key West two years ago and was impressed by the venue. However it's a question of who do you deal with down there these days? Powerboat P1 has a strong and sound financial base and they are trying to run the show as a legitimate sport, not a weekend pursuit for a bunch of rich guys. For sure some team owners will get cheesed off being told what they can or cannot do but, in the main, what P1 are offering isn't such a bad package. At least we now have something to sell to our sponsors.

Chris,

Anyone who would like to bring a group of boats to Key West can do it by simply calling 305-296-6166. I’m sure that if you can come up with 5 boats, a Class can be set up for you to compete. Who knows, maybe some of us on this side of the pond might want to run with you.

As for who you deal with in Key West…that is still John Carbonell. Many have tried to get into Key West through the back door, side door, and basement window…only to find themselves being greeted by big John himself. Despite his reputation, John can be very easy to work with…as long as what you want to do makes good business sense.

I think that the P1 power/weight ratio rule structure would be very well received here in the States. The Super V Class, with its spec engine based program has run its course. The Super V’s have gotten so far away from the original intent of 105 mph straightaway speeds that the Class has dwindled from 10-12 boats per race, to 3-4 boats per race….its time for Super V to be replaced with something that reinstates the broad appeal that it used to have to equipment owners and manufacturers.

That's pretty much what I said on another website. I just don't see why anyone would choose this proposed class over P1.

If Class 1 wants a support class, it would be far more logical to try to get the now redundant ProVee boats out again. There are plenty around and are just gathering dust. It was excellent racing and it's an absolute shame the the class was not supported nearly as well as it should have been by the competitors (our team included.)

The boats in ProVee ran engines from about 850 to 1100 hp. The slower boats ran in the low 90s. The fastest one about 110. Chris Witty would have more details though.

Here's the link to the website.

http://www.proveeoffshore.com/

SVL as I understand it run the 525 Mercs and weigh a minimum of 4750lbs (OSS rules). I work that out at 9.04lb/hp. A gas powered ProVee boat with the maximum power allowed would be 6.25lb/hp. I believe the fastest of all the ProVee boats was a Nicolini Searacer 32 with a SeaTek and it probably ran 115 plus.

I'm also puzzled as to why there is such a discrepancy between the SVL boats and the ProVees. What sort of top speed would a fast SVL run now?

I watched Nicolini run that boat with Ken. It was fast but it had a wicked chine walk. I sat there and thought man that is a crap ride, it showed when the hull delaminated on the whole right side. This was the 1996 worlds in class 2 in Ireland.

I do not think the provee circuit will work unless the little boats are supported by the big boats.

pat W

That boat did slightly come apart in that race and it did chine ride like a b..t..d. Much the same as the Buzzi 32 ribs. Charles Burnet III being a prime example when he and Peter Dredge wore their boat as a hat in 96 or so.

BTW, Ken was the only monohull anywhere even close to the Victory cats that year at the Class II champs.

We have a fix for that chine walking problem.

I like that shot of the Buzzard running inverted.

pat W

Been away for a few days, watching race cars at St Pete over the past weekend. Always good to get a reality check now and again. Must have been 100 million dollars worth of 'four wheel real estate' on show! Good to see a number of powerboat guys in attendence including Craig and Mark Wilson, Bill McComb and Doug Valentine.

As for ProVee, as a concept it still has merit, but I've pulled the plug. I had a race organised in Travemunde, Germany in 2006 supporting P1. I even had a race supporting the Class 1 fixture in Arendal along with a race in Finland and also at the UIM 2-litre Worlds in Sweden. So we had a pretty decent calender on offer last year. Pity that only one team bothered to pay the pre-season registeration fee. We needed a guranteed 8 boats to get the green light from the race organisers above. So we had no option but to cancel the series and the UIM duly cancelled our operating agreement. End of story.

Our ProVee boats were bigger than the SVLs. Basically they were all existing Class 2 monohulls (rated at 32 ft) and we just increased the weight limit to keep them around the 100 MPH mark. Problem was some guys turned up the turbo boost (illegally) and got them running close to 110 MPH which was rather spooky to watch.

Great racing. Great concept. Great shame. Discussion closed!