Please Understand , I was not rtying to take anything away from there series. I THINK IT IS GREAT!!!! I wish them the best.

I myself,with my boat, cannot afford to race there & would rather try to support & fix our racing here in the US than bolster the racing in the middle east.

I believe the shipping to Dubai to be around $15,000.00 for the boat. Flights are $1,000.00 plus......rooms are not cheap there...

You also need a secure storage area and tow vehicle.

The prize money is VERY inticing there as well...paid in CASH!!!!!

For myself it's just too much to think of racing there.....

I wish we could figure out what it would take to get all of the outboard boats back on one circuit here in the states.

Jan 16-17 Dubai, UAE
Jan 23 Abu Dhabi, UAE
Feb 13-14 Dubai, UAE
April 17 Abu Dhabi, UAE
April 27 Doha, Qatar
May 8-9 Dubai, UAE

That is our "off season" who is going over there to race against these guys?? Is Gary Blough going?? What does it cost to ship a boat ove there?? That would be a awesome experience!!!

Races are to close together,

I would love to see that to Ryan.

Julie

GB and PW are racing the series over there, the "OLD" Mapei boat is still GB's and stays there.

It's about $15,000.00 to ship a boat there....

They say they are expecting "30 boats". That is a great class, but not a great turnout. If a US organization paid $15k for 20th place, would all the current racers move to SSC? I certainly would if I could sell my SV.

You don't think 30 boats is a great turnout ????
I don't think it will be 15K for 20th place either.
I believe 1st place is going to be around 35K.

30 boats in 1 class, no speed limit=great event! One that all can understand, no question of who is racing who, no question of who broke out!

I think the biggest class killer for the SS class in the US is the

fear of the outboard.

It doesn't sound like a big block.

The epa threat.

Takes alot of skill to drive on the edge.

Other than that it is perfect.

What would you rather watch? 3 extreme boats race or 20 SS boats. Cost the same if not less.

Ryan,
No I don't think 30 boats is a great turnout. OPA and OSS both have bigger event turnouts than that with a fraction of the purse. It is however an outstanding turnout for a CLASS, as I wrote above. My point is if we (the US) had a $250,000 per race purse with only one class, I believe we would have more than 30 boats in a short time.

Skater and DW would need to add a couple more shifts.