302Sport

My boat is an old B-class boat and I am just wondering what the specs were for that class, and who were some of the good b-class engine builders back in the day????

smiklos@sunprint

iTrader: (1)

When B class was big and your boat dominated 470 ci. 9:5 cr steel engine. single carb dual plane wets sump gil or 420 exhaust


later and the demise of the class:
509 ci. 9:5 cr steel engine. single carb single plane 15.5 CMI's
Steve

302Sport

what was wrong when they went to the 509ci motors???

Rookie

iTrader: (4)

I don't believe their was anything wrong with the 509 or the demise of B-class. F1 and F2 were getting popular. This is when the sealed engines came into the mix. I believe this really hurt a lot of great marine engine builders that used racing to showcase their talents. I always loved the old B class racing.

Jim Valako, Tyler Crockett and Dean Gellner were some pretty good B-class engine builders. They all have a couple national and World championship engines under their belts.

Rookie

iTrader: (4)

Specs for 1997-2001 (Sportsman B)

http://www.biggerhammer.net/offshore...a/techfnl.html

302Sport

thanks for the info. it seems like everybody you talk to really liked that class

Rookie

iTrader: (4)

I think it showcased best of both worlds, great engine builders and great hulls. Here are the guidelines build the best that you can. Kind of like Pinewood derby cars. Everybody gets the same block of wood, nails and wheels. No kid builds the same car, but ultimately someones faster.

They would have races where there were 30 boats just in that class. Imagine 30 boats.

Last time I was actually interested in Offshore Powerboat racing there usually wasn't 30 boats in A-class, F1, P-5 and P-4 combined.

yahoo

The demise was everyone that was winning was cheating.

Just ask art lilly, he probably won more B races in Heartbeat than anybody.

Thats why f racing became so popular.

Hell I cheated to, had my intakes ported not polished carbs worked on, heads worked on.

I just didnt add the CI that heartbeat did. It was fun racing.

Driveguy

Art would never cheat !!!!! HAHA ? Troy Dennis on the other hand could move the valve angle with the best of any engine builder. My vote is b class engine Troy Dennis hands down.

Ron P

We never cheated and won a few...or broke. Maybe the entry of canopies killed the class? Or inspectors that didn't inspect properly?

No doubt, the mid 90s was a great time for boat racing. We ran in Key West 1995 against 27 other teams. I still have amazing footage thanks to Freeze Frame.