Racers, seriously, what is the cost of the package. No really, what is it, seriously..............come on guys how much does it cost. You see the simple questions are always the ones that never seem to get answered on this forum. For all I know everything is all talk, maybe the 496 HO costs only a few thousand less then the 500HP, still waiting for the numbers. Mike A, do you have them, it is your posts and I am sure wouldn't make it without hard fact. But don't wait for Mike A if someone out there in internet land has the numbers, all right all ready, post them.....


JK




Per Joey's post, most likely the pleasure version of the 38 Formula does not come with 496 HO's, if it did it would be a mistake, with 575's and boxes the pleasure version does not break 90 MPH, so with 496 HO's it probably would not break 70MPH, which is just way to slow in this day and age for any HP offshore boat for pleasure use.

hey JKK,,,there never is any growing pains converting to a new engine/drive package is there!!!?LOL

Jkk,
I talked to a Mercury dealer and you would be talking about $13,000....remember you will not be able to buy a new 500 in a few months...not to mention how long it takes now to get some parts already....

Gino

that number seems REALLY low..are we talking about dealer or retail?

Guys,

Why not simply allow us to create a new class or two that will satisfy the demand of the racers who want the 496HO (single and/or twin) while leaving Factory as is. We had E class a few years ago and it actually was growing when we ended it. The problem then was that without sealed engines, guys in E class were cheating and starting to go as fast as the Factory class boats.

There is now enough separation between the 525/HP3 and the 496HO where that should not happen again especially with a CRE sealing program for the 496.

This way everyone has a choice and no one has to get rid of their equipment. The market decides.

No attacks please, just some adult conversation and idea exchange.

Mike

No more classes!!! Get the input from the racers, have a vote and do 500s OR 496s and be done with it. The #1 complaint that we had from our sponsors is the inability to determine who was racing against who.

Mike, know what the majority your racers want, make a decision and stick to it for 5 years. If you decide to have the racers vote and the 496 wins, go with it. The ones who voted against it will be pissed off and may stop racing. But, if you stick to no rule changes for 5 years the class will grow and grow and grow.

Thanks G, most likely the current guys are going to have to pony up with more dough for the swap. We just sold our 500EFI's from our 525 swap. Took forever and we did not get 13K a piece for them. That being said, obviously the 525's are worth more, but of course we will all take a serious hit from just getting them and then having to turn them over, so as much as I'd like to say 496 HO's will save money for the current racers, they probably will not, most likely cost more, and per our Formula Performance class race teams, the 496 will most likely require more maintenance and is very temperamental.

Okay now, I do not have any problem being the World Champion of the Fastest F2 class that ever existed, LOL,

and would like to see the class grow again, as we all would, and it really isn't the current racers we are talking about here, because we are all already hear, correct, but it is important to keep us. We want to attract the 20 plus boats per race we had a few years back, and that takes new racers, new to the sport, of course. Both sides have some valid facts, and really safety is in the hands of the pilots, if you feel unsafe slow down on the course, don't slow down the class, I can flip a boat at 80 MPH if I am stupid. So what to do, well if every F class boat wants to do this, pony up the extra cash, reconfigure there boats, guarantee the changes for 3 to 5 years etc. etc. etc. while at the same time feeling it will attract new teams then we probably have no other choice then but to try it and buy into the whole thing. So keep talking, and lets see where every one ends up on the subject.


If you really want the class to grow, you may want to consider the Hull homologation program crap, let some new manufacturers in and lets have some fun. If it meets the F class specs let it in, it should be okay for a let's say Phantom boats to manufacturer F class boats only if he can, you lost many boats because of that brainy move. Take off the fee's and let's let them in and race. Couple it the a 496 HO package deal and you'll probably get your 20 plus boats a class by next year...


JKK

PS - NO MORE NEW CLASSES, I WOULD HAVE HOPED YOU AT LEAST LEARNED YOUR LESSON IN THAT AREA.

INNOVATION MARINE


YOU HAVE OUR ENGINE SPEC.BRING THE

525 EFI,S

500 EFI,S

500 CARBS

496HO,S

SO THEY RUN CLOSER IN HP.

WE HAVE 3 MONTHS

SOME OLD BOATS MAY RETURN TO RACE AGAIN

"really safety is in the hands of the pilots, if you feel unsafe slow down on the course, don't slow down the class"

thank you JKK!

"reconfigure there boats, guarantee the changes for 3 to 5 years etc"....what good is the guarantee...it's not like they are going to say; we are going to change it for one reason or another every year to suit our needs...are they!?

why is it that tommy bahama is allowed to use a shaft drive?...why is it nigel hook is allowed to use wiesman drives in SV?,,,why is it nigel is allow to change the bottom of his boat multiple times through out the season in SV? rick tramel using #5's in SV?....all while other SV are busting drives left and right!

APBA blames others like merc for forcing the use of their "new"product...do you really think merc is going to stop the advancement of their products world wide so a few racers can be happy for more than a year!!!???....so tell me what's going to be ANY different about the 496 implementation!!!???....seems to me unless we change the foundation of how the rules get changed...they always will!!!!!....you're not going to tell me that if someone like Volvo comes to the table with a VERY large 6 figure deal in 2005,,,, would the APBA will really say no?....YEAH!....we need to look at WHY rules, classes, schedules and just about everything else gets changed? ADDRESS THAT! that, i believe if one of the largest concerns and deterrents of newcomers entering the sport. be it sponsors, fans or racers!...how can you build anything that is and has always been in a constant state of change?? basically chaos for that matter!!

Joey,
You're right. NASCAR has been the same for the last 50 years. Rules stay the same for at least 5 years for every car on the grid.
How stupid of me...
I give up dude. You win. YOU tell me how Mercury never made a single change which created changes in any of the APBA classes. YOU tell me how all the classes should be and I'll shut up and race.
In fact, It occurs to me that I'm just a FNG in racing, and I should just do what I'm told...