Al,
I don't believe that this is difficult. We could find someone like Fever Mike who has the skills to manage the process. All we have to do is get all twin engine boats within a range (3 MPH?) and go race. If you are going to set a top speed or your out, you already have this throttling based system in most organizations.

basically all the original ? is if all these classes were conformed into one larger class,put a couple simpler rules,give a top speed and go race with less hassles!

Bingo, every boat has a diffrent slip %%%% and mine is one of them. Good thread AL

I like the idea of coming up with a class for "heads up" racing. The "P thing" is OK, however, in all organizations the rules are different.
APBA uses top speed & GPS, SBI uses average lap speeds & GPS and OPA is going to use a combination of both.
I think this could work. If P5 boats were to add some power, F1 boats could add some weight, P4 boats would remain the same and "A" boats de-tune, this could be a start. Just as a reminder, the largest single class to hit the water in any/all organizations was the Key West World Championships in 1994?, with 34 "A" class entries.
I might be an exception, but I would prefer to race more boats than less boats.
I would also like to see the race lengths increased to 60 miles.
Does anyone like the engine claim rule that stock car racing uses? For argument sake, say there was an $8,000 dollar "Engine Claim" rule. This would encourage the backyard builder to build his own engine, and keep the cost down.
Bob G.

mike,nobody's try'n to reinvent the wheel,I've had a specific organazation call me and asked to help throw this out to the racers,I beleive that A-class being represented as a national class and giving a whole lot of boats a new desired class to run undesignating the old rules that have kept alot of boats from racing or moving into or being restricted by certain rules a chance to become a national type class,kinda like the P-class,just a rewrite of excisting rules and letting a few classes join together for some competition,I don't know about you but I'd rather race a national class than a P-class,my boat is eligible under the old A-class rules and not the existing former C-class which converted into what is now A-class,and they want my boat to race,and I am throwing this out for them to see what response people including myself have to say,me,I'm really considering it,now,who else is?


and robert,you aren't claiming my motor for 8 grand!but I can claim your prop if they incorperate some of the other existing rules!

You probably just opened the floodgates for all of the BS to begin............

well,lets hope not!

So if they called P5 - A class and P4 - B class, would you somehow feel better? I know I would. A - E like the old days.

I don't see how your making any progress here. In P class, you build a boat to run at the top of the class and go racing. The problem comes from guys with a 73mph boat running in P4. When they really need a 79mph boat to be competitive.

If you want more boats per class, then get rid of some classes. OPA only runs 5 classes (all P Classes) so when a Supercat runs in OPA, they run in P1.

The problem is having two or three classes for the same boats. F1 can run in A or P4, Get rid of two of those choices.

WE NEED LESS CLASSES, NOT NEW RULES>>>AGAIN.

the bracket racing is new so until everyone is honest or figures out thier boats ther will be alot of dq's.it's not a bad thing .they use it in drag racing to keep it affordable.you tell them the time your car does and try to get as close to it as possible with out breaking out you are racing the clock not the car next to you.it saves on alot of motor inspections for the org.they destroyed a ,b when they started to allow big motors ,big boats and unlimeted budgets.with some good rules they could bring it back again.but lets look ahead before we change the whole system. alot of this problem was created when apba got in bed with merc.

I like the idea, infact out west, we see our only real race being against the F1 boats.

There is no way you want a 500efi in my boat, it would surely be faster than 83.

No matter what happens, there will always be problems with the system and not everyone will be happy.

A few years ago, weren't the "bat boats" outlawed as they dominated the 'A" class.... so as long as no-one outlaws my boat I am game for expanding the class to have more boats to race against.

Rick