Uhhhh, that would be me:( :(

It seems that most of the single engine open cockpit vee bottoms racing today fall into the following ranges:

Coventional or Stepped
24-30 feet
4000-5500 pounds
468-540CID.. high/low compression....425-700HP
Twin Outboard 400-600HP

Top speed capabilities 70-85MPH

Again, get all the A, F1, P4 & P5 boats into ONE CLASS..and you would have exciting racing for the racers and the fans!

But how do you come with a set of guidelines or rules to accomplish this and keep it competitive and relatively affordable??

With all the variations it equipment, it certainly would not be easy....but the results may be worth the effort.

first comes commitment,then comes rules

Offshore,last year in Marathon Grumpy old Men a top A boat ran in P4 an never got any further than 4th when he broke. This year Screaming Eagle a top F1 contender last year is in P4 in SBI and i dont see him doing so great either. MEL

I guess what im trying to say is once you set up to Fevers rules it pretty much levels the playing field,without a lot of changes or an increase in entry fees. Mel

the idea sounds great! and i would love to get big numbers in a field, but if you are tring to make a change it has to be quick or wait til next year we are working on our motor now and would hate for it now to fit in the class and not have the money to build a new one.

I dont think changes (if any) should take effect until next year. To change the classes now would be more damaging to an already crippled sport.

hey Mack...I hope to see you up here in NJ this year

Many of you have made the suggestion in the past that offshore racing needs to reduce the number of classes, both to reduce fan confusion, and to boost the boat counts per class. This thread furthers that idea, which is a good thing.

Try this on for size - why not follow what has already taken place with the Super classes? There is SC and SCL (big & not-as-big), SV and SVL canopied Vee's. Why not consolidate the rest of the field into OV and OVL - OV for open cockpit twin, and OVL for open cockpit single?

Keep engine packages simple - 510ci max with a reasonable CR, and NA only, no forced induction. Any drive, any hull.

Use these OV classes for those wanting to enter into the sport, and scrap the 5 (or is it 7, 8 or 9?) P-classes. There's little real racing in PX, PT, etc, so just let them run as sanctioned exhibition.

Nail down the details now, and we'll all have something to shoot for over the Winter.

Just a thought...
Brian

we raced local class than p-class the p class rules are good the way they are some of you don't remember the mess and the arguments when it was local. Mike Carter did a great job with p- class and when they added the gps that ended the most gripes , rember nothing is perfect . P- class is a run what you brung type class if you want more technical rules move into one of the existing classes that fit ( F1, F2, SVL ,SV, SC,SCL) we as racers have plenty of choices why with everything else that is going on this year try to reinvent the wheel

Larry SVL #5