3 years are up
 

The 3 years has gone by fast with the no rule change program. I think it has been a success for most. When will we prepare the rules for the next 3 years? Should we have class conference calls? Is there a dead line as to when any changes need to be made?
Smitty whats the call on this stuff?
MD

I think the 3 year rule freeze has been a success! I don't have any complaints about class 6 and hope the class continues to grow.
There was talk of a new GPS tracking system.
With Christmas coming, (I could make a great suggestion to family) it would be great to know which GPS is approved for the next 3 years, or if we can continue using the same system.

Randy, what's on your mind? I think that the class 5 guys could put a few more mph on the plate !!! Ran at K.W. in class 4 it's still slow but not as painfull as 72-75mph.New season coming I'm all ears?????

Hey watch the few more MPH in class 5 stuff. We had the best 72 MPH boat in a 75 MPH class. LOL
I hope we are not changing GPS as we bought the new wireless just last season?

Good day Gents. The GPS system will stay. Too much to invest in anything else at this point.

Having a rule meeting at the awards never really works out.
How about we put together a classs by class call.

Please keep in mind, the less we change, the more consistant we become.

Im thinking no breathalizer for class 5!!!!! Its the hardest part of the race weekend!

Possibly no more twin inboard boats in class 5? Exsisting boats will be grandfathered in?

Possibly allowing canopyed singles in class 5?

Possibly max CI and compression in class 5?

Possibly raising the speed 3 MPH?

Possibly keeping everything exactly the same?

Whats your pleasure class 5 teams?
MD

Smitty,
Just making sure I have this right, the original ATTI J2 GPS approved three years ago (WITH the wire antena) is still legal.

I turned my GPS in after the Point race, who do I contact about getting it back?
Thanks,
Bob G.

Hey Smitty,,,,can i run Class 5 with my boat ?????????

The grazy german. LOL:evilb:

After getting Dq,d in key west I got to wondering if it isn't possible to control our speed as well as our r.p.m.Im' a low tech. guy in a high tech world but it seems to me we should be able to link the g.p.s. to our allowable class speed. most of us have felt the pain a breakout. any one have some knowledge of the possibility of such equpt.at a price we could handle.GrumpyG

32ft?

To big and to slow.... come on up to class 4 for your ass kicking. :evilb:

The little gray ones? Nope.


George, PM Sleepy Pirate he had something in the works that I think was tested and worked pretty good.

Wy ,,,,,would you whant a ass kicking from my Aero-tek ?????

But ok ,class 4 it is . You better but some blowers on them outbords. LOL:ernaehrung004:

Hey Scott,

Opa welcomes all. EVEN YOU:party-smiley-004:

Mike,,,,,,what does that mean ??????? LOL

I think OPA has class 6 right where it needs to be.
26' and under, moderate horsepower.

Let us know when you want to talk, Smitty and Happy Thanksgiving.

Even a crazy German like you buddy. Happy Turkey day, You do eat Turkey dont ya?

Class 5

I think all is well in our neck of the woods. After our first season of racing the only thing that I found to be a real PITA was the starts. With as many as 15 boats starting in one class your going to have some bumping and pushing but that what you get when you have a great organization putting together great races with great people. Lots of competition and great racing for the fans. Just my opinion but KISS= Keep It Simple Stupid If it aint broke dont fix it.
Kudos to OPA

How does cruise controll on a car work? You hit a speed and it maintains it. Is that a complicated system?
MD

For class5 I like the idea of going up on the break out speed up a couple mph. A couple other things,
NO canopyed boats at all (open boats would not have a chance)
Stay with single engine boats
Keep the boat lenguth at 30"
and let us run the old gps system ($500. could be used to pay our OPA fees early next year)

2 Trick,
Thats were the confusion lies, we have the original OPA approved GPS (with the wire antena) the ATTI Shadow Tracker J2. This is why I asked for clarification from Smitty.
Thanks,
Bob G

Take a hand help GPS down the Hwy one time, click your "Cruise on 65mph" and watch your hand held (but watch the road too).. It will stay around 65, maybe 63.. than 66. It has a + or - of 2/4%.

Sleepy Pirate worked out a system that limited his rpm's. Once he set his boat up to run 74mph he locked the rpm's in and once the boat would reach that rpm a "Limiter would kick in".. In not 100% sure about the out come.

I was told those are no longer good. I wish the OPA would allow us to run them 1 more year, with this great economy dropping another $900.00 bucks on a GPS just plain sucks.

Hey George, I felt your pain in K.W. also!!! I was in total shock to find out how high tech some of the teams really are on the Garman gps game? After getting home I spent some time on the phone with the IT people at Garman and you are able to trick the mouse trap and due it legally. No sour grapes here, just my lack of knowledge and information that caused our break out. Once again all ears for any meetings or class calls!!!!!

I like the idea about raising the top to 78 MPH. Would ad a little more excitment. As far as single engines? Ther are 3 twin engine boats in class 5 I think. I think that class 6 with singles is fine and leave 5 for either single or twins.

70 lead to 75mph (70 being the creation of class #6) if 75 leads to 78, than 78 will lead to 80 and so on...

The speed should stay the same in every class, if you want to go faster than power up and move up.

If anything we should try and line the speeds with SBI with the future hope of a unified race series.. (as doubtful as that is at this time)

What's wrong with it the way it is? The OPA team has done a great job with the classes and it's about as fair as you can get. Although nothing is fool proof, it's close. If the other racing bodies would like to work on a one set of rules then do it. That would make for a great boat count. It also allows the newbies to afford racing and move up the ranks.

Yes hook the MSD box to the throttle and the speedo. When you hit 74.8 in class 5 it sends 50000 volts to the throttle hand. :D

Tyler,
We need to develop a system similiar to the automotive trunk monkey system. When you get close to breakout speed
the trunk monkey jumps out of the cabin and wails the
throttleman with a broomstick handle.

Why change the rules just because we can? Rasing the speed of a class just makes it more difficult to explain to a fan. 10 mph increments is much better.

My only complaint is that there aren't more races in the midwest.

Use the old GPS another year and save $900 also gets my vote.

Grandfather the Twin engine boats in class 5, just a matter of
time before we get another Twin small block Superboat to decimate the field.

Looks like we have a race 4hrs from my house a week after St Clair.

Or a twin small block Mirage:eek:

Gps
 

The old GPS is as accurate as the new ones. Just not as easy to read. I see no reason why you cant still use the old ones. We were hoping to switch to the wireless, but no big deal. I did find another system for the boats where tech can lock in a boat at any given speed. Rev limiter is controled by speed. We set you at 75, when the gps achieves that number, it hits your limiter. A little costly, at 2200.00 a boat. But then there is no need to read gps, no one can breakout. I just felt it was too expensive.
I would like to see the class stay at the 30 ft limit. Also single engine, except for those who have already competed in the class.
Please give the rules as much thought as you can, because we will lock them down for another three years. That was one of the best things we ever did. Smitty

Under 30' canopyed boats in class 5 would be cool!! Might find a few people to add to the class.

Dave

Smitty,
Thanks for the clarification! I'm happy not having to spend more money!!!

Thanks Smitty:drink:

Canopied boats (except batboats) will kill class 5.....Period. Im surprised at MD for even suggesting it.

Possibly raising the speed 3 MPH?


MD

I'm not sure what the point of that would be. Anyone that
has broken out at 75 will now compensate for a higher speed and have just as much chance of breaking out at 78. The 3 MPH won't change how fast the boats look from the beach and I can't believe it would feel much faster in the boat.

Rich

I don't race, I just put on the band aids at a couple races for you guys, so the only thing that really concerns me is safety, so if canopies can help keep you guys safe, I am all for em'. Anything that can help you guys safely return to your wives, children, family and friends after the race should be exempt from 3 year reviews.

The way Michigan's going that 900 Bucks is a big deal to more teams than you may realize, so Thanks Smitty!



Rich,
I agree with keeping speeds the same as now. If anything lower them a couple mph so they are in line with the other race org's to try and start building a little unity and conformity, The fans watching won't notice a couple mph.