p4-33

Interesting topic, and I'm right in the middle of this... trying to figure out next year's setup - and schedule.

P-Class racing for me over the last few years has been a moving target, and I suppose I've come to accept it. I started out in GLSCS... APBA's rules with 80mph max. Then went racing with SBI and the 75mph average, or ~82mph max. This past season, raced with OPA... 85mph max with a 2mph buffer, so most boats were set up to run 87mph. My boat has never seen 87, much less 85, so went to Key West where I had a chance with a 82mph top speed.

All of this makes my head hurt, trying to understand where I have the best chance at being competitive, race at venues that I can get to over a long weekend, and where my sponsors will be happy. Standardizing speeds between the sanctioning bodies would go a LONG way toward giving teams options in where they can race. Who cares what speeds, what the numbers look like, or which GPS system is used... just pick one and use it across the board.

Now is the time to figure it out. There's just a short winter ahead of us, with many decisions still to be made.

My $.02
Brian

TGOR

I did not know OPA had a 2 mph buffer...this is significant in my book and I would not support it...top speed is top speed...period. You guys racing SBI/APBA know there is no buffer and at least in P5, it's made all our boats competitive since everyone can run 72 mph, and realistically, if you can only run 70 mph, you're in the back (granted no one breaks out). So that 2 mph does make a difference.

I support standardizing the speeds, and as a few owners have made a point to me off-line, it's easier to go down than up.

Sean

Ron P

There's no 2 mph buffer in OPA.

Since we can see your speed in 3 second intervals, we allow for 2, three second break out periods. Third time you break out for three seconds, your out.

p4-33

Apologies Ron, my mistake. I knew it was 2 of something... 2 3-second intervals is coming back to me. The reasoning was that it eliminates the possibility of a "spike" in GPS readings.

Thanks,
Brian

Ron P

Now ya got it.

Who said it? Build a boat for a class, not a class for a boat. OPA won't change the speeds for three years, so you can have some stability in the rules.

Alingment would be nice. We even use differnt GPS units.

p4-33

The GPS units aren't that big of a deal... Pops uses Garmin as his standard, and there are many different Garmin models that are compatible with his software. OPA's GPS transponder is pretty cheap, and the majority of P-Class boats already have them.

My point is all about options. Alignment with speeds and numbering opens up the possibilities in where we can race. Look at most P-Class teams, and only a few have the budget to pick a sanctioning body and run the entire circuit with them. So for the rest of us that are trying to work for a living to support this racing habit of ours, we have to pick venues that are reasonably close, are fun towns to play in, and ones that our sponsors want to come visit to support us.

And building a boat for a class? If I wanted to race SV or SCL, yep, there are definitely models that I would pick. But this is P-Class... we're taking what we have, and trying to turn these boats into race boats. Choosing a class is sometimes not an easy target to hit and with our budgets as they are, we make reasonable decisions and hope that they're on track.

Compound this with going up against "purpose-built" boats with canopies and SuperCat mills, as Mike stated. No one ever told me this was going to be easy, but chasing after the moving targets that our sanctioning bodies throw at us has proven to be the most difficult aspect of them all.

Sorry for the rant, but it's getting ready to snow here.

Thanks for listening,
Brian

Boomer56

Just a little correction here. OPA has a zero tolerance on breakouts. one tenth over, last place for the day. Smitty

TGOR

Okay...good...see, at least something is standardized.

Thanks for clarifying Smitty.

Sean

FeverMike

It's my understanding that the P-Class racers this year were running huge engines 600-700hp in p4 and p5 and mathematically the boat would go over the class speed but the racers held the throttles back and used the power for accelleration for the start and out of the corners and then ran 1/2 to 3/4 throttle on the straight to ust keep the boat under the break out speed.

Towsontown Auto

WELL ,here goes nothing! A standard is needed for both groups of open cockpit non spec class racer's ,OPA has taken an approach that seems to make the most sense,kinda following the vee's and cat's .the 3 digit plan is easy for the general public to understand,and would make it easy for a team to cross the battle fields.Besides it would be cost effective for the little low buck "p class racer."O.K. ,now let's address this item ,these so called pleasure or performance boats that have to be jockied around from class to class to be competitive is almost like watching PINKS RACING. Most of the boats out there have some of the best marine hardware known to man kind in them ,and can easily out run there given classes,so the 2+ mph difference between organizations is almost a Moog point if you really want to race at the best of your ability all you have to do is MAN UP!!! Please don't misinterpret my comment's as bashing either association,because I race under a lid and in the air and been on both sides of the fence this year ,I would just like it to be a little easier for everyone to just be able to do the one thing that we all love. GO RACING !!!!!!!!!!!!