Uh hmm, Julie, do I qualify for a tee-shirt? Donzi if you want to sit in a canopied boat, stop by Strictly Business at Algonac and you can check it out 1st hand. Hopefully after the race you can tell everyone you were in the 1st place boat.:D
Like Poo says strapping in with a helmet and breathing aparatus on, in a confined area isn't for everyone, but who knows you might love it!! See you there. Louie

PS Large or XL will be fine, lol.

Dang Smitty is fast!! beat me by 1/2 a lap typing this message
LOL. If Smitty says your in, your in!!

New form of racing! Close finish Louie.:D

I have got you both covered.

Julie

Hey Smitty, You got it, buddy...I'll be there in Algonac and will look for your boat(s)!!!

Last year I saw one of your boat in St. Clair but wouldn't find you! :)

Will Do!!! I'll be sure to stop by Stict Business and meet you! Be sure to remember my name "DriverofDonzi" then you know it's me!

C

DOD. stop by " ON THE CHIP " and we'll take ya for ride:D

Certainly!!!! :)

Looks like I have full schedule for whole weekend in Algonac!!!! However, I will have a lot of fun and learn a lot of many good things about offshore boat racing!!!!

Thanks everyone for all of your advises, supports, and many more...I really appreciate it...I am getting excited and looking forward to meeting all of you at Algonac!!!

C

Has John C. agreed to any of this or is this a stab in the dark?

pat W

We would not have moved forward without John's blessing...as a matter of fact...he told us to put it together.

Don't fret too much Pat,

You haven't been left out.

Louie, shipped today.

Driver of Donzi we also added a couple of Freeze frame videos as well.

Thanks, Julie!!!!! I am looking forward to it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :)

Sorry Ken, didn't mean to highjack your thread.

Now back to the new class, who is in?

Right now we have 6 committed...4 unofficial "I'm gonna run"...and 2 tapping their toe to the music but not dancing yet.

That's 12 as of right now.

Gino has been working the crowd...good job Gino!

Julie...that's OK...if ever a tread was hijacked I could not think of a better reason then to show the fans what the racers and people like you and Matt are all about....

I'm still planning on running super v in the green boat.
Which purple boat?
P2
P1
SV
Pro V
Maybe see ya at Sarasota
Brett

Hey Brett,

You should go to Sarasota without a dubt...you will have the Yachts boat, you ,Smitty and get Nigel to run with you...along with Shogren...

Just a quick clarification guys....

Pro V is NOT the Class designation.

Where the format fits into the Class lineup and what it will be called is up to SBI/APBA. It's a business decision.

I really don't care what we call it ...I'm just thankful that John C. is so willing listen to the Racers, take our recommendations into consideration...and act on them.

John has always said.."bring me 5 teams and a set of rules and we will take a look at it". He is a man of his word.

We keep moving forward...life is good:D

Sorry about the PRO-V Class comment....I was just calling it something in the mean time....

Gino,
I just trying to see where Smitty will be with that purple boat.
I'm going racing no matter what in Marathon, Hollywood, Sarasota, Jacksonville and Dania in June and July.
Lisa M. was telling me that the Jacksonville Poker Run is awesome, So I'm going to try to run the race boat that Friday in the Poker run before the race.
Brett

Good to see your still are going to run her....
and I would bet you, Smitty is coming to Sarasota with the SV to race you....

See ya in Sarasota

It will be an awesome sight in Sarasota to see 12-15 (maybe as many as 20) Vee boats lined for the Start.

Just like the good 'ol days when we all raced together in Sarasota.

Awww yes....the Mecca of Offshore Powerboat Racing.


Lisa...put down you poker hand and come on out and play...Its OK...you don't have to have a top on when you race with us.

Ole buddy ole pal!:D

Where does the bravo, 1.50 and a 525 fit into what we do? Ask John if we can run a 1/4 canopy boat in SV. It seems like P2 doesn't exist anymore for what we wanted, maybe I can get the rules in SV to change back to pre 2003.

Mid season changes are great.

pat W

Pat,

Where have you been?

Enclosed canopies have not been required, but "highly recommended" in Super V for quite some time.

You have always had a place...its has been up to you to find it.

You need to read the rules again....carefully.

Under the new format it will be a lot safer than before if you want to race competitively in a non-canopy boat.

What final gear ratios do you offer? There isn't any info on your web site about the technical specifications of your drive.

We are trying to keep you afloat...but you need to start kicking your feet or something.

Best regards,

Ken

Ken will my Fountain with the ASD8's work in this class. Top speed so far has been 106, we have a 1:57 gear.
We where going to put big motors in it for unlimited but this mite work for us. Bill

Bill,

1:57 gears?

Arneson web site shows 1.53:1 as stock.

Are you stock?

Ken

Ken all I know is that Mark Wilson said we had 1:57 gears. I would have to take it apart to check. Arneson are 1 to 1 ratio the ZF gearbox has the ratio in it. When we started this that is the closest we could get to 1:61, the next gear down would be in somewhere in the 1:35 range. Let me know, it will be easy to put it back together to run Sarasota or Washington. Sarasota may be tough with so many super cat races.

Bill,

Maybe I'm not reading it right.

I was refering to this:

Ken I think whose are the Arneson's that bolt on to a Mercury drive. Ours have the strait Arneson shafts with a gearbox
I just found out that there are only two gear ratios for our ZF trany they are 1:41 or 1:57. The 1:57's gave us the best speed at 105.8 and the 1:41's gave us way to much excelleration but only 99mph.

Bill,

Thanks for the info.

I have some other questions. I will PM you.

It will be great to see you again in Sarasota.

Ken

Bill,

I know have have commeted to the SC guys and we don't want to interfer at all with what a great job they have done this year with there boat count and racing with everyone...
But if you can it ready for Sarasota that would be great to show everyone what we can put together in such a short time and how great this class will be in the furture...if there is anything any of us can do to help let us know...
You have done so much for a lot of us in the past...its time we return the favor back to ya...

See ya soon...

Ken,

How cool would that be to start of a Class that the racers and the fans do not want to see fall apart...is to have 15 to 20 SV's lined up for the start in what better site then Sarasota...

Pat,

Funny we were just talking about when we put this together, we need to look at what assistance we could get either from Merc or anyone else that we could run there product and promote them....and in return get some program put together...I know you have been wanting to put your product out in the racing community for a while and will stand behind your products....

I think with the package we are running now, the 525's with Bravo's..the only thing we really have to watch is are drives...

if you have any comments throw it out at Ken...
The great thing is we have a great group of guys and have been racing for a long time...and I think a lot of us will be around racing for a long time in the furture...

Ken,

Who is we? Who is writing the rules?

I am still looking for a copy of the rules so I can go over them myself. I normally get into the mechanical end of the rules and not the hulls but that is changing.

We removed the tech info after 2001. We found that The LLC used it to write the rules in favor of the Merc drive. At that time we were running ratio's below 1.61. Then we showed them that they could not even calculate because it was 1.62. That is where the 1.63000000 ratio rule came from. Does this jar your memory? There was also the dead idler reverse and about seven other things that popped up as well.

Have a look the water is only up to my knees just stand up.

Were you in the original group that banned my in-line drive system?

pat W

Ken it would be better to call #561-324-0536 cell or house #561-638-0681

Pat,

John told Ken to put it on paper with all the rules...and we talked about what should we run...

The gears, engines and drives were pretty simple for all the guys racing right now because we all are running everything the same..

525's
Bravo's
1:50 gears
all running between 98 to 102 mph....
all 38 to 40 foot
GPS

plus most of the boats on trailers are set up the same...
nothing would have to be done but dust them off and gas em up...and lets race...
The most the boats that are on the trailers would have to do is change from 1:35's to 1:50's

I think we will just run p1.

Thanks,
pat W

The ratios you are referencing to are on the ASD8 Drop Box drive units. 10" or 16".

The ASD6/7 have a 1.56:1 reduction available.

Bill's boat has an ASD8 In Line model which has no reduction, rotation or drop in them as they are for the diesel market.

Bill's boat relies upon a marine gear to reduce the engine rpm and handle the rotation. The ratios are determined by the marine gear manufacturers not Arneson.

Thanks Rik,

You have been a great help and information resource.

I wish all manufacturers where as easy to work with.



When are you coming back to Kentucky for a visit?


Ken

I talked to the C.G. today about what we are trying to put together for the Sarasota race...

If we can get 10 boat we all will benifit from this

That's awesome Gino! Keep up the great work!!!!


Julie