This is what I see.

P2 champion last year Blown non stepped Apache.
Old SV with 525 cannot beat new SV with 525 or an old boat so make new class with more restrictions.

If you guys think that repropping a 113 mph boat down to will not beat you when all your boat can do is 105 on its best day you are in trouble.

The more you tighten the rules the more your flaws will show. The super V rules were restricted so many times that Fountain (Brett) is now declared the winner. Second Outerlimits, third Skater. It is the last boat standing.

So the super V rules need to be modified to make your boats competitive with an over engineered boat designed for the class you have designed. Then what?...... you still will not beat a factory team. They are in it for sales. They have propellers when they want them because they buy alot of them, They are owned by the one engine supplier and you think that you have the same stuff? Funny.

Listen to Smitty, he seems to have the right idea.

Tech? Check the GPS, under 105 mph, ok time to party, Over 105 mph end of the line in class.

pat W

Smitty...I see your point...but one of the reasons we are staying with 100...is for the open cockpit guys...

Testing will always get you more speed...but the speeds and the tech are getting so much faster you will never catch up in the older boats ( except your purple peter eater)...if that was the case all the manufactures would still be making there boats in the same design and set up....Manufactures are changing the boat designs every year to make them faster....look at the MTI's...if you have a 3 or 4 year old MTI it dose not campair to todays...thats why so many racers are buying the latest and newest tech boats...

For Billy boat for example...

The boat ran around 100 mph when Tres had it...so let say you get it to 105...it still can't compete with the new Fountains, Skaters and Outerlimits...so why spend the money for the extra 4 or 5 mph...
A lot of teams will not even spend the money if they still will not be compeditive...unless you are doing this for free...HINT...
We can get a lot more speed out of my boat...but its going to cost me a good chunk of change....which I would spend if someone wants to buy it...I will invest the money becasue I will get it back...but with the OPA p-3 Class and the SBI/APBA Class my boat fits in perfect and with no money out of my pocket...and any of us can win....

With Scott C. Skater running speeds of over 115mph...no onw would touch him...they had to put weight in him to slow him down...I don't agree with that becasue all the money and time they put in...so I say...keep the SV Class and let the guys with the money and the Manufactures keep working on making the the boats safer and faster...but we are making a home for the teams that our goingto to keep there old boats and are already running the speeds we are required, it gives a lot of us homes with no money spent and even cheaper entree fee's and racing half the distance with less ware on the equipment....

We have a lot of teams now interested in racing this year because of this...Sarasota will be the proof of this...and if we can get a few others to "in a no disrespect way"...we just might me able to get some teams that would not be racing anywere this year come out...

Shifter...I think one of the things that kept parity in the factory class was the holomagation rule...boats were built exactley the some wether it was a new boat or a 3 or 4 year old boat...so the tech was the same...thats why there were so many boats racing in the 2000 -2001 seasons...

there are over 25+ Super Vees out there that are 3 to 4 years old...I think the old APBA speed record was around 106 or so with the UTZ boat...today if we held a APBA kilo it would be 116+...thats 10 mph faster...funny...its the same speed differance we are talking about today that the older boats are running....
Thats wHy Factory Class racing was so great and was the top class's in Offshore racing....

This class will be a way of getting all those older boats that were built the same and all have the same speeds with in a few mph...some boats better in ruff some better in calm...

Great thread!!!!
It is all in how you race your boat. You can put two itentical boats next to each other in a race. Same mold, weight engines etc. and the outcome is up to who can drive and throttle the best in any water conditions. Not everyone can turn a boat the same. Example, I`ve been in Predator with Tommy and Dennis, they turn that 41 Apache tight and and very very fast, when we raced them last year in P3, we had to be in our game to compete.

I think Pat makes a lot of sense, but I am not certain how to mitigate it. I think that it is enevitable that some of the 110MPH Super V's drop into this class by re-propping and re-gearing because there are no more Super V's for them to race, and you will end up with the same situation, a large group of uncompetative boats and a few that can run 99.9MPH averages but with incredible acceleration.

Manitee - any suggestions about how to deal wit this?.

Gregg Reichman

If 6 to 10 older SV's agree to come back out and play, just start them at the same time you start P-2 . I never liked that P,should be an X if any letter at all .hope this works out . Team effort ya'll .

In OPA we have a number of SV's running. Not all in the same class. Propping back is not the answer. OPA places the boats in their classes by the speed the boats are capable of. On occaision we mess up. But for the most part the boats match up well. Any team can protest any boat. We get in it and run it. The rest is simple. Keep in mind when you hear these big speed numbers in SV. Race setup is rarely faster than 103-105. Kilo speed means nothing, because there are no race coarses long enough to achieve those speeds. I agree with Pat. The 525's are great motors, but they belong under the hood of a pickup truck. No match for a V with real motors. If you are not worried about spec class, why not update you computers, add some rpm to the 525's. So you can run P2 at the correct speed. Adding rpm may not make you much faster, but you can prop down, add excelleration, without giving up top end. Just a thought. Smitty

I Don't Care What Class I Run !!!! As Long As I Beat Smitty... Any Questions ??????
Johnny

Oh Please Pops................Go cash you Social Security Check, and We'll have a little wager. Smitty

"there are over 25+ Super Vees out there that are 3 to 4 years old...I think the old APBA speed record was around 106 or so with the UTZ boat...today if we held a APBA kilo it would be 116+...thats 10 mph faster...funny...its the same speed differance we are talking about today that the older boats are running...."


Not sure but I think they were running 500 efi's back then .
big diff between that and the 525. Could explain some of the disparity in speed.


I'm not a v bottm guy but I can't wait for the OC race to watch OTC, Wzzup and Cintron lay it dowm