NAMBA SAW record trials at Legg Lake this past weekend?

[shadow]

Are there any videos of the record trial from this year?

Cliff

 

[MarkScott]

Congrats to all that set the records... Wish my work had me going there for the weekend! Would have been a good time to break out the old camcorder again!

 

[Chris Wittrig]

Any info on that B Mod Tunnel?......engine, boat, etc. 78.5 is smokin. One pass must have been over 80?

I want to say that we've been using this straightline boat for 5 to 6 years now and is the same hull used for the B OPC (.45 Stock) record. It's had K&B, Rossi, and for the last 4 or 5 years a CMB EVO power on it. The engine/foot combo is the Irwin 2000 Lawless configuration and, as Lohring said, has a stamped Irwin pipe. The boat it over 20 years old and was modified by Jimmy Johnson before we started using it for straighlines. The 80mph pass was about 3 years ago and that prop was literally worn out to the point where the ears laid back. Since then many experiments have been thrown at it and this past weekend we had the benefit of three days worth of good weather allowing Jimmy along with Chris and Mark Grim to tweak the setup, prop, and engine. The engine that was on there Friday needed wholesale repair on Friday night. All day Saturday and Sunday the boat was running 74, 75, then 76 both ways then a few more ideas were thrown at it and the record passes were, I believe, within 2/10 of each other in the mid 78's. No big pass down wind then being careful into the wind. If you look at the timing sheet speeds were consistent both ways no matter when we were running the boat. That reminds me...kudos to Jimmy as well for A Mod (.21). He ran into some issues on Friday and decided to put the boat on the shelf Saturday to focus on the B Mod record, but he ran the same setup he used to set the current record and ran 66.3 both ways back to back.

We know 80mph is in the boat because it's done it before. Important to us is the knowledge that we don't have to air the boat out to make it go fast. In fact on the backup pass for the record going down wind the boat was still a little tight and tapping the sponsons on the water. This particular weekend was different than other weekends when the record was bumped as prior record runs were always in the summer when it was hot. The day the boat went 80 it was 90 degrees outside.

My hat's off to Jimmy, Chris and Mark for a total team effort and a great setup. I was just the lucky guy who got to fly out West on Friday, hold a radio (Jimmy and I used to swap who drove at which straightline event before I moved), and have a big smile on my face watching that boat go back and forth all weekend long.