oval records

[steve wood]

Gas is $2.78 today

it's $2.44 here

 

[John Finch]

Where do all these rumors come from! in everyones defense.....I have built so many variations of boats it's hard to keep up with them all. The HEAT RACING boat was a hummingbird that did 107 mph at straightaways, but I never oval timed the boat. The 21 Eagle was used to go 111.71 at straightaways but was never oval trialed. When I broke the e-hydro oval I did it with a boat of my own design, shaped like a teardrop. That same day I lowered the record with a 40 Eagle tub using sponsons built by my good friend Kentley Porter about nine years ago. The tub was one I bought from Dicky Tyndal maybe 6 years ago. It was a picco 67 with a mac pipe 10 5/8 inches on the pipe, with a v967 cut down and shaped to what I call the tulip cut. The boat ran 94 to 96 mph down the straightaway and I ran the buoys tight on 2 and 5 with an egg shapped pattern that allowed me to turn the boat without using right rudder of more than 1/4 inch throw. The water was glass smooth, and it has to be!!!!!!!!!!!

A heat racing boat will not break the record unless it is set up to ride with no water leaving the front sponsons. It has to break the inertia barrier to get the speeds needed to get the oval record. Got to float on air! Don't get fooled by the speeds associated with oval records. They don't tell the story.

Like Preston said, the F record done by myself and Kentley Porter was going 103 mph before hitting the turns. That was Kentleys boat that he built from scratch. It was a Frank O engine. Also a Picco.

The corners were tight on 2 and 5 but wide on the course to keep the boat light on the water. Water is drag. Tight corners scrub speed. Keep those tips in mind and good luck. The boat that set the E- record has been hanging in my closet for a long time. Oh, another tip......It has an old World servo that is very slow on rudder movement. Slow can be good at 100 mph.

 

[Don Ferrette]

Don't get fooled by the speeds associated with oval records. They don't tell the story.

Yup, they don't even come close to telling the story. The oval mph speeds are calculated on a course that is physically impossible to run, right through the centerline of the buoys, so you are already handicapped before the boat ever touches the water. Personally I wish that number wasn't even listed on the oval records but they are which makes it deceiving. Bottom line is forget the mph number, focus on the fact that it'll take two consecutive laps at under 8.5 seconds a lap to get it done for the E hydro record. B)

 

[K-ZAM]

Hey John,

That was fun breaking that f hydro record. Every time I look at that boat hanging in the garage I think of how much fun that was teaming up with you. Remember me calling you and telling you that my SAW boat would turn on a dime with that huge turn fin? That sure got us thinking...

KP

 

[John Finch]

Hey John,
That was fun breaking that f hydro record. Every time I look at that boat hanging in the garage I think of how much fun that was teaming up with you. Remember me calling you and telling you that my SAW boat would turn on a dime with that huge turn fin? That sure got us thinking...

KP

I remember well, But I do believe it was the straightaway turn fin that you had on the boat when you found out the boat would turn at 100mph. After that we spent a whole day in my garage building turn fins of different sizes and shapes. Remember how the oval fin we finally came up with would tear out the inserts in the sponsons. You had to beef up the inserts and add the brace on the back of the sponson. Then Dick Tyndall made us a super looking version of our fin design. He is the fin Master!

Remember all those days at Larry's trying to get 100 mph out of the combo you came up with. If you had not been out of work that year we would not have got to the 100 mph mark. You put a lot of time on the pond testing. We learned a lot together the hard way. How many boats did we go thru to reach 100 mph? We tried just about everything immaginable. How about the carbon fibre boat I got from Fabrizio in Italy that tore up Larry's gazebo! We couldn't find the engine and then I think it was you that found it in Larry's trash can just past the gazebo. That was wild. The most important thing I learned that year was that teaming up with a friend on a common goal is a lot more fun and rewarding as a team. We broke a lot of records together. You work hard at what you do and it shows in the results. It's been a great ride so far............let's keep in going!!!!!!!