speeds for heat racing

[mt gay rum]

what is your opinion on what is needed speed wise to be competitive for heat racing... given boat is handling right, driver is on his game etc ... need to see if iam in the ballpark with my scale.... thanks

 

[SayMikey]

what is your opinion on what is needed speed wise to be competitive for heat racing... given boat is handling right, driver is on his game etc ... need to see if iam in the ballpark with my scale.... thanks

If your not mid 50s at a big race with fast guys your in trouble. but luck is always and will be part of it

 

[Hurricane]

what is your opinion on what is needed speed wise to be competitive for heat racing... given boat is handling right, driver is on his game etc ... need to see if iam in the ballpark with my scale.... thanks

If your not mid 50s at a big race with fast guys your in trouble. but luck is always and will be part of it

Here in RCU Land with the radar gun to get the qualifing speeds for a race the top speed was a little over 61 mph. The top ten went down to around 57-58 mph.

 

[Don Ferrette]

If you've got a scale boat the will run solid mid 50's in true heat race chopped up water you'll do just fine. A radar gun may give a top qualifer speed (interesting twist) but how you run in the roughed up stuff is what truly matters when the horn goes off.

 

[mt gay rum]

If you've got a scale boat the will run solid mid 50's in true heat race chopped up water you'll do just fine. A radar gun may give a top qualifer speed (interesting twist) but how you run in the roughed up stuff is what truly matters when the horn goes off.

thanks guys gives me an idea to shoot for

 

[Roger Hooks Jr.]

If you've got a scale boat the will run solid mid 50's in true heat race chopped up water you'll do just fine. A radar gun may give a top qualifer speed (interesting twist) but how you run in the roughed up stuff is what truly matters when the horn goes off.

thanks guys gives me an idea to shoot for

Speed isn't everthing. If you are a good driver and good with hitting your starts on the money a 51-53mph boat can do just fine. It takes a lot of speed to safely get around a boat holding the buoy line. From what I hear a boat needs to be 6 to 8 mph faster to pass on the outside that means it would take a boat that runs a solid 60 mph in common racing conditions to pass a 51-53 mph boat on the outside. At times I would even drive slower, careful, and tight around the buoys to force a faster boat to the outside... but if he has traffic behind him he also has to protect himself from an inside move so he is forced to slow down and drive a tight line in your wash to protect himself from being passed on the inside. This slows traffic and bunches up the pack behind you causing a greater hazard for trailing boats. Most of the time they take each other out and you don't even need 50 mph to finish first. I think it's better to perfect one's driving game and race strategy before worrying about speed. Speed just helps compensate for driving errors. When I was younger my boats weren't as fast so I had to learn to be flawless in my driving in order to win. With faster boats I notice that I get sloppy. Just my two cents.

 

[RaceCraftBearings]

Mike, first welcome to IW its tons better than the other site your on!

Second my Speedy is ready for the kill this weekend so come prepared and as Roger says driving is the key All I gotta do is keep my head screwed on straight and hope I ditch that dark cloud that hangs around and I will be in Fat city.

See ya in Brandon!

Ron

 

[Don Ferrette]

All I gotta do is keep my head screwed on straight and .............

.... and THAT will be a tall order. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Couldn't resist Ron.

 

[RaceCraftBearings]

All I gotta do is keep my head screwed on straight and .............

.... and THAT will be a tall order. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Couldn't resist Ron.

Thats ok Don! Just remember pay back's are He--!

 

[Don Ferrette]

All I gotta do is keep my head screwed on straight and .............

.... and THAT will be a tall order. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Couldn't resist Ron.

Thats ok Don! Just remember pay back's are He--!

I OWED you that one remember??

 

[RaceCraftBearings]

All I gotta do is keep my head screwed on straight and .............

.... and THAT will be a tall order. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Couldn't resist Ron.

Thats ok Don! Just remember pay back's are He--!

I OWED you that one remember??

Oh thats why you stayed quite on that lil jab I took at cha a while back! Got me while I was least expecting it!

Ok even steven

Ron

 

[Glenn 787]

From what I hear a boat needs to be 6 to 8 mph faster to pass on the outside that means it would take a boat that runs a solid 60 mph in common racing conditions to pass a 51-53 mph boat on the outside.

So I was going 6-8 mph faster then that pretty white boat when I past it on the outside at the Grand Prix :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Speed just helps compensate for driving errors.

I agree 100%. I think that's why I try so hard to make it faster Now that I have Sunday's off I'm going to spend more time at the lake practicing on my driving.

 

[hgatjens]

Yes, at one of my races in RCU a few years back we ran in the Spirit of the 1965 Tahoe regatta. Qualifying speeds were set based upon a straightline straightaway speed.

People set their boats up to run straight at the radar gun with no need for turning. Hence they ran wth teeny skid fins and big props then changed their setup back to more conventional ideas for the heat racing.

The top 12 boats made the fast flights, the next 12 were in the mid flight and the remaining 12 ran with the slo pokes.

Season points were awarded full points for the fast flight, down one place for the mids and down two places for the slo pokes. ie 400, 300, 225, 169, 127, 95 fast guys, 225, 169, 127, 95, 71, 53 for the slow pokes.

For the final 3 moved up from the fast, two from the mids and one from the slo pokes.

Made for some interesting qualfiying strategy. "If I run with the slo pokes, I can beat them all, but if I screw up a heat only one guy moves up" and variations. It is a neat idea for one race where there is some strategy into your calculations as much as pure speed.

If I remember correctly the top 12 ran speeds of 58-62, the next 12 ran 52-58 and the slo pokes below that.

All that being said, I think if a scale boat can run 52-54 in race trim and you drive a good line, you should be in good shape.

I think if you go to our club site and then go to race schedule and then back to the year 2001, then to the Governor's Cup you will find the details.

http://rcunlimiteds.org

 

[Jeff Stubbers]

Actually the 2004 Governor's Cup of RCU 1/8th scale unlimited hydroplane racing has a bit more information than the 2001 Governor's Cup page does regarding this particular race setup.

In any case, Harry's races are always interesting. It's one of the highlights in the schedule as far as I'm concerned as he usually has some sort of twist on the racing during the season. Thanks Harry for your inventive ideas! B)

If you have ever been considering racing at an RCU event, be sure to make one of Harry's Governor's Cup races.

Yes, mid 50's is just fine for a racing scale.

 

[shoboat]

Mike,

Your 62.3 MPH will be enough speed believe me,just be on your driving game. I guess

the last batch of propellers are working well? Mike remember THROTTLE MANAGEMENT

Good Luck This Weekend,

Mark Sholund

 

[tracerbob]

What's more important is to finish every heat! You can have the fastest boat at the race but there's a big difference between 1st (400 points) and DNF (25 points). Just my 2 cents.

 

[mt gay rum]

What's more important is to finish every heat! You can have the fastest boat at the race but there's a big difference between 1st (400 points) and DNF (25 points). Just my 2 cents.

guys you were right,,fastest boat doesnt always win,,,,, WON my first scale event,,, just qualified for the final and then at the final stayed out of trouble,,it wasnt pretty but i was the last one running out of a six boat heat...Rick thank you for comming up to me and saying what you did ..... it ment ALOT....

 

[piper_chuck]

What's more important is to finish every heat! You can have the fastest boat at the race but there's a big difference between 1st (400 points) and DNF (25 points). Just my 2 cents.

guys you were right,,fastest boat doesnt always win,,,,, WON my first scale event,,, just qualified for the final and then at the final stayed out of trouble,,it wasnt pretty but i was the last one running out of a six boat heat...

Yup it's remarkable how often the slowest boat can end up with 400 points just by being the only one to stay running.

 

[Don Riek]

What's more important is to finish every heat! You can have the fastest boat at the race but there's a big difference between 1st (400 points) and DNF (25 points). Just my 2 cents.

guys you were right,,fastest boat doesnt always win,,,,, WON my first scale event,,, just qualified for the final and then at the final stayed out of trouble,,it wasnt pretty but i was the last one running out of a six boat heat...

Yup it's remarkable how often the slowest boat can end up with 400 points just by being the only one to stay running.

Mike's boat wasn't the slowest by any means, he just drove a smart race!

Mike... couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, you are a first class racer all the way. Congratulations on the win.

Don Riek

 

[piper_chuck]

What's more important is to finish every heat! You can have the fastest boat at the race but there's a big difference between 1st (400 points) and DNF (25 points). Just my 2 cents.

guys you were right,,fastest boat doesnt always win,,,,, WON my first scale event,,, just qualified for the final and then at the final stayed out of trouble,,it wasnt pretty but i was the last one running out of a six boat heat...

Yup it's remarkable how often the slowest boat can end up with 400 points just by being the only one to stay running.

Mike's boat wasn't the slowest by any means, he just drove a smart race!

I wasn't talking about Mike's boat, just in general terms.