THE Tommy Lee at work...

[Kris Flynn]

Found a sweet video of Tommy Lee 40 tunnel during a 2-lap event...DAMM does it turn like a JAE rigger!!

Also some photos that I assume are from the same event. I hope this is him anyway

https://youtu.be/64FF3wAD-Xw

 

[Geraghty]

Found a sweet video of Tommy Lee 40 tunnel during a 2-lap event...DAMM does it turn like a JAE rigger!!

Also some photos that I assume are from the same event. I hope this is him anyway

https://youtu.be/64FF3wAD-Xw

That is Tommy.....

A man of few words and a shop full of ballistic boats...

That is a 7.5 K&B doing its thing....

 

[Alan Elzer]

Interesting thing that design looks like his 3.5 boat did

 

[XtremeRcBoats]

Yep that was him. I took the pictures when I did my internship in Nashville, the video is not mine. I also picked up my Leecraft XTR21 back then from him.

 

[RonShaw]

Kris,

There is a reason it turned like a JAE. It had a turn fin mounted on the right sponson starting at about the end of the stumble blocks. It was wicked fast.

 

[K-ZAM]

That was awesome! Thanks Kris.

 

[John Knight]

The Prather tunnel hulls also had a turn fin mounted to the right sponson in the tunnel bottom. It helped in turning but it never (I had a 21) turned that well or fast. Tommy's boat is most impressive.

 

[Darin Jordan]

You mean, I could have run a turn-fin??

Thanks for posting, Kris... Awesome bits of history!

 

[RonShaw]

The Prather tunnel hulls also had a turn fin mounted to the right sponson in the tunnel bottom. It helped in turning but it never (I had a 21) turned that well or fast. Tommy's boat is most impressive.

John,

The Prather was on the inside. Tommy's was on the outside of the sponson.

 

[John Knight]

Ron,

That will make the difference in turning. I kept snagging my hand on the fin when I grabbed the boat out of the water. I quickly learned to keep my hand and fingers away from it!

 

[Darin Jordan]

Kris or Ron or ??? Was this that 23.1 -second Record??

 

[Bob Kensill]

Sneak Peak

 

[Alan Elzer]

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Sneak Peak

Bob is this the boat Tommy ran or one like it? What's the total length?

 

[MarkScott]

Alan,

Believe Bob based that boat on Tommy Lee designs. It is 40" for the 11cc powerhouse motor Bob has.

 

[Alan Elzer]

Thanks

 

[Bob Kensill]

After I run the boat, and am satisfied with the performance, I will make plans available for free. The boat can be SAW or oval just by adding lift pads, sponson ad-on and turn fin. Left sponson is one inch deep, 14 degree dead rise with three steps. The right sponson is one and one eighth inch deep, 15 degree dead rise with one step. The cockpit is offset one half inch to the right. The deck has no built in lift, and the rear of the deck is angled to bell create turbulence induced lift at the back of each sponson. The winglets at the rear on each side are to create tail lift as the nose tries to lift, and the cowl slopes to add downforce at high speed. Target speed initially will be 90mph. I welcome any ideas and/or criticizym . Oh, and the OAL is 39 "

 

[RonShaw]

Kris or Ron or ??? Was this that 23.1 -second Record??

Yes Darin. Nitro, not FE, and with a K&B lol. Only Tommy could accomplish that feat.

 

[bzubee]

Tommy stopped by today to visit during our records trial today and was commenting on David Hall's new design JAE style FE tunnel Hull.

 

[RonShaw]

Tommy stopped by today to visit during our records trial today and was commenting on David Hall's new design JAE style FE tunnel Hull.

Dont leave us hanging Zuber. What did he think about the black stealth tunnel???? It looks cool for sure.

 

[Darin Jordan]

Kris or Ron or ??? Was this that 23.1 -second Record??

Yes Darin. Nitro, not FE, and with a K&B lol. Only Tommy could accomplish that feat.

I'm sure! That's why that time has stood for so long.

Would be interesting to see how a modern Nitro power system would do. I can't give the FE system the entire credit for the laps I turned. That Lynx was on RAILS! I literally never lifted. Turned the timing up 5-degrees for a little more power for 2-attempts, and the times dropped to a "meager" 24.1 seconds. The boat was about 3-4mph faster in the straights, and was pushing/flying the nose entering the turn, so I had to "drive" it with more on/off throttle than I'm used to. Probably could have figured it out, but it wasn't the fastest way around the course.

Backed timing back down to "normal" timing (7-degrees) and just drove the boat instead and hit my marks (well, almost hit my marks) and that's when the 22.7 happened. And this is all with my standard heat-racing setup. I didn't change a thing from my P-LTD setup. Likely more there. Would be interesting to try it with a boat designed to use a turn fin. Then the FE power might really come into play.

You guys are very lucky to know, in person, these legends and racers that many of us look up to, like Tommy Lee and Rod Geraghty, etc. Hopefully one day I can meet them too. Would be an honor.