The "Under .21 Only Club"

[TomMoorehouse]

I was thinking of a new club. Right now I'm just trying to gauge interest in my idea. A club in the IMPBA Dist 4 area that has races of only under .21 boats. Why you might ask? Well nobody currently has "A" class races around here. It might help get new racers in the hobby.... they might believe that a smaller, less expensive boat will be less intimadating to race with. We must have a ton of those miss bud pro boat guys looking for fun.

So the point would be to have one or two .12-.20 races a year, and have some fun!

Need 5 people for a club.... what ya guys think? Am I nuts?

 

[CySlyde]

sounds good to me.. if i were over tehre i would throw my aquajet in

 

[wswatzell]

That sounds great to me! Like CY, I don't live in that district, but I think i could justify a drive to race an "A" class.

 

[Ron Olson]

You know that I'd be there and I would become a member! I've been to the Ultimate 21 Shoot-out and it had a big turnout plus great racing!

The problem with the "Tweener's" (over .12 but under .21) is that there are a lot of them out there and most aren't legal to race except for those than the ones legal for the ABS class which I have never seen run either.

 

[Propjockey]

Yes Tom, you ARE nuts...but it sounds like a good idea.

Ron...what makes them illegal?

 

[user 115]

Tom,

Why not ask the D4 clubs to add an under 21 class to their races? You would get a lot more than one or two races which would encourage people to build boats that size and drive from further distances..

Charley

 

[Preston_Hall]

I think an "A" class would be a great idea. I see this class picking up in the future. But I think you might want to stick with the "A" regulations. It would be a good idea and foresight because you wouldn't want people to get great running 15's and 18's (maybe no better than 12's) and then not be able to participate in a sanctioned race.

I think that when a speedy 12 kit is put on the market is when you will see a jump in the interest level. Right now I think things are still being hammered out. I say hammered out since although the record is 78mph, 85-90 is there if somebody takes the time to do it.

But an "A" class would be excellent!

 

[TomMoorehouse]

as far as the 13-20 crowd i've just never seen one actually faster than the hot 12's myself, so i don't see them as a threat. the only possible threat would be the big block .15's anyway it would be something for the club to decide.

Would any club hold a .12 race in our district?

 

[user 115]

I guess you would have to ask.

 

[Watercadet]

Tom I think it would be a great idea to make a club class that would cater to the RTR crowd and the low maintance pro crowd. RCBM just did that shootout of all of them too. Maybe if there is enough interest you could divide the goup into skill classes like cars do with novice, sportsman, pro...you get the idea. Hey al waters are you watching?? I am in your district.....

 

[snowdog-2112]

Tom,

You might want to talk with Kelly in NAMBA district 20. www.namba20.com His district did something similar in '03 and from what little I heard, they had a blast. I think they kept it exclusively to the Budweiser RTR hydroplanes but you might be able to get some ideas from him.

Snowdog

 

[Eric Perez]

I think that an under .21 Race would be a good promotional idea...

The Bad News:

One of the things that keeps the under .21 crowd from growing like many others have said. There are very few "racing" quality kits or RTR being built right now. Most of what's available is plastic hulls that are not designed to last a season of hard running. Also, small light-weight boats like the under .21 are traditionally not very well suited to windy or choppy water which makes them hard to race in areas where water is not flat.

I think that there is a missconception that an under .21 boat is a beginner boat? They are not -Especially the under .21 riggers -Which currently are the only good wood kits available at a reasonable price.

Also, the current nitro course is just too big to run a .12 boat. It can and is done everyday by experienced boaters -but put a green thumb behind the wheel and you better warm up the motor on the retrieve boat... I wish that the electric course be the one that is used for the under .21 class. It wqould be more appropiate for the size of the boat and easier to see the boat in the back straight-a-way.

The Good News:

We already have a few racing kits specifically designed for small-block engines. Like the Fire Fighter, and some Monos. Some of the 24" electric fiberglass Hydros can be modified to run a small-block engine with good results. Ron -Better get the HH12 out before you miss the boat.

So basically we have a small group of nitro boaters who also tinker with custom-built .12 boats and run them mainly for fun.

The trick is to lure them into racing with other miss-matched boats and eventually grow the classes so you don't have a rigger racing against a cat. I think that as an exhibition class the under .21 are probably going to do okay. When you open the door to organized racing -many racers will miggrate over to more convetional classes where better hulls/engine/equipement and regulations (Classes) exist.

 

[Preston_Hall]

I guess it should be clarified whether under .21 is for ABS RTR hulls or racing hulls. The IMPBA already has a Production ABS Hull classification. You don't want the new guy with a RTR kit to be against a race hull. As far as course size is concerned, the 1/3 mile is fine. The 12's run just as well as some current boats. If it runs 40 mph then it is as fast as the 20 monos were 5 years ago.

 

[Ron @work]

IMPBA's ABS class has limits of up to .16, pull-start only and mufflers, no pipes. Not too many boats fit in this catagory.

 

[Preston_Hall]

Better go back and look at the RTR ABS boats out there. They are recoil so peeps don't need the extra BS. I doubt they would have a $40 pipe either. Even if they did, then put a mffler on it.

You are talking whether it will be a $300 15-20mph boat or a $800+ 40+mph boat. Again, you don't want to get a guy out there with the 15mph boat and have him get blown away buy a typical racing boat. The gas class for example. You wouldn't tell a friend to go spend money on a RTR kit when he is going to be very disappointed when he finishes two laps behind the field.

 

[Brett Pirie]

Hey guys,

I race in NAMBA District 20 in Colorado and we had an exhibition class for the Miss Bud boats last year. It was cool, but most of the people who bought the boats were already in the club and racing other boats so it did not bring in many new members as hoped. It did give a chance for the younger kids to race and I know all the participants really enjoyed it. The guys who had the boats would usually let someone else drive if they wanted to try it out which was cool. We did the usual start and mill time with a 6 lap race and did three heats just like the other classes. Because the boats aren’t very fast (especially at 5200 feet) we ran a half course that went around turn one, the back stretch buoy and the start/finish buoy. The boats are pretty equal which provided for some close racing. They are also durable so when they did collide there was no major damage.

Brett B)

 

[Watercadet]

How could you tell who was who?

 

[Ron Olson]

If you had a race with just Miss Bud's in it, all you'd have to do is put a colored streamer on the antenna so that you'd know who's is who's. I wouldn't hurt to put a matching one on the TX also so that your pit person can remember which one to grab.

 

[Watercadet]

"all you'd have to do is put a colored streamer on the antenna so that you'd know who's is who's." ehhhh that is OK, but that is another reason that I am looking for 1/12 scale graphics of the Llumar. Last year's hull has the same canard setup and cowl design as the bud so I think that is would look scale. I would just have to follow that yellow thing amongst the red

 

[ClayGlover]

hey Tom, how about putting a little stack of flyers in some LHS to get some feedback on interest? I'm sure the owners won't mind, and you may get a good response. The only challenge that I see is convincing newbies with a single A class rtr boat to pay the annual association dues (plus race fees if applicable) for only a couple races.... Will NAMBA or IMPBA do something like a "per race" coverage fee? I dunno..

wheels are spinnin...