why are the current sport 40's so small???????

[Lay26]

im looking at the current landscape and can't help but wonder why this is so. my thoughts were that the motors of yesteryear were not as strong as say the current line up of AA CMB PiCCO etc. what are your thoughts also what ever happen to the Dave Frank sport 40? did this boat later become the AC sport 40, what do you think would make the wood boat competitive with today's motors. feedback please!

 

[FloridaScaleBoater]

im looking at the current landscape and can't help but wonder why this is so. my thoughts were that the motors of yesteryear were not as strong as say the current line up of AA CMB PiCCO etc. what are your thoughts also what ever happen to the Dave Frank sport 40? did this boat later become the AC sport 40, what do you think would make the wood boat competitive with today's motors. feedback please!

What are you considering small?

 

[Lay26]

Most( whip PT45 and many more) are in the 35-36" range. the Ac sport 40 is 37 1/2. not sure about the Mutt2 tunnel width and the center section(some are 4", Ac uses a 5" center section)and the smaller hull doesn't seem to handle the ruff water well. i have a team mate the has a PT45 that nose dives and submarines almost every time he hits a good wake and that means the end of the race.

 

[bsmtboy2]

Lay, its all in the setup. You know my PT runs and we have other PT's,Mutts,AC's,Whips, and even some scratch built ones that are really fast here in D12. We can run 2 flights of sport40 with 5-8 boats per heat which will make the water rough for someone who didn't get the CG right or set the strut at the proper depth. I even have a Maus sport40 that can run with the pack and win a few heats. The motors are close in HP, the props and the setup are what puts you in the winners circle. The recent new wood hulls that are being sold here on IW combined with the new Nova rossi .46 might be the game changer for the future,time will tell........

 

[Ken Hildreth]

Hmm, I ran a Dave Frank sport 40 years ago. There is a picture of it in Phil's photos. I dont think it was any bigger than the PT 45 boat I run today. Set up and balance and preference of handling makes the difference. The current boat I run has never stuffed. My Son Chuck has his boat set up much tighter than mine and while it has came close to stuffing. I cant recall it doing it. If you ever seen Phil's own boat run, you would see his set up is very good in rough water. For me, This newest version has been a little harder for me to keep on the water and my balance point is a little farther forward than my older PT boat. We had this same problem with Wes Ellett's boat. There are alot of good sport 40s out there. The Mutt II and the whiplash as well as the AC boat and the newer muck hull are all competitive set up correctly. I believe a Dave Frank would still be competitive today also. But I dont think the boats are smaller than when I started racing this class.

 

[Mike Luszcz]

Size was also a major factor in the sport 40 I am working on. I felt 39" would be better suited to todays nitro power, constant wind and water that seems to almost always exist these days, and the fact that 6 cell lipo will be too intense for a smaller hull. Just my thoughts! Mike

 

[Lay26]

"But I dont think the boats are smaller than when I started racing this class." this is my point they are almost the same measurement...i know about the specs under the current rules. why cant they be a little bigger than 36" to compensate for the challanges of heat racing, wind and rough water and a more powerfull motor? is it a matter of it aint broke so dont fix it? I personally have run and AC hull for years it was my first sport 40 i didn't know much at the time. i had a picco blackhead in it. i beat up that thing. i have built the two versions of the whiplash and the are great boats(the best i have to date) but i cant help but think of a bigger hull say 39"x 20.

 

[Dasboatman]

Hey Leighton,

I believe the currectly available hulls, properly set up are competative using the newest edition engines.

My Buddy races an SS45 with CMB RS that has run very well over the years. We recently decied he needed something a little different, so I designed and built him a new WOF hull. Only a few tests on it to date, and only one race under it's belt, so we are still evaluating the hull. This boat is 37 3/4" long. The last two Sport 40 hulls I've built were 38 1/4" in 2006, and 39 1/2" in 1999.

My Father designed a Sport 40 - Top Gun 1 in about 1985 in District 3 - Floida. This hull was right at 36" in length, there were a ton of them built by, and for other boaters and they had a Blast. I ran a couple from 1987 - 1997, then we started building larger hulls to better handle the notoriously rougher Florida race water. Here are some pics, newest to oldest hulls. TOP GUN IV is Jack St.Clair design. CHEERS !!! Bob

 

[FloridaScaleBoater]

"But I dont think the boats are smaller than when I started racing this class." this is my point they are almost the same measurement...i know about the specs under the current rules. why cant they be a little bigger than 36" to compensate for the challanges of heat racing, wind and rough water and a more powerfull motor? is it a matter of it aint broke so dont fix it? I personally have run and AC hull for years it was my first sport 40 i didn't know much at the time. i had a picco blackhead in it. i beat up that thing. i have built the two versions of the whiplash and the are great boats(the best i have to date) but i cant help but think of a bigger hull say 39"x 20.

Current IMPBA Sport-40 rules state minimum of 35" to a max of 40"

NAMBA I see doesn't list a max,,, but a min. of 35" also

 

[Lay26]

OK I STAND CORRECTED..... on the length what i'm after is would a larger hull be more stable more user friendly than the smaller hulls with the current power options for heat racing? forget set ups, forget trying to set records. heat racing only.

 

[P THOMAS]

Sport 40 is a spinoff off of 1/8th scale hydro Maybe they wanted a smalle boat and went with 1/10th scale which ends up at 36 inches.

I should be working on a new one that will be 38-39 inches long.

Hey still havent seen any new one that will race as good as the Supersport 45 which was first run about 1990, and was based off the Dave Frank boat. Good designs are hard to beat.

 

[FloridaScaleBoater]

Sport 40 is a spinoff off of 1/8th scale hydro Maybe they wanted a smalle boat and went with 1/10th scale which ends up at 36 inches.

I should be working on a new one that will be 38-39 inches long.

Hey still havent seen any new one that will race as good as the Supersport 45 which was first run about 1990, and was based off the Dave Frank boat. Good designs are hard to beat.

I know like mine!!! But trying something a little different this year

 

[Lay26]

Sport 40 is a spinoff off of 1/8th scale hydro Maybe they wanted a smalle boat and went with 1/10th scale which ends up at 36 inches.

I should be working on a new one that will be 38-39 inches long.

Hey still havent seen any new one that will race as good as the Supersport 45 which was first run about 1990, and was based off the Dave Frank boat. Good designs are hard to beat.

thats a good point. what was it about the DF40 that needed changing that brought you to the current design? in 22 yrs there's no improvement to be made? Good info thanks for sharing

 

[P THOMAS]

Sport 40 is a spinoff off of 1/8th scale hydro Maybe they wanted a smalle boat and went with 1/10th scale which ends up at 36 inches.

I should be working on a new one that will be 38-39 inches long.

Hey still havent seen any new one that will race as good as the Supersport 45 which was first run about 1990, and was based off the Dave Frank boat. Good designs are hard to beat.

thats a good point. what was it about the DF40 that needed changing that brought you to the current design? in 22 yrs there's no improvement to be made? Good info thanks for sharing

OH there have been many improvements, some to the hull design, really only three versions have been done in 20 years.

LOTS of setup improvements. There is good reason that boat has been around for 20 years.

FE boaters have taken the SSP45 to speeds past anything the nitro boats have done and they are happy with its performance.

 

[Dasboatman]

Hey Phil,

"Hey still havent seen any new one that will race as good as the Supersport 45"

Have you been to a Florida race since the 2001 Winter Nats. Jack St. Clair has something bigger in a Sport 40 to show you.

1990 -- I think you've got you money out of the SS45 - it's ready for some upgrades. What ever happened to the two other Sport 40 hulls you were working on??

I recall racing my 40 Lauterbach WOF hull in D Hydro, before the Sport 40 rules were developed. I don't recall which came first - Sport 40 or Scale rules. Man, how time flies. And now we're talking about Gas Scale - Great !!! CHEERS !!! Bob

 

[Rhonda Pickard]

Hey guys Phil is coming to the Melbourne race should be interesting, i am ready i think Rick should make a show so he can see how his other boat runs. Robert

 

[Joe Wiebelhaus]

im looking at the current landscape and can't help but wonder why this is so. my thoughts were that the motors of yesteryear were not as strong as say the current line up of AA CMB PiCCO etc. what are your thoughts also what ever happen to the Dave Frank sport 40? did this boat later become the AC sport 40, what do you think would make the wood boat competitive with today's motors. feedback please!

Lieghton,

I dont want to knock any other sport 40 out there, but they have been around for 20 years, ac, pt, mutt, ect I think the PT was real close to the David Frank hull, I have built them all and ran them, Michigan to Florida, I actually liked the ac hull better in Florida because of the spring time windy weather (Jan thru May). So after getting my AC wacked last year, I needed a new sport 40, so I built my own with the help of Mike Luszcz, they are 39" long, 20" wide for a larger footprint on the water, see my build post in the Sport 40 - Scale department.

 

[Lay26]

Well this is what I got to try

 

[Lay26]

Well this is what I got to try

 

[Lay26]

What you guys think?