Boat racing anyone?

[WuzzaCBXRider]

How about UIM F1H2O boats? Never heard of them until I happened to watch a championship race on the BEIN tv channel. I saw the GP of Zhengzhou China. Here’s a YouTube vid, jump to 15:00 to see them ‘cornering’. They’re 20’x7’ dual tunnel boats with enclosed cab forward cockpits. They’re made out of Kevlar and carbon fiber and weigh less than a Gold Wing including the Mercury two stroke V6 outboard that generates 450 ponies @ 10,500 revs. 150 mph top speed and 0to62 mph in less than four seconds. At speed on the straights, only the rear foot and a half is in the water with the pilot finessing the ‘rise’ forward just enough to keep them from flipping over. They corner like an F1 car, chopping the throttle which settles the twin hulls and then wham, they turn 90 degrees. Then wham, back to full throttle. Very exciting racing especially when the boats are close to each other.

 

[Blanca BusaLess]

Cool video. Many years ago in the miami vice days i used to go see the off shore races in Miami.

 

[WuzzaCBXRider]

I used to watch hydro and flat bottom drag boat races on the Sacramento River. An acquaintance owned TuxnBux, a blown gasser. He had a tuxedo rental company. They’re all quick but the surface of the water can really make it hairy for the flat bottom boats. If the pilot can’t (set) the boat just right on take off it gets very squirrely. I watched them warm the engine with particular ‘heat‘ spark plugs then throw those away and install race plugs. They did this for every heat. That would be 64 spark plugs thrown away for a four heat race day. $$$ just for plugs! They kept their fuel cold by running extra long fuel lines coiled inside large coffee can size cans with dry ice inside. The open boat drivers (pilots) really, wear a parachute with straps to the knees to keep them rolled up in a ball so when they’re jerked/ lifted from the boat their legs aren’t splayed out which hopefully prevents broken legs. The boats don’t have chutes, just the driver.

 

[Blanca BusaLess]

I used to watch hydro and flat bottom drag boat races on the Sacramento River. An acquaintance owned TuxnBux, a blown gasser. He had a tuxedo rental company. They’re all quick but the surface of the water can really make it hairy for the flat bottom boats. If the pilot can’t (set) the boat just right on take off it gets very squirrely. I watched them warm the engine with particular ‘heat‘ spark plugs then throw those away and install race plugs. They did this for every heat. That would be 64 spark plugs thrown away for a four heat race day. $$$ just for plugs! They kept their fuel cold by running extra long fuel lines coiled inside large coffee can size cans with dry ice inside. The open boat drivers (pilots) really, wear a parachute with straps to the knees to keep them rolled up in a ball so when they’re jerked/ lifted from the boat their legs aren’t splayed out which hopefully prevents broken legs. The boats don’t have chutes, just the driver.

I remember seeing the Ms Budweiser flip over backward in the air. Those boats were like 50 something feet long. Kinda far offshore but we, the crowd still saw it. Back then it was more of going there for the entire event and not just the racing. Like a huge party with entertainment

 

[LC4CARL]

Looks like great viewing.