OUTLAW EAGLE MANUFACTURING

ntjetboater · Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:47 am Post subject: SBFX Tunnel vs Step Tec

Will these be ran as two separate classes this year ?

Can a step tec keep up to a tunnel other than when the wind hits 30 knots
!
There are a few nice sports for sale; however in the spirit of racing who wants to own a race boat that will not keep up to others in its class.(Which is why the sports don't seem to be selling in race trim?)
In ski-doo terms it is like racing an old Indy XLT against a new doo XP...same horsepower..but old school will be sucking you know what ! Laughing

buellit · Joined: 16 Aug 2005 Posts: 45 Location: whitecourt

Good questions ntj. From what I have seen, steptechs dont keep up. But I have yet to see a steptech with a canard. Anyone try it yet?? there has got to be a gain there???

MISSBHAVEN · Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:19 pm Post subject:

I believe the plan is to have the class seperated into 2, between V-hulls and Tunnels. This allows the guys who already have V-hulls to keep and race their boats in a class of their own as opposed to having them becoming obsolete for racing, as the V-hulls are on average slower than the tunnels, especially on the long runs. The advantage of seperating the V-hulls into a seperate class is to increase the ability for even more people to compete in the FX class.

However, this is something we are doing only in Canada, so at this time the UIM isn't involved and therefore it is uncertain and unlikely there will be 2 different FX classes (V bottom and tunnel) in the Worlds in in Canada in 2011.

Itsworthit · Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 432 Location: Whitecourt

I am pretty sure that the V Bottoms will be run as "D" class, unless there are less than 3 entries, (min for a class), as far as I know this is only in Whitecourt, as I haven't heard what the other clubs are doing, I hope all 3 will adopt this for the next 2 years leading up to the worlds

Yellowhammer · Joined: 06 Jul 2005 Posts: 46

As an owner of a 2004 lightweight step tech....I can tell you that in long straight runs the v bottom will not keep up with the new lightweight tunnels in sbfx with zz4 power plants. The 2008 worlds demonstrated this. The only time the step tech had a big advantage was in Hoopa where there are no straight aways longer than a quarter mile. My step tech times made up some ground here and were faster than both tunnels that campaigned last year....This tells me that the v bottom keeps a better speed in turns and accelerates faster. In the flat straight water I got to watch those tunnels take off and leave me by at least 3 or 4 mph. I have kicked around the idea of trying the canards but have not got around to it. I am convinced that I have got all the mph out of this little v bottom that there is to find with zz4 power (minust the canards). My two cents.......

MISSBHAVEN · Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 10:31 pm Post subject:

Canards might work on a Vhull but they would have to be short or they may cause problems when cornering when they come close to the water. Shocked

Alumaman · Joined: 26 Jul 2005 Posts: 306 Location: Whitecourt

Whitecourt is running two FX classes at our race in May. To reduce the confusion for the spectators we are calling it D class. (not to be confused with the UIM D class)

FX Class - is for all tunnels
D Class - (Canada) - is for all ZZ4 step tech's and V bottoms

I'm hoping that this class is well supported as there are lots of good non-tunnel race boats ready to come out of retirement.