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back to current newsSeptember 23, 2008
The Little Falls race reports are online, including some nice pics from Bob Stone.
September 22, 2008
The 2008 season came to a close with a spectacular weekend of racing in Little Falls, MN. The weather hardly could have been better -- sunny in the 70s. A little breeze on Sunday made holding boats at the starting beach a bit difficult at times, but otherwise had no ill-effect on the proceedings.
VP75 had twelve boats making for rough, wild and entertaining racing. They are promising as many as seventeen boats for next season. Founding club member Jerry Johnson tells me that will be a record for the 45-year-old club (TCPBA).
GT Pro had it's usual seven boats. Spinning out at the third-turn bouy was a popular activity in GTP this weekend, and we even had a driver take a swim. The "Dillon" boats made a good showing, in both the "good luck" and the "hard luck" categories. I'll have the full race reports soon.
Bob Stone (who has a Dillon Mini under construction, and will be racing with us next summer) was busy all weekend taking pictures. He should be providing us with some good action shots. Maybe even a short video or two.
September 18, 2008
One more reminder that we will be racing in Little Falls, MN this weekend. Testing is scheduled to start at 11:00, which will be your first chance to see boats on the water. Racing would therefore get going between 11:30 and noon.
I'm expecting eight GT Pro boats, although one of them might not make it on Saturday.
Our VP75 class is expecting fourteen boats -- yikes! That should be one wild show.
From Hwy 10, go west on 27, through downtown to the Mississippi River. Cross the River, then immediately turn right. The Park will be on your right. [MAP] The River is a bit narrow here, so the action comes close to the spectators. The weather reports look fantastic.
September 15, 2008
VP driver Jeff Larson of Lightning Power Boat Racing, is setting up a tunnel boat that belongs to Howard Pipkorn, and should be racing GT Pro with us this weekend. That will bring our number to eight boats, if all goes as expected. And if Jeff is impressed with the experience, he just might buy the boat for next season. Welcome aboard, Jeff, hope you stay with us.
Meanwhile, Jeff's VP class is expecting twelve or more boats in Little Falls. There's talk of dividing the class for elimination heats, or dropping two flags and sending them off in two groups. We should all have the problem of managing "too many boats."
September 11, 2008
Yesterday I took the Pro Vee out for its last test before the Little Falls races, September 20 & 21. I was actually rather pleased with the result.
First, it was quite windy. But our little neighborhood lake is too small for any real chop to build up, so while it was a bit rough, it wasn't worse than what you'd encounter along the straightaway on a race course. I drove parallel to the waves, which is similar to what you encounter in a race.
The Pro Vee still porpoised in this chop, but not severely. It even got to chinewalking once in a while, but nothing I couldn't work through using the trim, or the steering, or by momentarily backing off the throttle. (Trim is probably the best tool to use here.) And I was back to 45+ mph. And 7000 rpm -- yikes!
The prop I'm using is an OMC 10x15 with a pretty severe cup. My 10x17 props are too much for this boat, although they worked well with the Mini Vee. Not sure why that is. My thought right now is I need more prop diameter, probably 11 inches. I'd keep the pitch the same -- more could be added if necessary. The longer blades would allow me to jack the motor up a little higher, so that I would hopefully end up at about the same rpm I'm seeing now.
I may get the chance to test that theory this fall. Stay tuned.
September 5, 2008
Well, the trim tab experiment (for the Pro Vee) was clearly a failure. I tried lowering the motor, but it had little effect, other than to bring on the the kind of behavior you'd expect from a too-deep motor. So I took off the tabs, redistributed the ballast, and now I'll live with a certain amount of porpoise and hope for the best for Little Falls.
The answer, I think, will come with a new, probably custom-made, propeller. Either a chopper, with enough lift to hold up the bow; or a cleaver with less bow lift. Or maybe any prop that will push me into the 50 mph range, right past that pesky, porpoise-inducing speed window. But that will probably have to wait until next year.