Hydroplane fans?

[thekl0wn]

Just wanted to know if there were any hydroplane fans on the site... Namely Unlimited Hydroplanes. I have a few ties to the boat in my sig.

 

[jeeperman]

Re: Hydroplane fans?

Use to go to the Detroit race back when Miss Bud and Miss Madison were running.
Is the one in your sig running an Allison or Rolls?

 

[thekl0wn]

Re: Hydroplane fans?

Allison. I don't think I could distinguish between the Rolls, being everyone had switched up to turbines (except Cooper Racing) by time I was really into it, so I've never actually seen a Rolls, and when I would've heard them, I wouldn't have known the difference. But in my opinion, piston-powered is the ONLY way to go!

 

[jeeperman]

Re: Hydroplane fans?

Yea but the piston power is old school.
I am from Michigan and not far from a guy by the name of E. J. Potter.
http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2006/05/08/ej-potter-michigan-madman/
I wonder if he is still alive. He was one sly and part crazy guy.
I met him once when he show me a barn packed with about a hundred Allisons on his farm. He had bought them as surplus and was scrapping them out for the platinum in the bearings.
Until the tractor puller boys heard and wanted them.

 

[thekl0wn]

Re: Hydroplane fans?

Yea but the piston power is old school.

Check the results of the Detroit Cup from two years ago... (I think it was two)

Funny... I've heard that name from both rings mentioned, the boats and the tractor pullers!

 

[jeeperman]

Re: Hydroplane fans?

Yea I think I remember seeing that one on tv. Was that where the piston boat won pretty much by default and attrition of the competition?

I see by that link E.J. has a book out, gonna go vist ebay now.

 

[thekl0wn]

Re: Hydroplane fans?

Yea I think I remember seeing that one on tv. Was that where the piston boat won pretty much by default and attrition of the competition?

If that were the case then why did all the other teams cry to get their fuel cut back? I just think it's a great story... The U-3 team has a history. Plus the team is doing it on their own... There's no huge sponsorships like Budweiser (now Formula boats). It's about a love of the sport. That's the reason why I will cheer on Miss Madison at the races she runs. It seems that anymore, all of the sports have become more of a competition to see who can throw more money at it, and that's why I've stuck behind the U-3. I guess I'm just a fan of the underdog.

Tractor pulling has been the same way. Both teams in the unlimited class I grew up around got out of it because of the huge sponsorships. (Englert's Mission Impossible & Freeman's Mean Mistreater)

 

[jeeperman]

Re: Hydroplane fans?

Yea it would be and is neat to see an underdog win.

Can you imagine what would happen if some Smoky Yunick types showed up at a NASCAR race with one car behind a pickup on an open trailer?
And proceeded to win the race?

NASCAR would make a new rule.

 

[Scaaty]

Re: Hydroplane fans?

Yea but the piston power is old school.
I am from Michigan and not far from a guy by the name of E. J. Potter.
http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2006/05/08/ej-potter-michigan-madman/
I wonder if he is still alive. He was one sly and part crazy guy.
I met him once when he show me a barn packed with about a hundred Allisons on his farm. He had bought them as surplus and was scrapping them out for the platinum in the bearings.
Until the tractor puller boys heard and wanted them.

I remember Potter way back when with the V8 Dragbike. I was racing my old 57 Triumph at Oswego Dragstrip in Illinois..he was there a few times

 

[PW2]

Re: Hydroplane fans?

The old Rolls Royce Merlin Engines were surplus WWII fighter engines, there never was a whole bunch of them to begin with available, and as they are more than sixty years old, that's not likely to change.

At various times, they tried auto engines and other fighter engines, but none were ever consistently competitive with the Rolls Merlin.

The turbine used now is a helicopter engine, I believe. Not sure why one team can get so much more out of one than a different team, and why they need to restrict fuel flow to one team over another to be competitive.

Still, when there is bow to bow racing, it can be exciting.

When I was a kid, we used to go to the limited races held once a year on Green Lake in Seattle. Now that was really exciting, but you'd never get away with doing it now.

 

[thekl0wn]

Re: Hydroplane fans?

The turbine used now is a helicopter engine, I believe. Not sure why one team can get so much more out of one than a different team, and why they need to restrict fuel flow to one team over another to be competitive.

The hulls have a lot to do with it as well, and there's always little tricks in all the systems that can up the HP... Same as in NASCAR and all other racing.

I guess the Detroit race must've had a pretty wild wreck in the final... Ripped the right sponson off of Mike Allen's boat, ripped his face mask off and pretty much drowned him... Luckily the guard was able to recesitate him, but he supposedly has decided racing is no more for him!

 

[PW2]

Re: Hydroplane fans?

The hulls have a lot to do with it as well, and there's always little tricks in all the systems that can up the HP... Same as in NASCAR and all other racing.

I guess the Detroit race must've had a pretty wild wreck in the final... Ripped the right sponson off of Mike Allen's boat, ripped his face mask off and pretty much drowned him... Luckily the guard was able to recesitate him, but he supposedly has decided racing is no more for him!

I was in a boat on the Lake Washington log boom in Seattle watching the race when Bill Muncey lost his rudder and sank a Coast Guard Cutter. Over the years, there have neen some pretty wild wrecks, as well as more than a few fatalities.