I have always been curious about high performance race boats, but I must admit I had never had a chance to experience a boat race until a few weeks back at the Pepsi Racing Power Cup Challenge, the Hydroplane boat racing event on the Missouri River. Being in the boat supplies business has left me curious on the high performance aspect of championship boating and tickled my need for speed. While these machines are high precision, high performance and incredibly fast, the sport has not caught on as much here in the US.
It is however a very popular sport in other parts of the world and it is classified into a few different categories.
1. Limited racing - They race under several classes and are very Affordable to race in. They can achieve speeds of 100 mph (160 km/h).
2. Unlimited Light Hydroplanes - These are hydroplanes (20' up to 26') that run big block Chevy motors and travel at speeds between 130 and 160 mph (260 km/h).
3. Thunder boats hydroplanes - The Thunder boats have two classes of engines, (G-575) and (G-468), which have superchargers that create high power and speeds over 100mph. The Boats are from minimum 25' 0" up to 28' 0" maximum length. Weighing minimum from (G-468) 2,800 lb to (G-575) 3,600lbs
4. Unlimited racing - The unlimited hydroplane has much fewer restrictions than with limited hydroplane racing. These 30 foot, 6,800 lbs boats run primarily with a T-55 L7 turbine boat and go over 200mph.
5. Stock Outboard Racing- Stock Outboard Racing utilizes both hydroplane and runabout or monoplane hulls with racing engines that utilize a service outboard power head and a racing lower unit with a direct drive (i.e. start in gear). Racing in this form ranges from classes designated as follows: A Class, B Class, C Class and D Class. There is also a Junior or "J" Class for kids between the ages of 9 and 16 years of age. The engine sizes range from 9.9 horsepower (7.4 kW) to 50 horsepower (37 kW) with speeds from 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) to 90 miles per hour (140 km/h).
When it comes to the precision high performance boat supplies found in these machines you have to start with the engines.
Racing Engine Boat Parts
When it comes to racing engines you have a wide variety of standard made mercury Engines to shops that take OEM engine bases and custom make them to fit your racing needs. The most common engines for hydrofoils are big block Chevy engines, mercury Engines and Japanese Yamamoto engines that have become very popular in the USA.
Hydroplane body boat parts
When it comes to racing, weight is a key component to success so the lighter the hydroplane is, the faster it goes so most of the hydroplane's body is made of fiber glass or wood. Cockpits are made from carbon Kevlar.
The Japanese have pushed the weight issue to the point where they have capped the driver's weight to 50kg for males and 47kg for females, any boat found to be lighter with the driver has more weight added to it to create a balance with the other boats.
Safety boat parts
The hydroplanes require standard safety harness systems, the cockpits are made from carbon Kevlar and side impact protection for safety to the driver against crashes. Boat Fire Extinguishers are always readily available and fire crews are always on standby in case of an accident.
All in all I learned quite a bit from the race even though I was spectator and would have loved to take a lap around the course, maybe next time. I must say my curiosity is so peaked am looking to building a hydroplane as my next project.
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