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TBPNews #119 – May 2, 2008
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>>>> Tunnel Boat Performance News
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In this issue:
1) Swedish Andersson Wins
First 2008 UIM F1 Event
2) FEATURE ARTICLE -
4 hours of Rouen 2008 - 45
Years and Getting Better"
3) Reggie Fountain Buys Baja Marine
4) Respected
industry veteran to head Donzi Marine
5) Australian F1
Superboat event schedule released
6) NEW Powerboat History & Design
Books On-line
7)
Follow the history of the Gold Cup with ABRA
Historian Fred Farley
8) Powerboat Racing on TV
9) Jimboat's NEW Feature Articles
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1) Swedish
Andersson Wins First 2008 UIM F1 Event
March, 2008 - Swedish driver Jonas Andersson got rid of 2 years of
frustration in one afternoon winning the opening round of the 2008 U.I.M. F1
World Championship for power boating by 1.76 seconds over Qatar Team driver Jay
Price to win the 5th Annual Grand Prix of Qatar.
The 33 year-old driver from Fruvi, Sweden driving his DAC for F1 Team Sweden lost pole position at the start of the race to Team Abu Dhabi driver Thani Al Qamzi as the Emirates driver led until going out of the race on the 31st of 48 laps. This opened the door for Jonas to re-establish himself in the lead position and he never looked back holding off a charging Jay Price to the final turn of the event.
Home team driver Price did his best in a brand new boat and gambling on a last minute choice of propellers that seemed to really pay off at the end, settling for 2nd at the end of the afternoon and to cheers by the vocal loyal home town crowd.
Defending World Champion Sami Selio in his BABA Woodstock Red Devil Racing
hull, had his 2 race winning streak stopped with a 4th place finish.
Finishing 5th was a disappointed two time past winner of the race in Doha Guido
Cappellini of the DAC Team .
check out more at:
www.f1boat.com
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2) FEATURE ARTICLE: "24 hours of Rouen 2008 - 45 Years and Getting Better"
[Report direct from race in Rouen, France, by
FrenchPhil - our on-site TBPNews reporter!]
[Photos by Sebastian Merlet]
It
was a great day at the races & not just because of the free champagne. At this
years Rouen, the 45th, crowds were out & estimated at 350,000 for the 2 days.
The weather usually rainy & cool was rather mild & dry. But the big question was
"can Evinrude do it again like in 2006?"
Well that was not to happen even with BRP's full support.
Things had started well with their Class 3 boat No2 in the top 3 after 3 hours
of racing. When the night fell they kept in the top 5 despite intense
competition from last years winner Team Vauban Boat Number 1 who after also
winning in
2004 & 2005 was not in for a cameo.
Around midnight the Evinrude had dropped to the 10th spot but was hanging on. In the wee hours she was eighth but things went downhill from there and its only a few hours before the end of the race that she was able to pickup a few spots & hope for the 3rd spot of class 3. But mechanical problems prevented that & No2 was not seen on the water for the last few hours of the race & had to settle for 4th spot & 9th overall.
As for Team Vauban who went from 15th to 2th during the night they were disqualified after mechanical problems & for not being on the water at 3.45PM. Their hopes of beating the 1993 record of 3182 kilometers was not to be.
So in Class 3 Team Casino No. 8 (Moore/Mercury) finished 1st overall
with
798 laps followed by Team Star Boat No. 12 (Moore/Mercury) with 754 laps & 3rd but 6th overall
was Team VSI Racing No.5 with 618 laps.
In Class 2 Team QuickSilver no 27 (DAC/Mercury Optimax) was 1st in Class 2 & 3rd
overall with 676 laps.
The CMN team
(Moore/Mercury) came 2nd & 4th overall with 630 laps and celebrated the occasion by inviting
yours truly for a few glasses of Champagne which I couldn't turn down.
In Class 1 the Rouen School of Engineering ESIGELEC (Demante/Yamaha) placed 1st & 11th overall, not bad for a 70 hp Yammie. The only experimental X Class boat this year was (Moore/Tohatsu) 90hp DI & finished 30th overall.
That's all for this year folks, so come on all to Rouen next year for the 46th "24 Hours of Rouen".
Cheers from Philip Laverty - Paris, France (FrenchPhil)
See more Performance Articles at:
aeromarineresearch.com/articles.html
Read more about Tunnel Boat design and setup in the
world acclaimed "Secrets
of Tunnel Boat Design" book
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3) Reggie
Fountain Buys Baja Marine
Reggie
Fountain is now the planet’s largest builder of high performance boats.
Brunswick Corporation announced the signing of a letter of intent to sell assets relating to its Baja boat business to Fountain Powerboat Industries. Brunswick plans to end production of Baja boats in Ohio, by the end of May, consistent with the end of the 2008 model year. Baja Marine has 86 dealers and Fountain has 26, giving the combined company over 100 dealers, all specializing in high performance boats. That will undoubtedly be the largest dealer network in the category and with boats at all price points it may provide tough competition for the few remaining high performance builders.
The merger of these two quite different high performance product lines has many industry observers scratching their heads because Fountain has avoided low price-point boats, and that has been Baja’s market niche. Also, long ago Fountain gave up the small boat market where Baja has most of its business. Nevertheless, Reggie Fountain is unfazed by this apparent contradiction in market strategy saying that he looks forward to moving Baja owners up into larger, more expensive Fountains.
Fountain said he will change the name of the company to “Baja by Fountain"
check out more at:
fountainpowerboats.com
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4) Respected industry
veteran to head Donzi Marine
When
it comes to big names in the boating industry, they don’t come much bigger than
Donzi, the boat builder established by the late larger-than-life Don Aronow and
produced on the famous ‘Thunderboat Alley' in North Miami Beach.
Donzi Marine has announced the appointment of Craig Barrie as vice-president of sales for the Sarasota, Florida-based company and in choosing the 59-year-old they added ‘a big name to a big name.’ Barrie was a former CEO of the famed Cigarette Racing Team, another of Aronow’s legacies, and has enjoyed considerable powerboat racing success in Open Offshore, Superboat and Formula I classes. Barrie can claim more than 30-years experience in high performance boats, both sales and production. He established Dragon Powerboats in 2003 and specialised in custom, built-to-order performance boats, while for the past four-years he was also involved with retail sales for FastBoats.com, a Florida retailer of high performance rigs and one of Donzi Marine’s largest dealers.
For further information visit the website,
www.donzimarine.com
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5) Australian F1
Superboat event schedule released
With
a calendar slated to cover Australia's east coast, from Penrith to the Gold
Coast the F1, F2000 and F3 categories along with the manic monohulls and support
categories will again provide premium quality racing and entertainment for those
that avidly follow the F1 Superboats spectators and the new ones.
Formula One Superboat Grand Prix's in Australia are comparable to international
competitions held in Europe, North America, Asia and South Africa. The
Australian Association staged events from 1989 to 1997, when the association
appointed a management company, Australian F1 Superboat Series Management Pty
Ltd. Today the series is held over eight rounds on the Australian eastern
seaboard and attracts crowds of over 10, 000 at major CBD venues.
Taree 24th February, 2008 Manning River NSW
Geelong 24th April, 2008 Geelong TBC VIC
Toukley 25th May, 2008 Lake Budgewoi TBC NSW
Newcastle 15th June, 2008 Newcastle Harbour NSW
Port Macquarie 13th July, 2008 Hastings River TBC NSW
Gold Coast 24th August, 2008 The Spit (Marine Stadium) QLD
Penrith 28th September, 2008 SIRC Date TBC NSW
Gold Coast 2nd November, 2008 The Spit (Marine Stadium) TBC QLD
The New Year will also see the F1 Superboat Series contesting two rounds on the
Gold Coast which will host the Powerboat racing event for the UIM General
Assembly in conjunction with the APBA.
Check out more at: f1boat.com
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6) NEW Powerboat History & Design Books On-line
Most complete supply of over 50 specialized performance powerboat history, design and racing books...
check out the new book additions:
Powerboat Design & History books
******************* TBPNews
*******************
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7) Follow the History of the Gold
Cup with ABRA Historian Fred Farley
Follow
the history of the Gold Cup with ABRA Historian Fred Farley at ABRA website.
In 2008, Detroit will host the 100th running of the APBA Gold Cup, which
originated in 1904. In 1957, Seattle hosted the 50th running of that
prestigious trophy. Promoters of the 50th annual race billed it as “The Golden
Gold Cup.” Between 1957 and 2008, the Gold Cup has been contested every year
except one, 1960. That was the time when high winds forced cancellation of the
race on Lake Mead, Nevada.
See much more at:
abrahydroplanes.com
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8) Powerboat Racing on TV
*** "Thrill Zone: Extreme
Powerboats" -
National Geographic powerboat show.
Author Jim Russell (Jimboat) is powerboat design technical consultant on a new
National Geographic special for "Thrill Zone"
series...
Details at: (channel.nationalgeographic.com)
check out next show date at
AR's website! aeromarineresearch.com/NatGeo_thrill-zone.html
*** "Streaming Motorsports" on Speedbox.tv - Parker ENZED Jetsprinting Championship - - Check at: speedbox.tv
*** "Champ Boat Grand Prix Series" - on SPEED Channel - Check next show at: www.champboat.com or at: www.speedtv.com
*** "F1 World Championship TV Show" on The Water Channel - Check it out at: www.waterchannel.com; [see web site for other show times]
*** NEW "War On Water" TV Show" on The Water Channel - Check it out at: www.waterchannel.com; [see web site for other show times]
*** "Class 1 – World Championship – 2006" on The Water Channel - Check it out at: www.waterchannel.com; [see web site for other show times]
*** "Offshore Classics" on The Water Channel - Check it out at: www.waterchannel.com; [see web site for other show times]
*** "American Powerboat Television" on The Water Channel - Check it out at: www.waterchannel.com; [see web site for other show times]
*** "Honda Formula 4-Stroke Powerboat Series" - Check it out at: honda-racing.co.uk
[Ed. Note: The Water Channel is available
on The Dish Network]
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9) Jimboat's Feature Articles
NEW
Jimboat Article Announcement! - Author Jim Russell details the secrets of Chine
Walk in performance powerboats- why it happens & how to fix it!
Check out full article at:
aeromarineresearch.com
Jimboat
writes Feature articles in HotBoat, Family&Performance Boating, World of
Powerboats, Extreme Boats magazines, H2O FullThrottle.
-
'Walk on the
Wild Side' - "Chine Walk - Why it happens & How to Fix it" - HB-Jan
2008
- 'Hump
Zone' - "Why does your Boat Porpoise?" - HB-April 2007
-
'The Bottom Line'-"Why does a Pad make a vee Hull faster?" -
F&PB-Sept 2005
- "10
Smokin' Speed Secrets Revealed..." -
HB-Feb2005
-
"Winterizing your Performance Outboard" - F&PB-Jan2005
-
"What a Drag" - 'Trim Angle & Engine Height Can Reduce Drag and
Increase Speed' - HB-Sept2004
-
"10 Safety Tips" - 'Ten Safety Ideas for High Performance Go-Fast
Boats' - HB-Aug2004
- "Flight
Path" - 'Where does Lift Come From?' - HB-April2004
- "Rocket
Science" - 'How To Increase Your Hull's Design Speed With Aerodynamics' -
World of Powerboats-Winter2004
-
"Tunnel
Vision" - 'What Factors Influence Tunnel Hull Performance' - Extreme
Boats-April2003
- "Step-by-Step"
-
'Step
Design in Powerboats' - TBPNews #88, October 2005
******************* TBPNews
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See you next time!
/Jimboat
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