As far as cats are concerned, I believe the opposite is true... Cats achieve speed by essentially "flying" so a lighter and stronger lay-up can be better... They don't call them "skaters" for nothin!
To compare, I've been in a 36' Skater in 4-5's and it ran great, if not better than my Apache...It also did 100 mph with 500 efi's and I could sip a cup of coffee...
I even think Apache knew this and (stick my kneck out for saying this) but it could even be why towards the end they started experimenting with the concept.