Wish they were. And I think the racers should have input before the rules are set in stone.
The bigger gray issues are ballast tanks, gear ratios, prop diameters, correcting bottom issues vs modifying the bottom, rpm, modified ecms, aerodynamic tendencies of the hull design, no changes to the design of the drive vs adding a nose cone which must be approved by the org 30 days prior to competition, etc. Many of these things are unpoliceable. Like bottom modifications. How do you make sure a boat still fits the mold of a homologized hull? That is the only requirement in one org, and in another there are no requirements governing hull modifications.
Most of the issues are because of differences in rules between the orgs. Like running the 1.69 gear in SBI vs not allowed in the other two. But, then one team, ran the 1.69 in one of the other orgs, with the bigger prop, because it was legal elsewhere. Same with bottom modifications vs bottom changes and reprogramming ecm's.
I'd like to see no ballast tanks, 1.50 max gear ratio, 15.75 diameter prop max, no hull water pickups allowed, a maximum rpm measured with a data acquisition unit, etc.
If the drive issue and prop diameter are not addressed, one of these days we will see a surface piercing Bravo type drive because of a new hull and prop design. I'd guess a 3 to 5 mph advantage with the right combination.
Another issue is with the ecm's being allowed to be modified, a high dollar team can eliminate all others as we've seen, by reprogramming the late model merc to run at around 6000+ rpm where the earlier merc's will not, but it will probably only last around 30 hours based on testing, but will make an additional 40hp. But, if you have the money, who cares. You can still go collect trophies. That is why a maximum rpm should be addressed.
Anyway, I hope some of these things are addressed. The small improvements to a hull you can do in your garage means nothing compared to having unlimited funds to reprogram ecm's and rebuild engines with a short life span.
And, as we've certainly found out, the tech rules need to be simple enough that the boats get teched who place in the top three at every race. If they are too complex, you have those who know they won't get teched only getting caught cheating by accident when making a tactical error.
I firmly believe a sealed engine program only makes it easy for the serious cheaters to avoid detection because they know they will not get teched if they have duplicated the seals. And, as we know in today's world, duplicating the seals with rapid prototype technology is only a couple days work if you have the funds available to you.
That is why I think Whistler compression units and P&G cubic inch measurement units should be used vs sealed engines. That, combined with the maximum rpm measured while racing, weight minimum, width min/max, height minx, prop diameter max, water pickup in drive, and possibly drive height will make it so that it will almost be impossible to cheat.
No ballast tanks is also to eliminate cronic cheaters. In P1 they have no water pickups allowed other than engine cooling, and it must be external to the engine on entry and exit.
I would also always leave the clause of some kind about parity. My best thought is it should be RPM's so that other boat builders and engine builders can participate.
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Yesterday, 08:41 PM
Paul with all due respect ,,you guys are talking like the whole class has cancer..WE HAD ZERO ISSUES BEFORE FOUNTAIN ,,PERIOD,,, now if you know something i don,t ( i,m sure you do) this class policed it self,,,we all always had an open boat policy ( started by willie ross) and if we wanted something checked ,we simply asked the owner would he mind showing his hand,,these guys and girls are first class people and want to race next to eachother,, i can give you the answer to speed ,,test ,,test ,,test ,,and this is what you move untill you hit the mark ,,weight placement,,, x - dim ,,, props (a lot) = speed ,, pick a set up ,go run it ,,bring a 5 gal bucket,,after you run ,put 1 bucket of water in the bilge ( 30# ) if you go alittle faster ,,add another bucket ( 60 ) ect...test and kiss = speed ,,, good luck to all ,,