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I just started racing this year with a 15 inch Hotrod in B runabout. I was just wondering what the member base's thoughts were on possible height changes. To be quite honest, I love the Sidewinders, but it will probably be a couple years before I can make that commitment. I was wondering if it would be worth spending money to keep up with the Hotrods or if I should just set my sight on a Sidewinder in the next few years. Once again, I don't want to step on any toes, just interested to see where the interest is.
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I feel we should raise the height, not saying Hot Rods should dominate. But they surely should have a chance. -
If you are running on a budget, keep in mind that the Sidewinder 20 powerhead is $3300. That may ease the pain a bit. I know one person running their motor this way in hydro and is running at or near the front at any given race. The Sidewinder powerhead bolts right onto the Hotrod tower. Selling the Hotrod powerhead can offset this expense a little bit.Comment
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That is interesting, I never thought of that as a possibility. I could possibly piece it all together little by little. Thank you.Comment
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Are the Hotrod gearcases legal with the Sidewinder powerhead installed in BSR and BSH. I am not sure how the rule is currently written.Comment
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I was wondering when someone was going to bring this up. I haven't found any language on this but I haven't gone looking too deep for it either. It must be approved in CBF because Ross Webster has been running his outfit in this configuration from what I understand. He has also run it in APBA Region 2 races also, in 25ssh. There is no speed advantage with running the Hodrod lower unit. In fact, it may not handle as well in the corners as the Sidewinder gearcase (different external profile from the original Hotrod gearcase, all the internals are the same). The speeds are identical. Rob Dixon was hitting 67.4 mph in testing and Ross was hitting the identical speed also. In Canada we run BSH at 1/2" below the bottom at 400 lbs. This accounts for the speeds we are hitting. Guys want to go faster and it allows for heavier drivers to compete in the class. Now there was an outfit on Boat Racing Garage Facebook about 3 weeks ago for $1500. When you do the math, if you went with the Sidewinder powerhead option you were basically getting the boat and hotrod engine for free when compared to purchasing a new Sidewinder. It is all about giving budget conscious people another option. Now the big differences with this configuration is that you don't have the integrated kickout and possibly an inferior handling gearcase. On the race course, these differences haven't shown themselves. Perhaps someone from the APBA SORC can weigh in on current rules. If there are no provisions for this configuration, then SORC should look at it.Comment
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The correct way to fix this to raise the weights of the 20ci side winder to a correct ("Real B") weight of 390 in runabout and 380 in hydro. Run it for a year and see what happens speed wise.
If 15ci H-R still not competitive, Then play with heights or Bring back the 15ssr H-R class for the runabout guys and every one is happy.
53wComment
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I agree with 53-W.. What is fair about a newly designed 20 c.i. engine running against the 15 c.i. Hot Rods??
I have received my plans and patterns to build a new Sorensen runabout. More that likely my engine choice
will be the 15 c.i. Hot Rod,, whether that be right or wrong. Why I am doing this at 64 years old,, I do not have a clue..
Bringing back the 20 c.i. "B" class can't be that bad.. I think that most of the runabout drivers in Wisconsin would agree with me.
At least I hope so... Darrel L.,,,,, Copper J.,,,, Chuck Z.. and the rest of the W-runabout drivers,, please don't leave me hangin'.
Remember the days when it was called fifteeeeen..???
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Common sense would dictate that 15 ci engines run together and 20 ci engines run together. You would think that the 15 ci Hotrod would have moved over to A now that the Sidewinder 15 is becoming engine of choice. The thing is the 15 classes have been eliminated and the 15 Rod is stuck in no mans land. Here's what I saw this past summer, all Sidewinder 20's in BSR and BSH at the Michigan races, no Hotrods at all and none of the Sidewinder 20's participated in 20SSH. In Ontario, the Hotrod has been relegated to classic status, and there was one participant this year. I remember hearing that it use to take two Hotrods to keep one going. Participants dried up when the engine went out of production. Now that we have new production motors these engines have to be the engines of choice in the respective classes they run. The manufacturer has made a huge investment and stock outboard racing's survival may to a degree depend on it as well.Comment
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deeougee: Back in the 60's,I too heard you needed 2 Hot Rods and a box . One to run and one in a box back to the factory to be fixed.Comment
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LOL!!! That's terrible,,, but funny.. But those were probably the blue Champions..
The RH Little American Hot Rod was a much better engine..
I didn't start running the Hot Rod until 1989 and they were most reliable.
But I didn't shave the head,,, run it too lean or monkey with the metering rod and the timing.
Probably why I got the nick-name US-12!!!
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