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Saw the sidewinder engines make there debut this past weekend up north at Waterford, Ontario. Of particular interest was the 20 sidewinder. There were 4 or 5? of them and I came away quite impressed. At 400lbs and 1/2" under the bottom Rob Dixon hit 65.0 mph on gps in competition. The motor is being used as it came out of the box. In testing both He and Ross Webster both got 67.4 mph. Rob was using a 20h wheel that was tall in pitch for the 3/4 mile course. Rob said the boat was a dream to drive, could do it with 2 fingers. To me the sidewinder looks like the future, I took a really good look at the motor this time. Again in speaking with Rob, the motor is yamato quality, done right and built to last and it really does look the part and passed the sniff test. Rob and someone else who I don't know swapped heat wins.
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Was that a 20 cu. in. sidewinder running against the 15 cu. in. Hot Rod in B stock? -
Impressive. Can I rent your motor for Moses Lake??Comment
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Can I have your prop? I'll take good care of it!Comment
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Have you noticed, by our names, all boat racers look alike!Comment
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The 20 sidewinders were running against themselves and 1 25 SSH. The sidewinders are also grouped with the 25's for the time being until the sidewinder numbers are up, it gives everyone an extra run at the clock. As it stands right now, it looks like there are enough 20 sidewinders to support themselves if everyone shows up in Ontario and this constitutes BSH moving forward, 20 Hotrods are also included. Everyone is really close in speed. From my observations, a smaller boat may perform better in competition. Ross Webster's boat performed well in testing, however in competition it was a different story. The boat really struggled to hold a line in the turns, especially when running behind other boats and didn't appear to accelerate out of the turns very fast. Rob's boat is 9'10" long and Ross's is 10'4" or 6" can't remember (it is his carbon fiber 20 boat). Still Ross's boat is very light and everyone was scratching their head on why the boat performed so badly in competition. The other competitors were using Dixon Craft or Hemp's and they were around 10' and they were clawing at Rob's transom. The 25 was no competition for the sidewinder 20, mind you it was not a top flight 25 boat. That was the only 25 at the race which asks the question are 25's done as a class on their own. Now in A Hydro Rob also beat a respectable field of evinrudes and johnsons with his A Sidewinder. He said that his A Sidewinder was slower in top end than his A Evinrude but the A Sidewinder accelerated through the turns quicker, and that was obvious on the course in competition. His boat cornered like it was on rails. They also ran 15SSH which had sidewinders and I think 2 hotrods. I can't remember because my focus was really on the 20 Sidewinders. A lot of the Sidewinder speed and handling has to be attributed to the gearfoot shaping. Its a lot safer for everyone because the boats are really under control. Mike the motor was box stock, literally taken out of the box and put on the boat. Rob and Ross have been at this game for a long time now building engines and boats and helping grow the sport. My perspective on it is this, I want yamato quality and price in a more drivable package. Ok, I see 2 out of 3. The price is not going to deter me. I understand price plays a part in everyone's participation level. It took a lot of effort and money to get the Sidewinder to this point so I understand the economics of it. The product is there, it's just about sharing information with everyone so they can move their program along quicker and get up to speed, no pun intended. Just what's working with these motors and what's not.Comment
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hey guys
as you remember back in the winter we had put up a proposal to allocate the sidewinders in Canada! this is the first step all that was said at the first thread is correct there was only 20 sidewinders we have no 15 rods up here that race !!!!! there was a 25 hydro thrown in for good measure. the speeds are correct from the statement the new class is getting a lot of attention which is good and hopfully will grow. I also run the "A" sidewinder over the weekend against a couple of really fast omc's and looked like the sidewinder still has a little on the omc Wesley Hammond beat me one heat with his which is fast !!! so maybe with the current raised height the omc will be more competitive we will see once I get more testing I will revisit the original post from the winter.
on a side note running the apba rule for 25hydro at one inch below the bottom the 20 winder has no chance !!!!!! take the height restriction off and maybe with the average 25 not the joey rocket!
Rob Dixon 5ceComment
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That's some fast water up there in Canada!!...............do you guys run the Sidewinder 20ci in 20ssh at one inch below the bottom as the current APBA rule mandates or are you running under different rules in Canada????
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I think he said it was 1/2" from the bottom of the boat Matt.Comment
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hey matt
we are not running them in 20 hydro we are trying to leave the yamato's to them selves I have no desire to run the motor restricted or against the 20ssh
this is a effort to make the class 20 sidewinder on its own with the 20 hor rod for now this will become a great class and not piss off to many people.
the choice is there's 20 sidewinder or yamato let the chips fall were they may. I wanted to run the motors the way they were made with only a height restriction
400lbs for the heaver guys to be able to run as well.so far it looks like it will work!!!! as far as the "A" we are running the apba rules even with the raised height of the omc the winder is still faster around the course and we have some fast omc's here as you well know! there is still more testing to do as our spring was slow coming and not much testing time. my only hope is that the sorc has a look at what we are doing and find some merit in it to consider what we are doing maybe it might work south of the border as well in some capacity who knows?
Rob Dixon 5ceComment
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Nice way to do this Rob - I like that they are separated as to not stomp on a limited amount of racers which we all have.
Question though - I'm trying to make sense of the results listed at: http://www.torc.ca/2014-results.html ....
So are the 20SSH that is listed on the TORC website Yamato only?
And the BSH class considered the Sidewinder unrestricted 20 ci class?
Sounds like you guys have thawed out from the winter, hope all is well,
Elek -
That is correct Elek. At Waterford, 20SSH was Yamato only, BSH was SW20 only (combined with 25SSH but scored separate) and BCH was Merc 20H & 20HR.Last edited by Andrew 4CE; 06-11-2014, 07:05 AM. -
Also of note to people reading those results, in Canada we award:
3 points for DNF
2 points for a DQ
1 point for DNS
This way it is easy to see who attended the race and everyone gets something for showing up at a race. Computers and spreadsheets don't like zeros too. Often those little points do come into play at the end of a year.
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Guess Rob i am still confused ...................so you guys are running the 20ci Sidewinder in like a 'local class' with the ole Hot Rod 20ci engines from the day??
It appears from a previous post that you are running the Sidewinder 20ci at 1/2" below the bottom of the boat at a weight of 400 pounds with no restrictor plate. Is that right?Last edited by Matt Dagostino; 06-10-2014, 12:36 PM.
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Racing as a CBF class (so yeah, basically a local class... CBF is a small group)... not sure on the setup rules as I'm not in it. I don't think there was a 20 HR in that class at this race, but is legal... We had a 20 HR in B Classic Hydro I believe with the Merc 20H's. Same owner has a 20SW and 20HR. I believe there was four 20SW and one 20HR at the event. One 15SW there too. Should be another 15SW at next race June 21-22.
We had 82 entries at the event.
Results listed at www.torc.ca
Last edited by Andrew 4CE; 06-10-2014, 12:41 PM.Fralick Racing
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Matt,
We are running the 20 Winders at 1/2" below and 400 pounds. This is what the APBA ruling is for running them in 25SSH. As Rob said it allows bigger drivers to also participate in the class, which is helping us gain interest.
I am the only person in the circuit with a 20 Hot Rod and did not run it in the class since I was running the Sidewinder. I am thinking of letting someone drive it at our next event, Gravenhurst, since I won't be running it at all (not allowing them in BCH that weekend). That will help us see where everything is at, I would think. I also have 15 HRs but I don't see a point in trying them in the class at this point...
This weekend I was swapping heats with Rob in our BSH class and we seemed to have our motors running pretty close (he had a little top end on me but I need to do a little more testing). With a bit of testing the other guy, Wes Hammond, will have his up where ours are too. As Rob said the spring was slow coming so testing was a little tough for all of us. I think the Sidewinders are the way of the future for stock outboard and just require a bit of testing. I'm loving the motor and looking forward to the progression of our 'local' class.
Will Hunter 10CEComment
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Will, would a 52 yr old fart @ 190lb be too heavy for your 20HR?...how far over would I be?Stock Outboard Racing!....because other sports,....golf, football, baseball, etc....only require one Ball!Comment
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