I laughed like heck at first, but then I thought..what if...

[Ram4x4]

I'm sure some have probably seen this before, but I watched some videos on this today. I was shaking me head and laughing at first, but as I watched more of them I realized that if you took out the foreign language, it almost looked like Anywhere, USA at a weekend boat race....and as I kept watching, I began to wonder...what if...what if we had an APBA category for this...poor man's drag boat racing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0pM0N6rMRI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKzyLIonf0c

[Stu Ford]

Video would not play for me but I have seen a few of these. I recently saw one that was a turbo diesel, the guy had like 5 people in it and it hauled a**

[hoosier]

Besides not having any helmets, lifejackets &cut suits , did anyone notice that they didnt have the required TPBA stickers on their boats ?

[Fastjack]

All the decals got bent in half-no one wanted to put them on !!

[john527]

they can not wear gopros on there heads....too dangerous!

[Ram4x4]

Yeah, they definitely don't pay much attention to the safety side of things, but seriously, some kevlars, helmet, kill switches...would you drive one in a race? I'd give it a try, it looks like it'd be fun. I could see a couple classes of this in APBA :-)

I did see the one with the diesel engine too. Man, that's gotta be 1200+lbs sitting on the back of that boat.

[ZUL8TR]

wow! 200 kph (120 mph) on a palm seed pod. Note some of those hulls have steps.

[Ram4x4]

I know, right? Crazy fast. I wonder how many would be interested in something like this?

[Mike45]

This is pretty cool but I think if it came to the USA all the fun and excitement would be lost due to regs and insurances. They would all have to be wildcats. by the time all the money changed hands it would not be "poor mans" racing anymore.

[Ram4x4]

I'd think the insurance wouldn't be any more than what's paid for a race now? Would the insurance rates change by running these at a weekend event along with the "regular" hydros and runabouts? Regs...kevlars, helmet, kill switch, pretty much what we have now. It's a straight run, two boats only. It's not like 12 boats beating on each other in turns, etc. Just need a starting bouy and a platform or boat anchored at the start. Use the same finish line as for the other racing as they have photographic means to determine winner.

Certainly would have to research motors, etc and decide on a couple classes, but I really think the biggest hurdle would be drumming up interest and getting APBA to create the category/classes.

People might get more interested in coming to watch too. More seat time, another boat to drive...etc, etc. And it certainly wouldn't take all that long to run the class. It could fit right in on a weekend race event.

I'd think it wouldn't cost anymore than fielding a hydro or runabout does now. Due to the smaller, less complicated hull and running hardware, it might even be a little cheaper to build one. You know people now are dropping $3200+ on sealed motors for 300SSH class, or adding a second or third boat to their trailer as it is. It would be absorbed right into teams wanting to run one.

[1100-one]

I belong to a fishing site and one of our members posted videos of these racing. He used to race them as well before moving to the States.

[Smitty]

The klong (canal) boats have been operating in Bangkok for at least 60 years, maybe the first outdrives. They used little runout car engines on gimbals, inline fours and sixes out of English, French, or Japanese cars, moving goods or passsengers incl. lots of tourists. Looking at that prop-on-a-stick, I just hoped all those boat operators were on good terms with each other . . . .