Cool stuff from Japan

[jeff55v]

So has anyone actually seen any of these races in person and can explain the whole starting procedure. Like, what's the first mad dash all about..........poll / start position ? Are all the boats set up the same I.E. prop, weight, angles? Are the drivers compensated

I think Darrel Sorenson has seen these type of races in person.
The way I understand it: The boats are held to the starting dock with a mechanism attached to that loop on the back of the steering bar. The drivers start their motors and hold the throttle wide open. When a countdown clock reaches zero, The mechanisms release all 6 boats at exactly the same time. The boats then race onto the course to determine lane position. Then the actual race is begun with a starting clock much like what we use to start our races.
The boats and motors are issued to the driver by a random drawing. It is up to the driver to set up the rig any way he or she chooses. I think each driver owns their own props. But I'm not real sure about that one.
Below are some behind the scenes pictures. The last one is a picture of the random drawing tumbler they use. One drawing for the boat and another separate drawing for the motor. I also included a link to a Youtube vid of a racer setting up her boat.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=FwIzKs5OsCI

[Islandmon]

Gotcha! That start sequence makes sense now. So who can translate that video clip, sounds pretty technical to me .

[HRTV]

I will say it again, no matter what folks think this is still pretty cool gambling or not.


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[CSR4C]

I went to the Yamato factory & races with Ric Montoya in 1996.
The start is like our clock start, but a little different.
1. The boats are lined up at the dock with motors running & hooked to the steering bar.
2. At the 3 minute gun (approx. time, not sure if it is 3 min) The boats are released & race to a milling area where they mill off plane. The throttles are set so they will idle, the driver retards the timing on the mag. Now they are doing the "bumper boat" thing to get the lane they want.
3. When the clock gets down to 15 sec., it speeds up and does another loop & 1/4 in the last 15 sec.
4. The driver must not jump or be more than 1 sec. late at the start or all money bet on him is refunded. (also could loose his job).
5. The rest is like our racing with out overlap rules.

There are 12 races per day. You must pick the 1st & 2nd place finisher in a race to win.
We were at the 3rd day of a 3 day meet with the same group of drivers. The next day was an off day as the factory was going to test a prototype motor.
The setup is real deep, cavation plate almost to the bottom of the boat. Speed low 50s. The drivers weight 55k or about 120#.
I own 2 of the boats, they don't work well with a 200+# driver.

Darrell

[HRTV]

Hey Darell the weight thing sounds about right, not to sterotype but most young Asain men and women are very slim compared to the fat over weight obsei Americans who live high off the hog my comment is not directed towards any particular driver but its just a fact that Americans are over weight and obsei compared to many other countrys around the world.

I could stand to losse a few pounds myself

[CSR4C]

On the draw for the boats & motors.
We saw the motors being inspected when they were finished with them on the 3rd day of the meet. It was much like an inspection at or divisional races. Also the reed were checked to see if there was too much "pre-load". The whole inspection process took about 5 min. Then the motor was put in a locker disasembled. The next driver to draw that motor would assemble it himself.

[Jeff Akers]

The The next driver to draw that motor would assemble it himself.

That's cool....I like that rule


BTW: nice disclaimer Dan

[Cameraboy]

[QUOTE=Admin;75310] I will say it again, no matter what folks think this is still pretty cool gambling or not. [QUOTE]

Very cool. Any boat racing from here on Youtube? Inexpensive potential marketing gimmick.

[CSR4C]

I have links on the main page of www.boatracingr11.com of some of some of the suff I found on utube.

[jeff55v]

More YouTube...

I think this may actually be from New Zealand. But it has a Kyotei boat and motor in it. Looks pretty awesome to me!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=D2IqeWir3xI

Enjoy!

PS. I wonder if the guy ran out of gas by the time he got to the other side of that lake!

Here is a translation of the video discription given by the YouTube poster: "It is CM of famous Amagasaki regatta.To tell the truth, version before this it is to search many years, but the person whom it has in labor assistant cannot do up, probably will be? It is something of the image where the boat runs the river of Osaka city.Whether already it is not."