Timing Laps

[johnsonm50]

The HP vs RPM read got me thinkin in another direction, getting around the course consistently. Being new & still chasing the pack, I exit a turn, look 1st for the next bouy & the clearest track of water to its proximity. [I hope to add traffic to that someday] Then on approach to the next turn I draw the boat in at speed dareing myself to hold throttle thru-out & hope to get the even smooth sweep I see other drivers achieve.
What happens is as I approach the last pin I tend to need to finish that turn asap. I had to turn 'right' to swing around a dock I overshot at Millville's turn 2. Maybe Im being 'chicken' to set the turn up enough early.. Ruff water is a factor, backing off the hammers sure not working! Anyway.. I think stop-watch laps would be interesting & would vari alot. At the end of the day Im thinkin how it turns out for ya is it.

[sam]

I've used a stopwatch and found some surprising things ... speed generally increases (lap time goes down) as the race goes on, for the leaders and stragglers. Often the boats that seem to be straggling at the back, turn in a faster lap at the end of the race than the leaders did at the beginning ... just that the leaders are now that much faster.

This may be primarily due to boats getting stretched out and everyone is in cleaner water.

Variation was less than I expected.

Radar was a surprise though ... later when people got data loggers, the recorded data told the same thing I had observed with the radar gun.

[Blackhawkguy]

Make a big circle

As far as getting around a course consistantly, always try and make the bigest circle you can out of the coarse, by coming in wide to a turn you are able to drive in deeper before you have to let off and you also make the apex of the corner bigger or less sharp of a turn, let the boat drift out as long as you have no overlap of the boat behind you, it will not blead off speed when let the boat stay loose, always think of turning as binding up the boat, or slowing it down, use bouys or something as a reference point if you have to crack the throttle to turn, remember usually the faster you go over rough water the smoother it gets.

Kerry

[B Walker]

The most efficient turn in our form of racing is in the shape of a parabola, not a half circle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parabola

At the apex of the parabola your RPM should be just below the max HP point on the torque curve.

There are basically two different kinds of turn thories in Stock Outboard.

The Sweep: One large smooth constant turn. Best on large courses and with setups tuned for top end speed. Keeps the RPM up.

Float it in, float it out: As you turn, you slowly and smoothly gradually turn harder past the half way point of the turn, then slowly straighten out. Entry into the turn is often in lane 3 or 4. Same with the exit. Ideally, you will be in lane 1 between the 1/2 way point and the 3/4 point of the turn. Good for med and tight turns.

Then there is pin to pin, but hardly anyone does that anymore, at least, not intentionally. (joke)

BW

[johnsonm50]

Thanks, I think part of it is learning just how far the boat can be pushed, alot farther than one would think after a few rides. Sharpening the turn up at mid pin makes sense cause doing it late puts ya in the ruff struggling to crank it around. The straighter the better when the holes are deep. Cant wait to go out & practice.

[modracer7b]

I always found that there were many ways to drive a course. Sometimes how I would drive a heat was related to the day's competition and how they would try to drive the course. Additionally, wind, water, course size and layout and the particular equipment I was driving would dictate my plan for any given heat. If you drive the same lap all the time, you become very beatable.

Bill Rosado

[Dave M]

Good Advice Right There

given heat. If you drive the same lap all the time, you become very beatable.

Bill Rosado

Learn to adapt. Lots of textbook definitions being tossed around here lately. I would be willing to bet not one of the so called tough guys to beat ever read a book on how to drive around the corner of a race course.

Each course is different, each situation might require a different reaction. Don't become complacent and think there is only one way to be fast around the race course. You will get beat. What you need to learn is your own rigs limitations. And sadly, you will dump it before you learn that. But it will teach you more than any book ever could or any one person could teach you if you don't freak out about it and learn from it.

[B Walker]

I always found that there were many ways to drive a course. Sometimes how I would drive a heat was related to the day's competition and how they would try to drive the course. Additionally, wind, water, course size and layout and the particular equipment I was driving would dictate my plan for any given heat. If you drive the same lap all the time, you become very beatable.

Very well said, there is the syllabus and course description for the advanced driving course right there.

Read a book on how to drive? What ya really need is a full motion similator:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ORjq...eature=related

BW

[ZUL8TR]

Here is an example of lap work. Hold on!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...3336824248734#

Give the video about 50 seconds till it really eats up the straight part of the course.