Your 1 litre scene seem to have suffered a little from 'too many directions but which one to take'. Fortunately we have all agreed to stick to the formula, keep it stock or move to a bigger class. I think that everyone is aware that we aren't racing for sheep stations so lets not get silly about it. If everyone has the same basic engine, the racing is close and the winner is determined by only the driver/boat combination. To take this one step further, if we had the resourses and the money, we would make 10 boats all identical and sell them. The engine would all produce similar output and then only the driver skill would be left to chance. Ahhh well one day when I win Tattslotto.

On the subject of the photo of the engine. This particular unit was set up with a dry sump pump ( which is allowed in the rules as it does not directly alter or enhance the configuration of the engine ). This enabled me to get the engine lower into the boat. If I didn't mention it before, the Twin cam engine came out in 3 configurations of which only two are permitted. THere was an 86 kW and 100kW engine with 16 valves and another version of about 120 kW with 20 valves. Because of the cost of the 20 valve engine it was decided not to allow this version. Now you might think that everyone would be running the 100kW engine but this is not the case. We have found that the 100 kW engine was built with smaller inlet ports which in the car gave the engine more low down torque. This engine did not rev quite as high as the 86 kW engine. Because we all run in the upper rev range many have opted for the 86kW engine. Some are experimenting with running 100kW with a gear box, though we are not sure weather the losses incurred are worth the effort yet.

Some of your readers may ask why we dont run fuel injection. The answer is that we have found too many hurdles with the extra electronics. No one could get the damn electrons to behave and on race day reliability and dependability remain with the carbies. It is for this reason that many still run breaker point distributors as well. I know I did and never had a problem.

From what I gather all your racing starts on a clock countdown. I personally like this idea however I think more for historical reasons we have remained with a start boat system. When the start is 1 minute away a white flag is raised in the control tower to notify the drivers and crew. At the end of this time a start boat, generally a quick displacement, raises a white flag to indicate the race is under starters orders. The start boat proceeds from a posistion from where all the drivers can see him to conduct a wide lap of the circuit. Sometimes boats will start up and "mill" on the course while others will wait at the bank. The boats must form a line from the rear of the transom of the start boat and only when the starter is happy with the line will the flag be dropped. Depending on whether the race is a championship or just a scratch race, the flag will be dropped in the front or back straight . A scratch race is 3 laps and a championship is 4 laps.

If you have any quierries about engines etc I would be happy to answer them if I can.

Finally, I dont seem to be having any luck on the prop hunt but have got onto Craig Dewal who I think might be able to make me something to do the job. However I would still appriceiate any offers that might transpire.

Look after yourself

Tony Murphy

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If you should care to contact Tony, his e-mail address is ajmurph@hotmail.com.
I will also post his request on the for sale/ wanted page.

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