Unlimited Boats to go back to pistons?

[speeddemon]

Re: Unlimited Boats to go back to pistons?

What kind of power do those turbines put out in race trim?

About 2700 hp...from an engine half the size and weight of a Merlin. Ask Ryan Leeward what his reaction was when he saw the turbine in the boat. It amounted to "that's IT???"

But its not a matter of total cubic inches. Its a matter of torque, rpm bands, and durability. The propeller is constantly coming in and out of the water, loading and unloading the gearbox/prop...and it is MUCH harder on a piston engine than a turbine. You could probably get two or three big block automotive engines geared together to give you a comparable horsepower rating...but they would be operating at the screaming limit, while the turbines are humming along all day at 100% of their design output (which is nothing more than an arbitrary number that Lycoming assigned for reliability between engine overhauls). Its like a Mouse Merlin operating at 140 inches on the verge of hand grenading, and say the 3350 from Sept Fury 'loafing' and putting out the same power at 90 inches.

[blacksheep]

Re: Unlimited Boats to go back to pistons?

The old Pay n Pack boat tried a twin v-8 setup ( two 426 hemis I think) but switched to a turbine ( one of the early ones ) this was back in the sixtys.

[Randy Haskin]

Re: Unlimited Boats to go back to pistons?

The old Pay n Pack boat tried a twin v-8 setup ( two 426 hemis I think) but switched to a turbine ( one of the early ones ) this was back in the sixtys.

The walking encyclopedia of hydroplane racing (tm) should be along any minute with a detailed explanation.

[speeddemon]

Re: Unlimited Boats to go back to pistons?

The walking encyclopedia of hydroplane racing (tm) should be along any minute with a detailed explanation.

Did somebody call?

Yup, the Pak tried that in 1970 with none other than The Doctor as crew chief. And it failed miserably. The following year, they re-engined the hull with a Merlin and it won three races and set numerous records. In fact, since the 'modern era' of boat racing started after WWII, there have been a dozen or so attempts to run automotive power in the Unlimiteds. The ONLY successful boat was the Chrysler Crew, which ran twin Hemi's and had factory support from Chrysler. It won the World Championship race in 1967--but truth be told, that was more a result of the size of the cajones of driver Bill Sterett on a wildly rough Detroit river, than because of the engines. Billy Schumacher, who had won everything in sight that season with the Miss Bardahl said that in one turn he saw the entire underside of the Crew because he bounced so high...and decided if Sterett wanted it that bad, he could have it.

Other than that one race, automotive engines have never been anything more than backmarkers in the field. The last serious attempt was back in the early '90's.