Huntsville is hosting an IMPBA Speed Trial October 6th thru 8th 2017

[bzubee]

Huntsville is hosting the Fall Records Trial IMPBA sanctioned. October 6th thru 8th, see attached flyer for details.

153062

[bzubee]

Any FE speedsters coming to Huntsville for our October Speed trials?

[donhuff]

Well, I tried all day this past friday and saturday at Huntsville, to get my Q mono 1/3 mile oval record back from Terry Davis. But blasted ESC troubles wouldn't let me get anywhere close to his number.

My brand new MGMs, raced one time then set back to the Czech republic for repairs, and finally got back after 3 friggen months waiting, would not go but 2 and a half laps before throttling back and over heating. Then after getting the hull setup about right, and motor/kv/prop close, I prop up a little and the thing wont go full throttle without shutting off.

But on a good note. Brad Schafer and I (mostly Brad) did manage to get the P mono and S mono SAW records. We made a motor swap a battery change and were using the same prop and RPM and were planing to get the Q saw too. It was practically a sure thing because the setup was exactly like the S setup, except for the voltage. But when Brads turn came around, he wasn't quite ready, and hastily finished it up. In his haste, he missed putting one zip tie on a waterline, so the first pass filled the boat with water and finishing things up for the weekend.
But most importantly, the ORCA hull goes into the record book a couple more times Woo Hoo!

[T.S.Davis]

I left some time on the table Don. I was killing it on pins 1,2,3 but couldn't hit pin 4,5,6 to save my life. Not sure if it was the position of the drivers stand, the wind, or just me. Could not get it right coming in the right end. There's a 1/4 second or more right there alone.

I've got some ideas to get that Q mono record up around 85. Waiting on a new motor that isn't actually on the market yet. haha Have to wait till spring.

I feel yer pain on the MGM's. That's long time to wait to have them still not work. I have one like that too. Ran 100' at a time and would dump. Sent it. Warrantied. $115 shipping or so. They bench tested and said it was fine. Got it back just in time for the CanAm. Ran it's 100' and quit. Makes me think maybe the bench isn't the place to verify function. What do I know though.

That said, I have one that's absolutely bullet proof. I've heated up the setup enough to heave solder out of the connectors. Like sprayed it out. Still works fine. I don't know.

[donhuff]

Yeah, we are thinking that the Q saw record should be up around 85 also. And it seems doable and not totally "out of reason".

On Brads record pass with the P, the right to left upwind pass was 2.70XX, which put it at 83.3 MPH. Then his return pass was ugly, awful, terrible, with radio range problems at the lead in, and getting full throttle just about time he hit the first light. Then half way through it decided to take flight cause that side of the pond was getting rough from the hurricane winds! It made three 30 foot hops and finally got settled just before crossing the exit lights. I figured there was no way that pass could be anywhere close, but the average just barely made the record. A good return would have put made it at least an 83 but with the help of the wind, it probably would have been real close to 85.

A "new" motor for Q??? sounds interesting. But you know horse power is usually way down the list of "importance", when it comes to a record setting run.

Could you tell if they actually did a "bench run" on your MGM controller? When going over the data on the one I used at Huntsville #1, and the other one that went back for repairs with it, but did NOT get used at Huntsville #2. I can see that the last recorded data on #2 looks like a run at a race with the typical highs and lows of going around the buoys for 4 laps then it hits the thermal limit and shuts down. So I do not think that they were ever tested by actually trying them, or maybe they have some way of testing that does not leave data----(BS).

I have three of the same units and to begin with two of them worked fine. Then in June when I came up to the Cup race, two of them were acting screwy, and the third one still has not missed a beat.

[T.S.Davis]

I had three. One I broke. That's on me. That's a 330 amp setup on a 280 amp speedo. Died a fiery death. They offered me a reduced price for a replacement. Reasonable but still about 50% more than a Castle.

One of them is as I described. Good for a 100 feet. Then nothing.

The last of my 280's is running fine. It does however run about 40 degrees hotter on the motor wires than the same setup does with a water cooled Mamba XLX. Had to go to 10mm connectors on the motor side to keep it from melting.

I can't get data off the controller because I'm no longer able to communicate with the unit via the data link. Tried others. Still nothing. The ESC has 75 some odd adjustments you can make but I can't get to them so they're useless. I just plug it in and cross my fingers. I'm not sure why any of these manufacturers use a USB connection to a laptop. These things aren't exactly running NASA grade software. Access by blue tooth to an Android or Iphone shouldn't be that nuts. It's 2017, can we get with the times?