Sixteen New FE Records Set At L.A. SAWS

[FighterCat57]

Well done Gents!

Special Congrats Boyd! I know he had some trials and tribulations to overcome.

[FighterCat57]

Thanks for the write up Tony.

I just took a quick look at the data off the Schulze from the S mono record run:

For my 8S2P set-up I was pulling 420-470A through the lights with a battery voltage pulling down to 27.5V with RPM just over 24k. A quick calc shows 450Ax27.5V=12, 375W! or 16.6hp. Drive shaft torture to the fullest.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]62400[/ATTACH]

Tyler

Hats off to copper PCB's for being able to dissipate that much heat. It's easy to design a FET package to pull that kind of current, but how the hell to dissipate ~1600 watts of heat on the PCB under load is boggling. Doesn't look like the temp sensor picked up much over 55C. Where is the temp sensor located? This is an issue I'm working to overcome, heat dissipation under load. We can pull 680 amps, but the heat generated will reach 900 degrees in seconds.

That is fantastic performance from an ESC.

[properchopper]

SAW Vids

I'm having some trouble extracting the vids from my camera, but here's some :


Boyd's twin motor Cat (incorrectly identified in the vid as a hydro-it was early). Brief intro cameo by Wilmer. Boyd now inducted into the "I Hit The Shoreline" Club (minor fixable damage)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p0HktHRqPY

Tyler's big Mono :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QCDRwweq1w

A few random pictures :

Tyler in the pits

DSC02632.JPG

"Hollywood" Bill

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FE Royalty

DSC02633.JPG

[JackBlack26]

Thanks. Unfortunately my financial situation doesn't allow me to come play in the water right now. That should change soon() and you can guarantee I'll be out there playing with you big boys

[RaceMechaniX]

Hats off to copper PCB's for being able to dissipate that much heat. It's easy to design a FET package to pull that kind of current, but how the hell to dissipate ~1600 watts of heat on the PCB under load is boggling. Doesn't look like the temp sensor picked up much over 55C. Where is the temp sensor located? This is an issue I'm working to overcome, heat dissipation under load. We can pull 680 amps, but the heat generated will reach 900 degrees in seconds.

That is fantastic performance from an ESC.

Ben,

Schulze has an internal temp sensor on the FET board as well as two additional temp inputs. One I use for motor temp. For the 40.300 series the FET board is seperate from the logic board and cooling is done by a large footprint chill plate and thermal grease on the bottom of the FET board. On the 40.300, all the FET's are on one side leaving the bare side for the chill plate.

IMG_6841.jpgIMG_6846.jpg

I did end up failling this 40.303wk when I switched from 8 cells to 10 cells with a smaller prop. I believe a single FET went out which triggers a safety mode and the esc will on longer arm. It's being sent back for repair today.

Tyler

[raptor347]

Wow!!!

OK, I've recovered from the 17 hour drive home yesterday.

Here's the opening news line for this event: "Boat race breaks out at BBQ"
reporter- "Sir, can you describe what happened here?"
Eye Witness- "Well, we all got invited to this BBQ at the lake and just happened to bring our SAW boats with us. Before you know it all kinds of different boats are flying up and down the lake. We didn't let the boating get in the way of the food though."

I've eaten a lot of good food at a lot of races around the country, but I've never been to an event where the food was so good you couldn't get anyone to put a boat on glass smooth water because they were busy eating. Kim, I bow before your superior cooking skills!!!

Now for the racing. Great weather and water conditions with the usual wind in the afternoons. Darin now understands what I mean by "Witching Hour" Sunday evening.

Wilmer and Darin beat the snot out of each other for three days with those little boats. Absolutely amazing to see what can be done with very limited power. I have the distinct impression that this friendly rivalry is going to continue for a while.

Jay shows up with one cat and starts making blistering passes one after another with 2-3 different power systems. Here's a man who does know how to herd kittens, down the course (Sorry Jay, I couldn't help myself).

Tyler had a rough weekend with equipment. 2 thrown blades, a couple bent stub shafts, destroyed strut bearings, one knotted up 1/4" cable, ESCs that just threw up their hands and said I've had enough, a piston and liner that just grew apart over time (sounds like a soap opera doesn't it). Through all that chaos I don't think he quit smiling all weekend. As Henry always says "Uncontrollable Horsepower".

Boyd, what can you say about a guy who shows up with not one but a pair of twin cats. 90+ and singing the twin song, it makes an impression. I'm looking forward to seeing 100+ in the spring.

Tony, I told you your boat would go that fast. The cool part is, other than the prop, you did all the tuning yourself. Way to go.

As for my part in this little affair, I had to change plans over the last few months. I've been busy with some non-boating related projects which meant I didn't have time to do the usual development prior to the SAWs. Instead, I decided to load the roof box with all my P-Limited heat race boats and go find what the limits are. The intent wasn't to max out the records, but to find what the limits are with the boats I run every weekend.

P-Limited OPC-
My TS-3 ran 50mph in full heat race trim. It got to 61mph with some tuning and a prop change. From the data, I think 66mph is possible.

P-Limited sport-
Took the trusty old red Dark Horse Picklefork out with larger than normal prop and made 2 passes for the 64.xx average and put it away for the weekend. There's 74mph in it with time and tuning.

P-limited Mono/Offshore-
The Delta Force 26 strikes again. This boat is absolutely ridiculous, I'd never have believed a boat this small could consistently go this fast and run dead stable. Put a limited system in it with a big prop and run in the mid 60's, put a high rev system and a small prop in it and run in the 70's. It's just a cool toy. I'd estimate 70mph is possible with the P-Limited system.

P-Limited Hydro-
Drop my Raptor in the water complete with turnfin and 1 mile heat race prop, 67mph through the traps. Take the turnfin off, 72mph. Remove mini rudder, put on a knife blade and mild SAW prop, 79mph. Put on a serious SAW prop, 84mph with a two way of 83.xx. Put the power system in a serious SAW hull and it should be possible to get into the 90's.

So by 10AM Saturday I was finished running my P-Limited setups.

Here's the best part: No equipment failures. None of the motors ever got above 125F with ambient temps in the 80's. Didn't need any of the spares I brought with me. Seriously cool way to start a SAWs event.

So now it's time to have some fun and get serious about making a couple boats go fast. I put the P system I ran in the spring back in the TS-3 and put a 1415 Castle/Nue in the P-limited rigger.

First, the P-OPC:
Last spring, the same setup made a one way of 74.xx and holds the record at 72.8mph. The only change has been going to the production GrimRacer packs. I made 4 runs down wind between 75 and 78 but never made a full pass back up wind. I think I can break 80mph with it eventually. The only other tunnel I've seen run like this is Jimmy Johnson's B mod boat back in 2007.

P-Hydro:
I didn't have any expectations of breaking the record, just wanted to see what the P-limited heat race boat could do with some fairly serious horsepower. Same prop that went 84mph with the P-limited motor went 99.5mph with the 1415 in it. Made 8 passes over 95mph with the little beast, the boat drove exactly the same as it did in the 60's. I never touched the setup other than the prop and motor all weekend. Didn't quite break the magic 100, but had an awful lot of fun trying.

Darin and I added it up for the two of us on the 1000 mile drive home.
Final tally: No burnt motors, no burnt ESC's, no broken boats, lots of broken records and three days with some of the best people you could hope to spend time with.

A special thanks to Mark Grim for years of help and friendship. This gets more entertaining every year.

[Darin Jordan]

It's hard to follow these wonderful reports, but I'll give it a shot...

First, Thank you Mark and Kim Grim for putting on another FANTASTIC event! You couldn't ask for better abassadors to the hobby! Mark runs a seemless event, and Kim, well... I'm STILL stuffed! Thank you both, so much!

The best part of the weekend was getting to hand out with the likes of the Grims, Brian, Jay Turner, Bill Oxidean, Tony Heller, and the rest of the gang! This hobby wouldn't be fun if it weren't for the people involved!

Amazing pass of the weekend has to be given to Boyd... That T-Offshore boat is AWESOME, and I'm glad I was able to help get your radio issues sorted so you could keep the boat available for making more passes!

Bill Oxidean... THANK YOU for the battle! I'm with Brian... I think we'll be sparring back and forth on this for some time to come. There is MORE in these little boats that I'm sure we'll find!

Tony Heller... I TOLD YOU you could go FAST!! 64+mph in P-Limited Offshore!! ONE good backup pass and you would be on the top of the record boards, my friend. Now you've tasted it... You'll be back.

Jay Turner... all I can say is WOW... Meticulous... Calculated... calm, cool, and collected. His boat looked beautiful, ran beautifully, and didn't disappoint. Thank you for the info and help on my Crackerbox setup, and for all the discussions.

To all the rest of you... it was great meeting you and hanging out. It's fun seeing the variety of people and approaches to these types of events. Makes for a full and rewarding event!

For those of you who haven't come to an event like this... WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!! THIS IS FUN!!

P-OPC... Brian is a MASTER of making a boat go fast! I don't know if anyone got any video of his P-OPC going 78mph... but we ALL saw it over and over again... and it was truely amazing... there is definitely 80+ in this setup with a few more tweaks. Those who might be doubting this... come on out... As an example... Just go ask Tony Heller what having Brian tinker on there boat is worth in speed! I think it tallied up to around 8-10mph!

P-Limited... The motors that came out of Brian's boats looked as good coming out as they did going in. Not even any discoloration on the stock heat-shrink. When you make a boat run efficiently, it doesn't build heat. End of story. Bolting on a prop won't do it. Tinkering with a prop will, once everything is setup correctly. As Brian indicated, there is more to be had in the basic hull types... as for P-Limited Hydro... It's going to take something special to make that one faster. Watch for B to make that happen next spring.

OK, as for my program... I was only tinkering with N1 and M2 power stuff...

On Friday, I put my 1/10th CrackerBox into the water and upped my existing record by 1mph... I have the boat tuned now to easily break 30, but decided not to focus my time on that hull. Bill's boat had electrical issues and wasn't able to challenge, so we'll do more battle there later.

I struggled ALL weekend with my N1 stuff... Bill had me covered all weekend clearly... 38mph in a little 18"-ish Venon Mono, vs. my 22" Wild Things... and 54 in his BBY Hydro!!! WOW!! I couldn't get over 36 in the mono and 43-ish in the Hydro... I literally was about ready to conceed N1 by Sunday... I sent a text to my contact at Thunder Power R/C, and immediately got a call back. Jim walked me through the ESC programming and gave me a much better understanding of what the programming settings on the Castle ESC do, and what to look for. After plugging in his settings, I put the boat back into the water just before lunch, with the wind picking up, and was able to pull off a 39.50, backed up with a 38.01, for a new record of 38.716, edging the record Bill had set earlier by .2! The water went away after that, so I didn't get any more runs until later in the day, but prospects looked good for 40! The temps after the record run had only gotten to 126! They had been 160+ all weekend! Heading in the right direction!

Using this same setup in the Hydro, I made a set of passes in the 48mph average range, and then swapped props and went out again for a 51+ pass. Time ran out on this one, however, so Bills AWESOME performance of 54.100 mph stands! AMAZING!!

In M2-Hydro, I used my N1 hydro SAW boat, and set an early record of 54mph, followed later in the weekend by a new record run of 59.968mph, having a first pass of 61.3mph! With Brian's help, I'm heading back to the drawing board on this one. Look for this class nearing 70 before it's done!

Witching hour... As the sun went down on Sunday night... the water totally calmed down... Several racers made final attempts at records, barely being able to even see their boats out on the water... Before the light totally faded, I grabbed my M2 Mono, tossed it into the water, and went for it. I had made some tab adjustments to keep the boat pinned down, put on a prop that I thought could get the job done, and made two passes of 42.21 and 40.13, for a new record of 41.119! The ESC was warm, but everything else was just barely over ambient... Look for 45+ out of this class in the future...

I think that about covers it. It was a great event, and I think that many who were there can attest that ALL are welcome! Bring out your stuff and find out how fast you can go! Better yet, LEARN what it takes to go even faster and go home and apply that to your heat racing programs!!

I didn't get to take many pictures at the event (to busy!!), but here is a shot of Boyd with his amzing Cats!!

Thanks again to Mark and Kim Grim for all their hard work, and for inviting me into their home and allowing me to share fully in this event!! Amazing people, who have RC boating running in their veins!!

[JackBlack26]

Awesome looking boats, Boyd! What manufacturer/models are they??

[thomaslambo]

Wow, I really appreciate all the accolades around my Cats.

At the risk of being a bit sappy I’d like to share a few thoughts about the experience I had over the three day event (from a “new comer” perspective).

I’ve competed in many different arenas over the years and the one thing that really stuck out for me about this experience was the camaraderie among the competitors and the willingness to share knowledge and wisdom that took years to gain, even at the risk of loosing your own record.

I’d list names and the help I received over the weekend but I’d probably leave someone out so I won’t do that.

However, there is one person I’d like to personally thank and give recognition to because without his help there’s no way I could have accomplished what I did this weekend.

That would be Mark Ferreira, a guy you all know and respect and who’s been my mentor for many months. I’m sure everyone noticed he was supporting me in the pits during the whole event. He’s taken years off my learning curve and I can’t say enough about how much help he’s given me as I developed and tested the Cats. Without question, Mark deserves as much credit for my results as I do.

Bottom line; I’m now totally addicted to this SAWS business and I can’t wait for the next event…..and you bet Brian 100 MPH+ here I come.

Thanks again to everyone for all the help and support…..and for making a new comer feel right at home.

[thomaslambo]

Awesome looking boats, Boyd! What manufacturer/models are they??

Boats:

Fighter Cat Racing 32

Hydro and Marine Maritimo 37

[MarkF]

Thanks boyd for the credit but you drove the boats and thats no easy task either. What a great event as usuall. Mark and Kim always do this event just awsome. It was so much fun to hang with everyone again and I look forward to getting some boats together of my own. I did run my Q mono for fun with one of Fightercats 300 amp 4 to 8s controllers in it for testing and the controller worked great. It never even got hot and worked perfectly. I look forward to the next saws event and the 2012 FE nats. Which by the way will be held at the same lake you see in the video.

Mark

[Chris Harris]

Boyd, welcome to the addiction!
That's a sweet running cat in tony's vid, congradulations. You've got a great help in Mark, he's got many years of experience with this stuff and is a good guy, as I'm sure you already know :)
Oh yeah, don't feel too bad about hitting that point, I've clobbered that thing a couple times myself as have many others. Think of as a "right of passage" LOL

Again awesome job everyone!!!

Chris

[AndyKunz]

OK, as for my program... I was only tinkering with N1 and M2 power stuff...

Yeah, right. I have this bridge I'd like to sell you in Brooklyn...

:D

Congrats, guys! I'm already looking forward to hearing about the next one!

Andy

[Fluid]

More photos of the event.


Darin and Tony discuss speed with gas record holder Ron Buck


Mark at the timing table after Boyd's record T-Offshore run.


Brian with his super-fast P-Limited boats.


Boyd's 94 mph T-Offshore pass.


Tony does a little maintenance on his P-Limited Offshore Drifter S.

[thomaslambo]

Boyd, welcome to the addiction!
That's a sweet running cat in tony's vid, congradulations. You've got a great help in Mark, he's got many years of experience with this stuff and is a good guy, as I'm sure you already know :)
Oh yeah, don't feel too bad about hitting that point, I've clobbered that thing a couple times myself as have many others. Think of as a "right of passage" LOL
Chris

Thanks for the kind words Chris, and based on your records I see you’re no stranger to speed

More photos of the event.

Thanks for the pics Jay