How to regulate FE power in the future?

[T.S.Davis]

30 inch and 36 inch in the same class. Example revolt verses voracity. The revolt motor for motor, prop for prop will make the race unfair.

Exactly! Some don't accept this though. They would prefer that the Revolt have no chance and just have the 36.....or 40.......or 50. What ever they can push.

[Mike W]

But you can run a 28" and 34" in the same class. What's the difference? About 6". My point was the fact that there is a concentration of available hull lengths that tend towards being at the lower end of the allowable class limits especially above P. Plenty of boats just above 36" and plenty just above 40". If we stretched the length limits on those two classes by 3" and shortened that massive 40" - 60" span some it would seem to make more sense? This would also align with the ever-increasing levels of reliable power for which no allowances for corresponding increases in hull size have been made.

[T.S.Davis]

We can't adjust the rules to chase the market IMO. It's a moving target. We also shouldn't try to chase the power every time it changes. I really don't think the power available has changed. Accessibility to it has. Power that used to be had only by guys willing to pay for a Schulze/Lehner or Neu combo can now be pumped through a $200 esc and a $125 motor.

The 40" to 60" span happened because there was once an S class at 8s. There really was little difference in speed or handling between them. S never ran once LiPo was accepted. Today, T rarely makes heats anywhere in the US. Maybe somewhere it does and I'm ignorant. Just no place I've been in years. Sometimes you can eak out 3 of them. Guys interested in these tend to show at a SAW event and that's about it. So supply and demand. When enough start showing to indicate there's an issue the organizations "should" respond. They wont of course but they "should". That's how it is supposed to work.

[Mike W]

Great info thanks so much Terry! Although I've been a RC modeler for 40+ years with a brief nitro boat adventure in the 90s I've only been back in FE just over a year, and only been to one race so far. From my novice perspective the boats seem overpowered, and with a high attrition rate racing. It seems P might do better with a larger hull. Also when hull shopping there seem to be so many options just a bit too large for P or Q, and I hate to run a hull length at the bottom end of the range.

That's unfortunate about T. It is one of our most popular and growing classes here at HOTMBC. The larger heavier boats do so much better in race water.