NAMBA April Time Trial Monday 5th and Tuesday 6th 2021 Huntsville, Alabama

[THE REAL GRIM]

Hi everyone,
please enter the Easter NAMBA Time Trial event on the NAMBA District 5 website www.nambadistrict5.com under the shopping cart.
That way I can get you set up in the computer. There is a section in there to let me know what classes you will be running.
The fee for the 2 day NAMBA event will be $25.00
Thank you, Kim 1

[THE REAL GRIM]

Hello,
Congratulations to all Record Setters this last Monday - Tuesday,
There were 15 records set in NAMBA on Monday and Tuesday the weather was good a little breezy at times but everyone had a good time. I would like to thank, Mark Bullard, David Hall, for helping with the Time Trial and all the other people that helped with the set-up and tear down for those 2 days.
The help was very much appreciated I would like to also thank Mark Bullard for the BBQ, HOT and Regular fried munchies and Bill Zuber for the Chess Pie it was all yummy!!!!!!!

Thank you again,
Mark and Kim Grim


David Hall
SAW
1/2 A MONO
Sec: 4.306
MPH: 52.25

Martin Truex Jr.
2-LAP
1/2 A HYDRO
Sec: 18.053
MPH: 66.470

Martin Truex Jr.
SAW
A HYDRO
Sec: 1.898
MPH: 118.545

Martin Truex Jr.
2-LAP
B HYDRO
Sec: 15.614
MPH: 76.854

Chris Grim
2-LAP
A HYDRO
Sec: 16.494
MPH: 72.753

Rick Grim.
SAW
GAS TUNNEL
Sec: 3.056
MPH: 73.626

Kim Grim
2-LAP
SPORT 60
Sec: 23.569
MPH: 50.914

Huff./Truex Jr.
SAW
P LIMITED MONO
Sec: 3.149
MPH: 71.451

Huff./Truex Jr.
2-LAP
P LIMITED MONO
Sec: 27.461
MPH: 43.694

Huff./Truex Jr.
2-LAP
P LIMITED CATAMARAN
Sec: 26.610
MPH: 45.095

Huff./Truex Jr.
SAW
P LIMITED CATAMARAN
Sec: 3.161
MPH: 71.180

Huff./Truex Jr.
2-LAP
P CATAMARAN
Sec: 26.814
MPH: 44.752

Huff./Truex Jr.
2-LAP
P LIMITED OFFSHORE
Sec: 27.281
MPH: 43.98

Huff./Truex Jr.
2-LAP
P OFFSHORE
Sec: 26.178
MPH: 45.840

Mike Tally
2-LAP
A OPC TUNNEL
Sec: 28.784
MPH: 41.690

Mike Tally
2-LAP
B OB HYDRO
Sec: 29.805
MPH: 40.261

[T.S.Davis]

Holy crap

[photohoward1]

Spec? Custom wound Motors? Sure.

[HTVboats]

Congrats! Have to tip my hat to Don (AMPDADDY). The sky isn't falling for P/L it's just a rocket into a new frontier with Martin doing what he does best.
Mic

[T.S.Davis]

Spec? Custom wound Motors? Sure.

There are no "spec" classes.

[photohoward1]

P limited? Limited to what? Pocketbook? Wiring skill?
I know the size thing but the intention of the class was to limit cost too?

I know it?s not easy to get these records and driver skill is a big thing. I would expect Martin to be better than most if not all.

But come on. Unobtanium!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[T.S.Davis]

I know the size thing but the intention of the class was to limit cost too?

You can check the rule book but I'm certain there has never been a mention of cost.

I've had this conversation recently. Wasn't an argument. Worth sharing some thinks.

The limit is the size of the motor, the voltage, and the length of the hull. Period. That's it. The only difference from 2009 to now is that the motor list was replaced with a can size. Can size because no list will hold up. We've already proven this.

Here's a list of things you can do to find speed that some have the skills to do and others might pay someone with skill to do for them. There's more I'm sure:

Sharpen & balance propellers
Custom prop machining
Square drives
Scratch built hulls
Hulls designed specifically for the class
Machining the drive dog for less drag
Polishing the drive shaft
Polishing the inside of the stuffing tube
Blocking and blue printing the ride surfaces of your hull
Bias sanding
Sharpening all edges of ride surfaces
The lowest resistance cells you can find ($$$ same as when we bought matched Nimh really)
ESC's with lower resistance
Laser cut turn fins bent on a precision curve jig bendy thingy and sharpened until you could slay a dragon with em
Rudder sharpening
Custom machined rudders to be thinner for less drag
Rudders with no water pickups
Copper inserts to shim connectors to the tiny wires that come from these small motors
Oh! finding a thinner lubricant....but not too thin

I once had ML cut me a custom Wildthing in an effort to shave weight. Mike opened up the cutouts on all the bulkheads for me and framed it from 1/16" ply. Super light build. Pain in the a$$ it was so flimsy. That hull is one of one on earth. It never really worked well. Failed experiment. Not everyone can build something like that so I suppose it was totally unobtanium.

All those things I listed require either the skills to do them or the dollars to obtain them. I suppose you also need to know who to connect with. This has always been the case even when there was a motor list. The guys that could tune or buy tuning won more often than not.

Mike Ball described limited as having a "perception" problem of late. Not arguing that point because I think he's right. I just don't feel it's fair. That perception being that once you open up the can and replace the crap wire from china with good wire because you have the skill to do so..........nowwww it's wallet racing?

Don designed, molded, and lays up his own hulls. Mere mortals CAN do that but will they? What do we suppose the real dollar value is for a guy to take all those steps? I know a mold here in town by Sancuer Composites is $3k. How do you "limit" someones skills, creativity, imagination? Pete has been working on those Pearl hulls for years. I've built and test umpteen of them now. Not even sure how many actually. Is there a dollar value that can be applied to Pete's time, my time, all the times they didn't quite work how we wanted and ended up in the bone yard?

All that said......"limited" isn't what it was in 2009. In 2009 we weren't concerned with costs necessarily but we absolutely were trying to have a landing pad (pond?) for the RTR market. Proboat and Aquacraft were both making similar things to plop right into it. In 2021 there just isn't a large stable of RTR drop ins.

The can size is a limit regardless of "perception" to the contrary.

[HTVboats]

I would not get to wound up on unobtanium. Don has learned by working and testing and does motors at reasonable cost. The Cat Martin drove is a production Vision (Shawn Junker) I lent to Don to break records with that we set and I knew could be lowered. Good motor, ESC, hull set up and prop, with a skilled driver. That's what records are. the best of the best.
P/L survives, will evolve and improve and be raced all over the country. As Terry said the can limit replaced a "motor list" that was stagnant. Is there a better system???
If the goal is cost put a real dollar limit and a claiming rule. Until then build and perfect your skills to keep up with traffic.
Mic

[Doug Smock]

"P Limited" went away with any ESC, the motor list, and now, dimensions fellas. Dang near full P speeds, that was the goal right? Well done!! Please don't say the Limited rules discussions will start up again.. Folks just need to join the motor of the month club..

[T.S.Davis]

There was never an ESC in the rule set Doug.

The goal was not P speeds Doug. The goal was a "limit". Truth is that the motor was always always always the only limit. See my list.

If anybody can out run Mike or Tyler with a limited motor they deserve a medal.

We're not really having the limited debate again. There is no point. I was merely acknowledging the perception issue and that it makes zero sense to a logical person.

[Doug Smock]

You're right Terry. The ESC was a District thing in the beginning, you know RTRs, any dummy can do it, introduction to FE.
I don't think there is a perception that there is no limit.
It's just that Don has been hard at it for three years(?) and hasn't found the limit yet. How are you doing with your motor builds?

[T.S.Davis]

I haven't had to build any motors since my first handful. They don't die under normal racing conditions. Time trials may be tougher on gear. I did bake a 1y on Saturday. I didn't realize it was in the boat from the fall. First run of the year. DOH!

If you put a AQ or PB motor in a hand built Whiplash......is that RTR? Or a JAE? Or a Stealth? Or an Orca for that matter? What's RTR about a Cyberstorm with a Proboat 2000? Nothing. The class was never RTR. It was however a decent place for a new RTR guy to drop in to racing and learn.

A better debate might be........if "limited" is so close to full P speeds.......what do we need P for? It's a ton more expensive, same sized boats, the setups are prone to failure, and availability is nil. You will be building a P boat or you will not be racing a P boat. Especially for a class like P sport. Then on top, the guys that run full P rarely show up to field heats. So......why have it? Then again, I suppose if participation were used as the gauge for classes there would be "limited" and nothing else. Think of all the classes we never see. Scale.....gone. N classes.....what for? P once in a while if you have some guys in a pocket interested. Q is even more rare. S and T....yea right. Talk about deep pocket racing. Been there done that.

But limited.....well limited is the devil.....accept those guys show up.

[Doug Smock]

Oh I expect your driver stand to be overflowing with guys Terry. Will you be hooking them up with the "motor of the month" so they can be competitive?

I could argue, (but I won't here) that with the Limited classes so close to P there is no longer a need for "Limited".

Anyway, you have at it. I just dropped in to say Congratulations to the record setters. And giggle a little.

[HTVboats]

As Sgt Friday says "Just the facts maamm"
Lets look at some D-13 history
Atlanta Spring Nats 2013 entries:
Gas 55, Nitro 125, Open 33 and FE 6 (P/L tunnels)

Moving forward to current 2021 ATL Spring Nats entries.
Gas 88, Nitro 63, Open 28, and FE with 36X60 (Namba rules) 44 P/L and 21 P&Q. Covid may have reduced some numbers but even with Doug pooh poohing limited it seems to be growing. I don't think you will be writing an Limited obituary any time soon.

Down here we had to cancel plans this spring for an FE event at Brandon. So going back a year we had a stand alone FE 2 day race with 165 boats, 61 P-Q and open, 8 Q/limited and 96 P/limited 36X60.
To me it sure looks like P/L is where FE roots are growing. 36X60 and a ROF from Atlanta won't kill it.
Mic
Retired Old Fart also.