Most of our club is already aware of the changes we've made for the up coming season as they voted on them. Some changes are major and some minor.

The biggest change really is organizational.

The club voted unanimously to become an IMPBA club.
Meaning that IMPBA membership will be required of each MMEU member.
Also meaning that our annual Michigan Cup will be an IMPBA event.

In order to continue racing the classes we have been running we needed to bridge some gaps in the IMPBA rule book. So we have adopted some club (club only.....club......only) rules to do so. Each of these new rules were voted on also. Some are adaptations of NAMBA rules we've used for eons.

IMPBA has no "limited" rules at all so we came up with our own based on multiple conversations and testing by multiple club members.

So we now have "M Spec". This too received 100% support by the membership.

M-Spec:
34” Maximum Length
4s Lithium Polymer in accordance with IMPBA rules. (no mah restrictions)
Single motor
Motor to have a can size not to exceed 37mm x 62mm. Any number of poles. Any KV. Any manufacturer.
Any Speed control


Our club classes for 2017 will be:

• P limited Mono – Will now be known as M spec mono
• P limited Cat - Will now be known as M spec cat
• P limited Offshore - Will now be known as M spec offshore
• P limited Sport - Will now be known as M spec mono
• 10th scale (replaced SV per vote)
• P Sport hydro

We will attempt to gauge interest in additional classes and will include them on the sign ups for each race. Only one additional class will run. Only the class that with the most additional entries will run. There will be no trophies for that class. At the meeting there seemed to be a lot of talk about P cat if you interested in that. It will be up to the racers to organize themselves well enough to get enough entries to run that additional class. Basically......yer on yer own. Get the entries, we'll run the heats for you. I think somewhere we were requiring 5 to fly but I'm pretty sure we opted for 4 because we could.

As there are no IMPBA rules for offshore either we had to produce something for that. There was some apprehension as this is a departure for us. This only received 75% approval. Some of us have raced this new format and liked it so we're trying it. We'll give it another look at the end of the season to see what guys thought. The major difference being that it's 8 laps instead of 4 minutes. Still the course with extra turns though.

Reads thus:
M Spec Offshore Class:

The intent of the class is for the boats to “look” like real offshore race boats. This is not a scale class.

A. Hull Specifications

  1. Offshore hulls must be a Deep-Vee (16 to 28 degree “V” angle) or Offshore Catamaran type hull.
  2. Stepped hulls and flat keel ride pads will be allowed on both Deep Vee and Catamaran type hulls.
  3. Closed cockpits must have windshields. Windshields can either be clear, tinted or colored. Open cockpits must have drivers. Boats are to be decorated with paint and or by graphic applications (decals) which must include at least two real or fictitious sponsors.
  4. All boats must have numbers printed or painted on the hulls above the waterline. They can be either fictitious race numbers or IMPBA membership numbers. They should be as clearly visible in relation to the size of the hull as they would be on a full-size race boat.


B. Power specification
  1. Motor and batteries shall comply with M-Spec.


C. Race format
  1. Heats will run on an offset course for 8 laps and scored in accordance with heat racing rules.


The switch to 10th scale from SV received 91% approval. The obvious problem being that IMPBA doesn't have 10th scale. So we made some up for that too. These tooare a departure from the NAMBA 10th rule set in that we have opened up the motor choices. The motors available in the NAMBA set is dwindling so we took a stab at it. We may find that at the end of the year we have to make an adjustment.

So.....10th scale reads:

Electric 10th Scale Unlimited Hydroplane

The intent of this class is to replicate the look and competition of real unlimited hydroplane racing. Boats are 1/10-scale replicas (one inch equals 10 inches) of the real boats that have raced on the unlimited circuit. This class shall emphasize scale accuracy.

A. Hull Specifications:

  1. Belly pans or blisters, if added, must be no larger than 2.5 inches wide by 4 inches long.
  2. Air dams, if installed, must be below the deck line and unobtrusive and not extend beyond the bow.
  3. An-hedraled left sponsons and modern style sponsons are not allowed on boats running in the vintage class.
  4. Boats shall use a single rudder at any mounting location on the transom. The center of the rudder post shall not be located more than 1.75 inches behind the transom.



B. Drive Train

  1. Any shaft may be used provided it maintains a straight line from hull exit through the strut.
  2. No gearbox of any configuration is allowed.
  3. Any single propeller may be used, and a portion of the propeller must be under the transom. The drive dog is defined as not a part of the propeller.



C. Power Specifications
  1. Motors will comply with M-Spec except that they will be limited to 1700kv unloaded.



D. Power Limits

  1. Motor and batteries shall comply with “M-Spec” accept that motor Kv will be limited to 1700.


E. Class Specifications

  1. Vintage Class - Defined as those boats conforming to Master Hull Roster (MHR) numbers 2730 through 7008 inclusive, and MHR numbers: 7102, 7132, 7171, 7206, 7221, 7422, 7499 and 7505.
    a) Skid/turn fin shall be mounted to the inside of the left sponson and shall not extend beyond the back of the sponson. The size is limited to a maximum of 2 inches wide by 1 inch deep measured from the sponson riding surface. No hook shaped skid fins are allowed

2. Modern Class - Defined as those boats conforming to Master Hull Roster numbers 7025, 7029, 7175, 7177, 7207, 7251, 7325, 7402, 7441, 7455, 7495, and numbers 7571 through 0717 and beyond.
a) Any shaft may be used. A curved stuffing tube is allowed in the modern class.
b) Sponson design shall be up to the builder as long as it does not change the outline shape of the hull.
c) Skid fin can be any size, shape or angle but can’t be bent or hooked in any way.


Holy crap is it hard to get things to format right on the forum. ugh.

We're really fired up for the 2017 season. More of what we've been doing. Just under a different banner. The 10th scales are a scream to drive and even a scream to watch.

We do have a tentative schedule but it's really early to commit to it. We'll be looking to miss some of the local gigs and their dates aren't fixed yet. Look for that after our next meeting. That meeting should be early February just before the Winter Warmups.