Originally Posted by
cybercrxt
I saw some questions in here I want to address...Left turning vs Right turning 1/10th hulls...My 1/10th scale kits are offered in both clockwise, and counter clockwise versions, which flip the frames so you can build it in either turning direction you need.
Next, addressing the quarter round on the bottom of the hull. I saw where Terry doesn't feel it really does anything, other than make the bottom look bad, lol. Nothing could be further from the truth. With that being said, I want to discuss a project I did with Don Ferrette years ago, which started all of this quarter round air dam being incorporated into many of my kits. I get a lot of people who feel they know better, and delete the air damn, or publicly say it does nothing. I love ya Terry, but you are wrong if you feel it doesn't work the way I intended it. Don set out several years ago, to break the 1/8th scale hydroplane FE SAW record which at the time, was in the 75mph range if I remember. Well, Don started testing, using the air damn technique, and he found his hull, which ultimately went 100mph with 10s and a 1527 Neu, would blow off in the 80mph range..So he added the air damn very close to the front of the bow block...and the hull stayed on the water and has never blown off during his 100mph runs. Fast forward the following year. Scott Liddycoat wanted to set a new 1/8th scale Nitro record, using basically the same hull as Don used for his FE record...The only difference, he had his quarter round about 4" back from the bow...and as fate would have it...he blew off in the 80mph range...the following trials, he came back, quarter round was moved to the front like Don's...His only hull change..and as you can see in the IMPBA record book, he posted a 93mph record. So Let me tell you, the quarter round works, it may be more subtle on a sport hydro, as I am able to make other aerodynamic features more correct for hi speed running, taking some pressure off the influence the bottom of the hull creates...but in the scale hydro world, you cannot change those curved deck features..The boat has to look scale...the only thing I can do, is mod sponsons, and center section bottoms...Having some features like this are important. Don has also run the 171 extreme 1/8th scale Elam kit in the 75mph range in heat trim, and he swears the quarter round bottom has made a difference. ML Boatworks works with many many top racers in the world, and has had those guys share a lot of secrets for the better of the hobby, and the chose me to do these because I listened. Believe in them, they are not just fancy hype! Sorry to rant, but I see a lot of people tell the mass public the things I do don't really do anything, and they are wrong.
Oh, and it was mentioned that Distance is the only thing that changes airflow speed...That is wrong. Diffusing the air with the air dam changes the time the air travels under the hull. It diffuses, rolls the air flow, slowing down how long it takes for the air to travel under the hull..That changes how long the bottom airflow vs. the top airflow take to travel. If that bottom time is longer than the top..guess what, you have a reverse airplane wing without the simple physics you normally see..You have to think outside the box!!
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