2019 IMPBA FE Nats Atl.Ga. feeler thread

[T.S.Davis]

Im ready! Got my Q Tunnel and P-*&^% tunnel too. Anybody up for 110 heats in one day? Im your guy.... lets do this.

~ James Clegg

We can keep up with that but I gotta be honest....I hated it. Went to the hotel baked. I didn't even care if we raced on day two.

[Doug Smock]

It ain't for everyone. But, we can limit entries and heat numbers and fix that. How much or little do guys want to race? (work)

[topfuel443]

I was worn out myself, and all i did was talk on the mic all day! 75 heats a day is perfect....

[T.S.Davis]

75 FE heats will likely kill guys. Doug and I talked about this a little bit. I think he asked "think we could pull this off in 2 days?". The AMB could absolutely do it but FE at large probably couldn't. You guys pulled off 110 and it never really seemed like we were going that fast. Both the crew and the racers seemed to handle it flawlessly. The fatigue really only hit me personally later on.

This is where an all FE race gets weird though. With a mixed race if you race say 5 classes you get a heat of electric, then a heat of fuel, then back to FE. So there is about a 5 minute window before you have to get back to the water. It's freakn' perfect in truth. At an all FE race you could run 5 classes in a row. Even if you aren't in 5 consecutive classes the guy standing next to you is probably in the classes that you aren't and needs a pit. It's like being back to back to back for every heat. That time you were going to use to unload the batteries and get them on charge vanishes. Maybe grease a shaft. Or holy crap if you break something. You're racing or up on the stand for every heat. Things get missed easy. Next round comes and you're way behind or have to scratch.

[topfuel443]

Good points Terry, i've never actually been to an FE only race, but I can see understand your concerns. I was just saying, in terms of hours in the day based on time it takes to actually run heats, 75 is more than enough for a day, not taking into account the challenges of an all electric race. Im sure we could work it out to where it was manageable.

I have been to a bunch of all outboard/tunnel hull races, and there are some of the similar challenges (pit help, back to back to back), but we make it happen.

How many realistic entries would a race like this bring in?

[Doug Smock]

75 FE heats will likely kill guys. Doug and I talked about this a little bit. I think he asked "think we could pull this off in 2 days?". The AMB could absolutely do it but FE at large probably couldn't.

Yep, remember the conversation well. That's why the first post reads like it does. I'm all but certain a three day race is a no go. We hate to have any conversation with the site owner, we are a fly at their picnic, less is more kind of thing.
We can turn down the PA, stick a sock in the horn for the clock, but honestly I don't think the noise is his problem. His employees all but line the bank on the far side of the pond. The windows are full of faces.

I wonder if any crop dusters fly from the NE to Sycamore Ga.??

[T.S.Davis]

Who knows. Kinda why Doug was asking I think. Who would come for real? If he approaches his gang with the idea and then we get 75 entries that would suck.

I know some of the guys that say they'll come actually will. You can count the usual suspects up but yer never sure with guys you haven't already traveled with. The reugular race junkies will be good for 75 to 100 I would think. Some times the trip sounds great and then wives get wind of it. hahaha Then of those that will drive or fly......how many boats are they willing to run. My kid was just telling me "Dad, I think 5 classes is plenty". He's of course utterly and completely full of crap. It will be 13 before these guys have can even confirm they want to do it.

In my tiny brain, I'm thinking the location would work to their advantage. It's kind of in the middle. PAGS might be the worst drive and it's still not insane. We could start working on the OSE boys (nudge nudge). Maybe the guys from Indiana. Owen is going to be better than the old man.

We gotta find a way to express how much stupid fun these things are. I'm still afraid the law will find out and descend upon us.

[HTVboats]

I would rather be limited to an entry limit per driver where I would pick the boats I felt were my best rather than just running everything I own. That way the level of competition will be concentrated in heats. FE boaters tend to have a lot of boats. Maybe cause they all run. We bring 12 nitro boats to a race and end up running 6 in the last round.
Again consider a lot of unattended charging of batteries. Not everyone has 3 sets of cells per boat. I must be getting old worrying about safety.
Mic

[longballlumber]

We gotta figure out a way to spread the love sorta speak. If we keep fishing in the same pond we are keep catching the same fish. Logistically speaking the ATL pond is SUPER convenient with the airport VERY close. We actually my be able to attract some guys from Texas, Arizona, Washington, and California. The MI pond in Leonard isn't as convenient on that front.

With regards to number of heats and number of days. If the host club can only manage a 2 day event then the racers are responsible for signing up the appropriate number of classes they can manage for a 2 day event. You will be hard pressed to convince me those guys that enter a bazillion classes couldn't stand leaving 2 or 3 boats at home! The host club cannot be held responsible for racers that enter more classes than they can handle; all the while knowing the event requires a reasonable pace to finish in their available time frame.

flame suite on!

[longballlumber]

More thinking out loud....

With the ATL site specifically there are some challenges with racing during the week due to the local business. It looks like running FE boats starting at noon on Friday's is acceptable... Why can't we start heat racing at noon on Friday? Open water is a gift, not a requirement. That would be an extra 6-8 hours of heats that can be completed.

[Ty Davis]

More thinking out loud....

With the ATL site specifically there are some challenges with racing during the week due to the local business. It looks like running FE boats starting at noon on Friday's is acceptable... Why can't we start heat racing at noon on Friday? Open water is a gift, not a requirement. That would be an extra 6-8 hours of heats that can be completed.

Open water thursday from 5 to 9?

[T.S.Davis]

No flame suit required Mike. It's so easy to get carried away signing up for everything everything everything. I've done it too. What we "should" be doing is signing up for classes we're actually good at. It's a nats. We had boats at our race that were really fast that guys had no heat laps into.

Spencer park doesnt have open water. Attendance hasn't really suffered.

[don ferrette]

Open water thursday from 5 to 9?

Hmmmmmm.................

[RaceMechaniX]

I would try to make it particularly if we can run some Q or T classes.

"open" is not allowed at a Nats?

[trigger]

. Maybe the guys from Indiana. Owen is going to be better than the old man.

Well yeah he is........but don't tell him.

We are interested for sure, it's a long way out, we struggle planning tomorrow never mind that far in advance. We have two main issues, time off work and wives. But assuming that the later are not issues, for sure we would come play boats. Its always a good time hanging with you guys.

[madmikepags]

Lets look at #'s of heats, and assume we do the shootout format. lets say there's 7 classes a day, and you pick what would be the 14 most popular classes. You are only really running 3 rounds because the final round will only be 7 heats. You limit the # of entries per class. Obviously spec mono, sport hyd, & offshore are the most popular so you give them 24 entries, but classes like Phydro P cat Q mono Q sport Q hydro you cap at 12, P mono p sport inbetween at 18, and so on. Then there will be classes that you give 12 entries but you will really only get 1 heat. Realistically you will have 17-18 heats per round. Even if it's 20 heats thats 67 heats in a day. Doable or not doable? I have never run a big race so I don't know, but we did run 106 heats in one day at the spring nats one year. Surely us FE guys could do 65 in a day? No?

[T.S.Davis]

No, yer thinking right Mike. We've shuffled that mix 8 ways to Sunday over the years. If they do it we can help them with the shuffle. Getting the right combo of classes on the right days makes it much more doable.

The only hiccup is trying to figure out what will draw based on region. Up here, tunnel has almost no hope of making a heat. Down there it sounds like they could pull multiple flights. So there is a degree of guessing.

65 is super doable. Even for us FE turds........er racers. Hugs.

[longballlumber]

This creates a question for me... Why are the numbers so different? Using Mike's numbers above; 106 for a combine event but we act like 65 for an all FE event is a stretch? That is roughly a 40% difference.

Another question; How many racers are using the same hull for multiple classes? Does that even exist these days?

[dethow]

Another question; How many racers are using the same hull for multiple classes? Does that even exist these days?

I have used the same hull for Mono and Offshore. Just change my batteries for more mAh.

[T.S.Davis]

This creates a question for me... Why are the numbers so different? Using Mike's numbers above; 106 for a combine event but we act like 65 for an all FE event is a stretch?

It's that gap I described. For me at least. That little space in between while the fuel guys run is huge if you run a lot of classes. For the average normal guy, maybe it's actually not an issue. If you run say 4 classes in a day those little gaps might not matter at all.

Used to be that guys could run P mono - P offshore - P limited mono and P offshore with the same boat. You can still do it but the P speeds and water don't really allow you to be competitive that way. My spec mono are not set up like my P mono. You can cross over to offshore though. Just a prop change for most. Sport hydros same thing. You can run P with a specky but you'll get murdered.

Here's a question......is anyone else running FE offshore on the regular? Totally ignorant question. We dig it up here and we've raced it elsewhere but I always felt like we were bringing the class with us when we traveled. The CanAm dropped it this year. It was the only offshore class they had and is a pain in butt for them. Is it popular elsewhere? Those offshore classes are time gobbling pigs. Take longer and always require a ton of retrieve. Don't get me wrong. I love it but if it meant the race could happen in 2 days with no time issues.......

[Doug Smock]

I would try to make it particularly if we can run some Q or T classes.

"open" is not allowed at a Nats?

I'm pretty sure Open Offshore would fly.
We wouldn't have to run the whole course necessarily. Something we can talk about.

[Ty Davis]

I'm pretty sure Open Offshore would fly.
We wouldn't have to run the whole course necessarily. Something we can talk about.

Just move the offshore pins closer to the oval. None of the FE guys are going to go wide enough off of bouy 3 to hit those offshore pins.

[topfuel443]

Ill have a beast ready for "Open Tunnel" if there is an option....

[Doug Smock]

Ok guys! We have been banging our heads trying to find a way to offer this race without stepping on any toes including our own. We considered offering it in place of the Spring Nats but just can't. 45 years of history there!

September is the only time we could offer this in 2019 if the BOD approves. The weather is typically cooler by then, but of course you never know. The exact date is still open at this point, we have to poll the club.
If you really want it, we could have open water on Thurs. from noon till dusk. (This would be on me! Sooo, if you say you want it you'd better BE THERE!!) Racing would start at noon on Fri.

Lamar is an expert on nailing down time & heat counts, he's been doing it for years. The AMB can get the race in if the weather cooperates and the racers are on point. Absolutely no question about that.

Whatdayathink? Should we pursue this? Or is Sept. a deal breaker?

Thanks!!

[Doug Smock]

Just move the offshore pins closer to the oval. None of the FE guys are going to go wide enough off of bouy 3 to hit those offshore pins.

Never say never. lol We'll come up with something if there is interest.

[T.S.Davis]

Love it Doug. As I mentioned, you can count on at least part of the MMEU morons (what..... it's a term of endearment) to come down and play toy boats for bowling trophies with you guys. It being that late we might even be able to pull off both races. Who knows.

[madmikepags]

I love the idea the only issue is the dwindling daylight in sept? may june july you have sun till 8;30-9pm sept you'tre lookin at 6:30-7 but I think it'll work

[don ferrette]

Man September is tough. If I might ask without meaning any trouble whatsoever, what were the sticking points for mid May?

[Ty Davis]

Man September is tough. If I might ask without meaning any trouble whatsoever, what were the sticking points for mid May?

One of the stick points is that its, Too close to the spring nats.

[madmikepags]

and too close to the Mi Cup also, there are a good bunch of us that go to all 3 of those races, and 3 travel races in 3 months that would wreak HAVOC on my marriage!!! and not enough time to recouperate rebuild and retool and retard!!!!