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A Sportscar At A Truck Race!
Great fun reading all the comments about power-to-weight, top speed, etc., etc., regarding the Powerboat P1 series, particularly as I have a vested interest in the Fountain Wolrdwide entry that didn't do a bad job in Naples. I suppose that when you're in a position to start with a clean sheet of paper, putting together what is, as far as I'm concerned, the ultimate P1 Evo package, can be great fun and also quite an arduous task.
First you read the P1 rules which, we all admit, aren't the best written but then most of the stuff inside the UIM book is badly worded and needs a complete re-write. It was originally in French! I felt that with an Evo weight limit starting of at 4250 kilos (which means both your engines musn't have more than 607.14 BHP each) P1 was best suited to using American product. The States is a one stop shop and great value with the dollar so weak against sterling and the euro.
First came our engine package and I viewed Ilmor, with their incredible motor sport background (designed and built F1 engines for Mercedes and Indy engine for Honda), as a better option than Mercury where you'd be just another customer. Ilmor, with the Viper V10, were actively looking at breaking into the US high-peformance market and I convinced them that they shouldn't forget Europe as an outlet. They agreed. They would endorse the programme because it allowed them, as a company with moral values, to use production based engines. We elected to pick their 625 HP rated MV-10 (power taken at the crankshaft) over the newer 7-10 because carrying the additional 525 kilos of ballast would affect our accelleration out of the many turns on the P1 courses. We chose a wide rev band and massive torque (there are no rules against torque) instead of outright power. The engine is all aluminium. It has given us greater driveability and instant throttle response being a normally aspirated motor. We have to weigh in at 4375 kilos and we have to carry a lot of lead ballast which has been built into the overall design. I believe we were 100 kilos over that limit after both races according to the P1 technical guys.
When Fountain Worldwide (the independantly owned international sales arm run by Craig Wilson and his family) agreed to join forces following a meeting we had at the Miami Boat Show in February, it was agreed that while the existing 40' SuperVee hull was the best bet, a new boat had to be built from scratch for the simple reason that a new SuperVee weighs 8000 lbs (US rules) and for the P1 rules, we needed to be a lot heavier. So bearing in mind the rough conditions that can be found over here in Europe, the hull was built like a brick outhouse.
Arneson surface drives, with the SCS external drop box system, were preferred to the Mercury Mk.VI drive system and that was that really. It did mean that there was no way we'd be ready for the first race in Malta and we only just made Naples, the race boat arriving on the back of a truck still shrink wrapped from its TransAtlantic crossing.
Putting James Sheppard alongside Craig Wilson was an obvious call because the guy was mega quick in the Honda series, showed his bravery in Key West last November (when he beat the works Fountain team) and exudes immense self confidence. His also has a loyal sponsor in 'King of Shaves'.
As someone said to me after Naples, 'you took a sportscar to a truck race!'
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