Americans are the world leaders in high speed boat safety

There are no European series where boats routinely run 200 mph.

The peak speeds being run by Top Fuel drag boats are faster than most of the Donald Campbell water speed records.

The first circuit racing boat to use an enclosed cockpit was the 1985 Miss Budweiser hydroplane.

 

270 mph capsule-equipped Top Fuel drag boat.

 

Seems like I was right. You do only transmit, and don't receive. You do your more rational and less conceited countrymen a dishonour by being so offensive, but my best guess is that you have the skin of a hippo and so cannot understand how being so loud-mouthed could be seen as offensive.

 

I'd spend less time being offended and more time studying what I'm talking about. You might actually learn something.

http://www.hondoboatsinc.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49&Itemid=61

 

Just to keep the facts straight, I was born in the Country of Newfoundland--Grandfathered in as a Canadian citizen, raised mostly on a U.S. military base but live on the North American Continent thus I consider myself an American " In the Colonies" Jeremy To the topic at hand yes at present the more advanced technology,faster speeds and possibily safer vessels are on this side of the pond but as I have stated and you have reinforced this was but an advancement on the hard work and sacrifice of others, one in particular Donald Campbell on the other side of the pond. When dealing with advancing technology one can only honestly claim most improvement to date and based on what you've stated, I agree 100% the greatest improvement in high speed boat racing safety is the capsul cockpit system now being used by racing boats in the United States. I think that is great as it will safely allow others to be more confident in challenging the speed record and maybe in the process develop even safer systems.

 

Recommendations

Not all Americans are like this, I worked with hundreds and never met one as mouthy. Most are respectful of others and modest to a fault.

Franklin: no recommendations for you, it would just be wasted. You are not doing your nation a good service here.

Everyone else: you're wasting your time, just unsubscribe. Bye-bye . . .

 

Your parochial interests in a tiny minority activity, limited to the gaz-guzzling capital of the world, hold no interest for me (or many others here, I suspect).

I doubt a loud-mouthed uncouth, such as yourself, has any knowledge worth disseminating more widely, either, no matter how loudly you wish to proclaim it.

 

Man! If you make a habit of leaping to conclusions based on almost nonexistent sampling you must SUCK as a scientist.

 

Franklin,my man,what have you got to say about this excerpt from http://www.f1h2o.com/story/what_f1powerboat.php

During one particularly tragic season which resulted in several fatalities and serious injuries, British F1 designer/boatbuilder/racer Chris Hodges concluded that unless more time was devoted to safety measures he would have very few friend left. Chris constructed a safety cell that was produced in an immensely strong composite material. Instead of the cockpit being part of the main structure, Chris’s capsule was separate and was fitted to the hulls and centre section and for the first time drivers were strapped into the seats. The idea was that if a craft was involved in a accident, the timber hulls etc. could break up while the driver was protected inside his cell.

Ironically, several pilots were opposed to this new device but after it successfully proved itself in several major crashes, the UIM called for it to be compulsory. British builder Dave Burgess introduced canopies in the early 1990’s that made cockpits fully enclosed. Although not built to withstand a major impact, the canopy did protect the driver from the full force of water if his craft nose dived.

Note the nationality of the people mentioned.

 

The first enclosed cockpit Unlimited hydroplane, Miss Budweiser, was racing in 1985. By 1989, enclosed cockpits in Unlimited hydroplanes were standard.

Miss Budweiser, 1985. http://www.newtonmarine.com/cw3/assets/product_full/bud400.jpg

For 1986, the blown plexiglass canopy was replaced with an F-16 lexan canopy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NemLtJ1df2c

 

Cockpit of latest Miss Madison.

 

Craig Arfons 1989 water speed record hydroplane in which the canopy was integral with the hull. If an anchor for the safety harness had not failed, he may very well have not sustained fatal injuries.

 

So the Americans developed the capsule. So what? I believe it was the chinese who developed iron, the arabs who invented algebra, perhaps the Indians who invented the number zero, Curie who discovered radiation (she was Polish but worked in France) One of the finest establishments for scientific endeavor is the Max Planck institute in Germany, and the Swiss in concert with the Italians and Austrians have the CERN super collider. Meanwhile some of the fastest most fearless sailors in the world along with the most skilled and fearless F1 motorcycle racers are Aussies. Aussies aint wusses by the wildest stretch of imagination. There are even some world class universities in Oz.

There are some Americans who are, or were, incredibly intelligent say...Richard Feinman, Carl Sagan, George Smoot, and a quite a few others, such as Jonas Salk, who contributed to the betterment of civilization. Not surprisingly none of them have the slightest bit of interest in fast power boats. We have some good people here but so does nearly every other nation. If one of our people figured out a way to avoid killing themselves while indulging in an insignifigant but very dangerous activity then hooray for them. It would be in your best interests to muster enough maturity to recognize that such an achievement does not, in the grand scheme of things, amount to a rats ***.

 

So? The name of this board ISN'T astrophysics, quantum mechanics, or virology.

 

Stepping a bit aside from the ever-present nationalistic polemics, I'd like to understand how do you think the safety-capsule concept might influence (or has already done so) the more general boating industry?
I'm thinking about F1 car racing. It has introduced (or improved) many technical solutions (structural, drivetrains, engines, electronics) which are finding it's use in the modern road vehicles. What is, in you guy's opinion, the foreseeable practical use of the safety-related (or other) technical solutions found on the modern hydroplanes or other raceboats discussed here?