Time Trials Saturday: Coverage of F1 Grand Prix for BoatDesign.Net

[TerryKing]

** I will pick up the pieces of stuff I said I'd do in the final Race Day thread... TK **

Time Trial Results: Nine time World Champion Guido Cappellini of the Tamoil Team put on a dazzling display of speed and verve in the fading sunlight and will lead the field of 22 drivers from 4 different continents after setting a blistering 35.2 second lap at the 4th Round of the 2007 U.I.M. F1 World Championship for power boating at the Grand Prix of Shenzhen on the foot of the South China Sea.
Here's a pointer to an online album of the photos I did for newspaper publication:
http://www.terryking.us/photoalbum/m...g2_itemId=3780
This includes more of the local color stuff, but I'll add more tekkie material below. I also had a real nice discussion with Bob and Dave Trask of GTR Race Boats (click). I learned a lot about the dynamics of these amazing almost-flying machines and the truly incredible turns they can do. I need to transcribe my recording and that probably won't be for another day, as the big race is tomorrow and I'll be doing the "F8 and Be There" thing.

I thought I was having a problem with my camera, because any time I took a picture of myself it came out looking like some old guy with white hair. But the following one was taken by a professional boat photographer, so I don't know what to think.
Besides, the Walrus needs something to laugh at...



The woman is the editor of another newspaper in China, and we're looking at the first day edition I worked on; you may recognize the cover photo if you followed the first thread.

For those of you just dropping in here, there is a long thread about the preliminaries, and some info about these Formula 1 boats HERE: (click) These are Tunnel Hull boats running V6 Merc engines of 350 to 400 HP, and running over 100 MPH on a short course with 5 turns.

Finally there are real boats in the water here! First, a look at the course as shown in todays drivers meeting:



OK, the boats! Here's one of the monsters just arrived in Shenzhen.



Dave Trask is in the boat in the water and ready for his first time trial run. His brother Bob, who designs and builds these boats, is in the boat behind them with their URL on it... That's their Crew Chief holding the helmet.



This is Guido Cappellini who ended up with the pole position. These boats run on an air cushion and barely touch the water UNTIL they do an incredibly sharp turn, the inside sponson edge grabs the water hard, and in less than a second they are going 80 MPH at 90 degrees to the left!



Below, the first F1 boat to run on this new lake roars off the dock in 1st practice runs.



In practice time, Boats were constantly coming in to dock for changes and adjustments...



Families watching the action...



An older Chinese couple watching the new era of boats in Shenzhen.



The drivers controls look more like a Video Game...



The Rainbow Team from Italy pulls off the flywheel. They don't look too happy. It went back on with a lot of Red Locktite.



China Team boat during time trials...



A quick propeller change. I'll get a propeller photo soon... talk about Pitch!



Teams hold their boats with these 'dock poles'. They look like a 'twitch' used on horses...



Time Trials have 3 boats on the course at once. The final 6 boats run alone for 2 timed laps for Pole Position.





**The rest will be in the Race Day thread here: The Big Race: Sunday: Coverage of F1 Grand Prix for BoatDesign.Net **

[Pericles]

Terry,

Thank you very much for showing us the fabulous photos. I can almost taste the burnt fuel and the water spray and feel the excitement building. Would that I were there.

Pericles