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View Full Version : Viper for Formula V (OPC)



Dargo
01-27-2004, 04:16 PM
How would this hull fair in Form V racing w/ a V4 OMC? Does it have the ability to handle the choppy water and wakes tossed up by the other boats? There are alot of these around, and can be had for cheap if a person was willing to do some work to repair it. Would a Vector or Vking be better? I think they might be getting too heavy. Could this hull be competetive?

Thanks,
Chris

Raceman
01-30-2004, 02:44 PM
I've posted this before, but the first time I ever met Jim Hunt, aka: Ole Gator was at the OPC nationals at Miami in 1975. I was there with two buddies and their dad who'd worked for Merc since the 50's. I was standing there chuckling at the boat, which was really ugly. One of my friends who knew Jim well said, laugh now, but when he puts it in you won't. (the boat was named Ragged but Rite) My friend was right. Jim promptly drove off from the field and made it look easy.

His Viper had some junk bolted on the left side to help it turn. I don't recall what, but it seems like there was a piece of angle under the bottom and maybe even a fin on the left rear corner.

I think the Viper would be a super choice for Formula V. If they have a weakness over the small Allisons, I'd guess it'd be in the way they turn, but from watching Jim's boat back then it's obviously fixable. Again, just an opinion, but I don't think a Vector or Viper would work as well in the class.

I don't know the Formula V rules well enough to be talkin' about em, so this may be all wrong, but I don't think you can run the 4 cyl looper OMC's. If not, and you're limited to the old 20" crossflow V4's, seems like finding a 15" merc would be a better combination, but then again, I AM Merc partial.:D

Whatever engine you decide on, I hope you'll get out there and do it. It's a great class and needs some new blood to keep it going.

BarryStrawn
01-30-2004, 03:49 PM
I would think a production Viper would also be too heavy. Never weighed one but I would think the regular layup models must be 450 or 500 pounds. Might depend on how much you gutted it. Maybe someone how knows Hydrostreams will chime in.

The crossflow is the only V4 that is legal. And Raceman, OMC made them until 1998. Plenty of fresh parts still out there.

Raceman
01-31-2004, 11:24 AM
"OMC made them until 1998"

I never knew that Barry. I thought they were all loopers by then.

Dargo
02-01-2004, 10:51 PM
I just got the chance to reply, I was out of town for a few days doing some ice fishing. Sounds like it could be a decent choice, I will keep it in mind when it comes time to start looking for hulls!

4-MULA-V
02-04-2004, 12:27 AM
I believe I talked to you at the Minneapolis Boat show, pay close attention to other areas on this site about Formula V. Some one is not happy with the current rule on boat length and might try to change it to a maximum of 16.5 feet. This might eliminate some of your choices. Why some one would want to limit the choices when they are limited already is beside me. Thanks again for stopping in at the show, if there is any thing I can do let me know. Jerry

Dargo
02-04-2004, 08:24 AM
Would that apply to the mod classes too? If that went through, is your Ally no longer legal? Bad news, sounds like that could really hurt the number of people competing. It would give people a good reason to not be involved anymore if they have to update their hull! Could cost big $$ in some cases.

4-MULA-V
02-06-2004, 01:40 AM
I talked to Mike W. (OPC Chairman) today he said we were OK to run the 20 foot boats after the decisions made at the national meeting. Both the Regional Class Formula V-II and the National class Formula V can use V- bottom boats from 13-20 feet, Hydrostreams, Baja, Checkmate, Vampire, Pacecraft, Lee Craft, Rapid Craft, Kritchfield, Royal Craft, Allison, are all welcome to come run in either class (stock or mod) Hope to see you and your buddies at the races or better yet in the races. Jerry

ssviper
11-15-2005, 05:25 PM
u can still run the drag boat? cool im thinking about running a bayliner i don't care if i smash that they really make waves dave g--

4-MULA-V
11-15-2005, 06:52 PM
I dont quite know what your talking about with the bayliner, but I have never seen any model of bayliner that would even begin to make a good race boat, We have access to several boats that would be a far better choice for you if you are truely interested in coming out racing. Let me know I can email you photos and price. Where are you located.

dangerou1944
11-16-2005, 09:17 AM
are any FV races held in the south? I am located in Ga. 15r Allison 1500xs

Jeff_G
12-01-2005, 11:25 AM
There are no Formula V races in the south. The lack of participation of drivers of all classes in Georgia and South Carolina caused the end of racing here. The Florida races do not support Formula V, not enough boats.
In addition some of us that created the class and raced it from the beginning have very differing opinions about what happened to the class. First of all a 20 foot boat and a 13 foot or even a 15 foot boat together is asking for trouble. Secondly the OPC commission after 9 years changed the class rules to run virtually any modification on a motor. Due to these two things there are no longer Formula V races in the south. I don't see the class surviving.

Not wanting to get in a pissing contest but I warned the competetors and the Commission the 20 foot boats and rule changes would be the final straw. It was.

mike woolf
02-24-2006, 11:02 PM
Well my hopes were getting high till that last little bit of information oh well maybe I can give these fishing boats a run for the money.....

4-MULA-V
02-25-2006, 12:32 PM
Well hello again Mr. Griggs, Like you say "not to get in a pissing contest" well if you dont want to then dont post your opinion as fact. Here are a couple of problems with your previous post.
1. Formula V in your region was dead long before the 20 foot boat came into existance. without members from region 8 you couldnt come up with the minimum boats to race.
2. Explain to me your problem with a 20 foot boat, The boat is lighter than the majority of 15-16 foot boats out there, the boat is by far the safest boat of anything out there including sst 120 and 150 boats. I say this because of something a 120 racer said to me, I would rather sit as deep down as you do in the 20 foot Allison and have 2-1/2 feet of material between me and the next boat than the 3/4" of capsule material in a tunnnel boat.
3. Which is safer: a 30 year old boat that was never designed to run with 2 times the horsepower they were rated for let alone the long shaft motors that tend to pull the transoms out of these old boats. OR a state of the art boat made from the latest materials, designed and capable of speed of over 120 mph, designed to handle v-6 power and is readily available to the general public in just about every state in the country.
4. When trying to get people into a class whats more appealing to the new racer, Searching the country for a 15 foot Allison that 9 times out of ten needs new stringers, transom and bunch of other work and then search for a short shaft mercury inline 6 or a 15 inch OMC even harder to find and then find a good mechanic to take what you have and modify it. By the time your done you have $7000.00 plus into something that when its all said and done is very hard to sell. Unlike Walts 20 foot Allison which was sold within 2 weeks after the last race, and get this, he made money on it after 2 seasons of racing.
We need boats that are readily available without needing to be completly resurected, Very few manufacturers still make 15 and 16 foot boats, Why you ask? Well I'm going to go out on a limb and guess they dont have a lot of people looking to buy them anymore. Oppening up the class to newer boats opens it to bigger boats, No where in the rules did it say a maximum length.
5. Region 8 has always been a firm believer in running stock motors, when it was VP-75 WE RAN STOCK, when I got into restarting the class over after they killed off VP-75 with the capsule rule, we ran Formula V as a stock class and did it with much success. What slowed the growth and lowered the boat count here in region 8 was when mod motors would show up and want to run in our club races against stock motors. We couldnt turn them away after all the rules allow it. Well it divided our class so instead of 8-9 boats we had 4 running in a mod class and the rest running in a stock class until the stock guys were forced to run with the mod ones to keep the boat count up. They eventually left the racing scene. Not being competitive is not fun for them and they didnt have or want to spent the time and money to modify motors for a class that WAS a success.
What kills classes is closed minded people not willing to accept change. they would rather complain than try to find new ideas to keep an already dying sport from dying. Jeff my suggestion woul be to let it go. I know it always bothered you that people in region 8 could win U.S 1 with stock boats but it was because we had drivers and we had 9-10 races a season to race at. We had a lot of sucess with stock motors and it was fun with 8-10 boats in a class at a local race.
We are going to give it another try in region 8 with stock motors, any inline 6 or V-4 production motor. The stock thing really helps level the playing field especially for the new guy. They dont have to worry about finding parts that havent been around in 20-30 years to be competitive. And for boats I think we open it up to any V-bottom, Hydrostreams, Allisons etc. This way the boats are plentiful, and can still be a dual purpose boat and retain there resale value. I would appreciate your input on what we can do to rebuild the class as well as improve it. Going by what region 8 drivers have mentioned to me it will be a stock class if it happens, We are wondering if we should allow the newer 100+ cu in. V-4 motors. what do you think. Our current classes that are most successful are all stock classes, Mini-GT, Sport-C, SST-60 why not go back to something that works? Jerry

4-MULA-V
02-25-2006, 07:00 PM
Jeff please go to the racers forum and add to the discussion titled "Formula-v, Mod VP and Super sport," we could really use your imput and maybe some other people you know also.