Why Few NAMBA Santioned FE Races ?

[Flyguy55]

NAMBA has a set of FE rules. It appears to me that few if any clubs follow these rules very closely except at the Nationals. And in the case of OPC tunnel a gentleman's agreement on limited spec. motors , there too. Was a National Championship awarded ? According to the E mail answers I've received from the national officers and leaders this is encouraged. And there is reluctance to fix the problem areas .
Example

I like OPC tunnels . I raced full size OPC tunnels and Nitro tunnels for over 30 yrs.
I woulf like to race FE OPC tunnels.
When I looked at the rules , there are only 4 .
Its listed as P class
The second rule says the rules are not a supplement to nitro rules and FE must not comply. See General racing Rules. No mention of a tunnel hull in the general racing rules, just a simple drawing.
The third rule says it must be an outboard tunnel with no description of what that is , or specs.
The forth says the motor must be mounted behind the transom .
pretty simple rules

No rule against a four point hydro , it could have a tunnel , and look like the sketch.
Can the motor be locked down , and steered with a separate rudder.
Can a hull be pickle forked almost to the transom, and the sponsons be supported my CF tubes ?
No requirement for a driver or canopy
The list is long , not much is illegal according to the rules.
Is this as it should be ?
My opinion , no
FE OPC should resemble boats that have been or are being raced , with drivers inside.

Excuses I recived for not fixing the FE OPC rules . Officers are volunteers and are busy.
There is not enough interest in FE OPC.
Printing and mailing costs
Non FE members are tired of seeing FE rule changes. There have been more FE rule changes in the last few yrs then in the last 40 yrs in other divisions.

Maybe there isn't much interest in FE OPC because the rules are lacking ?

I had time . I wrote a proposal and sent a copy to the pertinent officers for review. Surprisingly , only my dist. director , who knows nothing about FE , asked any questions or made comments. He does race nitro OPC.
After a comment period of a month or so I submitted the proposal to my district director in the early spring. So far the rule procedure for submitting proposals are not being followed about a district vote. ( I'm not surprised , FE doesn't follow there own rules very good) :-)
This leads to a lack of sanctioned races , doesn't it ?
Maybe something will happen at the end of the season .

I raced my FE OPC a weeked ago with the 3.5 tunnels . Maybe I can get a class going , there was some interest . But it would be another local class
Grin .

Is anyone else interested in FE OPC ?

[Jay Turner]

A regional sanctioned* race is a lot of work to put on, I know. Most FE clubs are pretty small, and even those with a large membership have relatively few members who will actually help put on such a race. There are not nearly as many FE boaters as there are fuel boaters - far fewer clubs with far fewer members each. If you put on a regional race, you get few travelers attending so it ends up being - in many instances - a large club race with a few visitors. It is hardly worth the trouble for most clubs. The 2007 FE Nationals got 146 boats for a four-day event - the local gas club gets 250+ for an informal weekend practice race prior to the Gas Nationals.

It is a matter of scale. The reailty is that the rules - imperfect as they may be - do nothing to inhibit sanctioned regional FE races. There has never been much interest in OPC racing due mostly to the complexity and lack of choice and cost of the hardware.

* Few FE clubs bother to pay the fee for a "sanctioned" race even though they may have club racing twice a month - as the HOTMBC does. The sanction really just makes sure that your event does not fall on the date of another sanctioned event in the same part of the country so as not to draw racers to another event. Few FE clubs have to worry about that.


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[Flyguy55]

I mentioned santioned events because Doug Peterson said in another thread there there were no NAMBA santioned events in the mid west. I didnt want to hijack his thread. I havent seen one anywhere.
OPC is no more complex then putting together a mono or hydro. Maybe less . There are lots of hull choices , out of date nitro hulls are reasonable. An Aquacraft Top Speed 2 hull kit sells for 90$ new and complete with everything but motor mount and O/B motor , sometimes less with discount deals. There may be a RTR FE tunnel in the future :-)
There are several choices of lower units available. Fuller sells the REK lower complete with adaptor for about the same or little less then his hydro and Mono hardwater set ups.
Lawless and Hyperperformance also have units available, as does Randy at Blew By You .
An OS or K & B lower can be modified quiet easily. The same motors , cheap or expensive , work on the units.
Only 4 holes to drill into the hull to mount the outboard to the hull.

Imperfect rules ? your very kind Jay :-)

If LSH or LSO , or Sport Hydro , or Offshore or any other special event had as few written rules as OPC how would they have grown ? THe arguments would keep most people from racing the class.
Does lack of guidlines keep OPC from being popular . I think its a factor .

A bigger factor before Lipos was weight . My TS2 with Lipos was as light or lighter then the 3 other nitro TS2s I raced with.

[DPeterson]

Hi Flyguy,

Don't give up on OPC yet. I own 2 tunnels, have scratch built one and am starting another scratch. Coming from a scale background I absolutely love this class. In our Madison Area Fast Electric club we have around 4 of these running and our good friends from Minnesota that we run with also has around 3-4.

Don't give up on NAMBA yet either. There is alot of behind the curtains discussion taking place about revamping the NAMBA class structure that is intended to be all inclusive for all racers. (beginners, budget racers and big spenders) And your right, the rules need work for OPC. Get some ready.

Lately though none of us in this area run or build much. We are all kind of in limbo. Waiting for the right set of rules. Waiting for some of our club friends to purchase lipos etc.

Doug P.

[Flyguy55]

Thanks Doug
I think there is more interest then the NAMBA FE leadership thinks there is.

This is the proposal I submmitted

OPC HULL SPECIFICATIONS

The hull shall be of tunnel configuration with no restrictions as to size, weight or type of construction.
( note , this rule needs to be amended if , when length rules are adopted )

A hull shall be classified as a tunnel (Catamaran) as follows:
1. “Tunnel” of any design, width or depth which runs the full length of the hull.
2. “Tunnel” will connect two unbroken outer hulls or sponsons that also run the entire length of the hull. Picklefork designs
accepted. No outrigger configuration.
3. Sponsons or hulls may be of any design and may include “stepped” surfaces on the wetted running sponson bottom of not more
than 1/8” in depth. The 1/8” steps may not be less than five inches apart if used across the sponson. An alternative to this specification would be unlimited number of steps at any spacing as long as the aggregate change in elevation does not exceed 1/8”per sponson.
Only one step may be used, if used lengthwise on the sponson. Lengthwise step may be used in conjunction with
steps across the sponsons providing all intersection points measure 1/8” or less.
(Note: The intent of the rule is to discourage the racing of hydro hulls in the OPC Tunnel Class.)
4. No boat shall be allowed with a “recessed or picklefork bow” exceeding 30% of the overall hull length. Air slots or vents in the center hull will be subtracted from overall length.
5. General design of a tunnel hull will be similar to full size OPC Tunnel Hulls. Imaginative painting, striping, company logos and
lettering schemes may be added and are encouraged.
a. Open cockpit hulls must include a scale-like driver with at least head and shoulders.
b. Enclosed cockpit hulls must have a cross section, at least 2” wide by 2-1/2” high .
that simulates the OPC Driver Cockpit. The cockpit must be represented by transparen t materials, contrasting paint or other means that give the general scale appearance of an enclosed cockpit.

[DPeterson]

Thanks Dick,

Much more entailed than I would have imagined. I have printed off a copy and will use to go by when I begin building again.

Doug P.

[doozie870]

Flyguy Ill try one, its nice to see something different that doesnt cost a ton.. most of the boats out there are just "blah" to me for some reason.

[Flyguy55]

Hi Doozie
I ran it at San Isebell , but it was pretty rough and I had 2 boats to get ready. I'm planning on going next race , I'll bring the TS2 along. The new course ought to be great for tunnels. 1/8 mile I hear.
I also have a new N2 and my Pmono should be ready to maiden . My P is set up for Lipos , so I wont race it there this year. Interesting set up :-)

Dick