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T class is different to the other race classes in the number of motor makes and models allowed. The class grew because we allowed illegal boats to race. Originally our top boats were legal or close to legal. Many of the illegal boats ran mid pack or back of the pack, so it did not matter. The competition was very equal and if a racer did not get a top 4 start they never finished top 3. That's why you hear, many T racers say "Just come out and race". The large boat count made it fun for everyone until the mod 56 rule made the performance difference so large that it was not fun for the majority of the racers. So they stopped coming out. As one six mile racer said to me....."I can have more fun playing with the T guys on the lake on a Saturday night than being lapped in a T850 race".

what is this mod 56 rule?

[quote="mattmak"what is this mod 56 rule?[/quote]

It is the current CBF T850 TECH rule that allows you to modify the porting on the OMC 56 cubic inch fishing motor.

"Engine ports maybe altered but may not exceed the homologation specifications (if available) for the particular motor."

Is that what you describe as "mod"?

Or am I missing some details that you folks sorted out during the formative years 2010 to 2015..?

That part of the rule talks specifically about the bridge port/SST60, which has a spec sheet.

So the oval port OMC 56 can not be "mod", but only blueprinted (port matched to the "best" port and the best port left untouched)?

The SST-60 cannot have altered ports. Just clean up only. However, the stock 56 cid Bridgeport can have ports modified to match the SST-60 port spec sheet. That helps the stock 56 blocks upgrade to the SST-60 performance specs. The 160 psi compression holds true for all motors.

That makes sense to me, Thom.
So the oval port also cannot have altered ports - just cleaned up only (or matched, as I stated above)?

Matt, I will try to tie all the pieces together for you.
The 56 OMC bridge port is the ONLY motor in T class under CBF rules that you are allowed to modify the ports. That was the rule change.
Racers were allowed to port the motor to the SST60 spec.
The parts book shows the jet size for the fishing motor at 64 to 65.......the SST60 parts book has one jet size 73.
An original 56 bridge port 70 hp fishing motor is 70 hp at the prop shaft. with 64 or 65 jets.
An SST60 motor was designed as a tunnel hull motor not a V bottom [super stock tunnel...SST]...IMPORTANT FACT.
Thru trial and error several racers found that they could modify the fishing motor ports to produce a better suited motor for a V bottom.
Horsepower increases with the amount of fuel the motor can burn.
In a 2 stroke it is based on the ratio of fuel to air mixture thru the carb. Since both the fishing motor and SST60 share the same carb. The jet size does control the fuel mixture and horsepower.
They found that even with a 73 jet the modified fishing 56 was better on a T boat than the SST60....It had MUCH better acceleration at 160 lbs compared to the 160 SST60.
So just looking at the jet size the fishing motor went from a 64 to a 73.......9 sizes larger than stock.....That motor was quicker on the oval than the other motors......72 to 73 mph with acceleration.....
The last mod 56 powerheads run 76 jets and run 75 to 77 mph with acceleration.....the original T boats ran 64 to 70 mph.

Just to clarify for those lake runners who think that its the boat with the highest top speed that wins in circle racing.....NOT NECESSARILY TRUE!
Its the boat with the fastest total lap time [ET] that is the faster boat.
So even-though a lake runner runs 75 plus mph it does not mean it can beat a 72 mph T boat of the oval.
When we were racing a Waterford one year and I had GPS speeds.....I also than the lap times for the same boats.
Riley's Critchfield 56 [1986] fishing motor ran 70 mph, Scott Whittington's Baker SSV pure SST60 ran 69 mph, Chris's VooDoo Fast Fred Yamaha ran 68 mph, Jim Whittington's Critchfield yamaha 70CES ran 67 mph.
Jim Whittington was 1.5 seconds faster in lap time than the rest.

I've been sandbagging for many years...just waiting for my chance to "pounce" and win.

If I remember correctly the "mod rule" came after those motors were actually running in the class. The reason the rule was made was to allow those guys (everyone) to keep running legally. As soon as we made the 56 legal there were mod 56's running. IMO that was the fun part of the class...lose the politics and bs and make racing fun again...MRFA

TORC in 2018 we had 2 T850 boats listed both with 0 points......the class is dead.
We need to rebuild the class.....Maybe it built too fast?.....Maybe we should have been stronger in enforcing the rules right from the start, had a smaller boat count and slowly built the class? Right now we don't have enough racers in T850 to have politics....as for bs....???