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We have had many people contribute to the growth of T Class in Ontario. We have also made mistakes that have hurt us. The purpose of this thread is to outline what we did right and also what we did wrong so we do not repeat the mistakes in the future.

The Rights!
We wanted to bring EP V bottom style racing back in its original form without the APBA rule changes that caused it to disappear in North America. Those changes included safety cells, larger motors, mod motors and larger boat sizes. We knew there was no way we could bring it back under OPC rules because they would never drop the cell rule.
APBA, CBF are both governed by UIM. UIM has classes run world wide and one of these classes was T Class. TWO V bottom classes with no cells and very similar to the old CBF EP/FV class. The next step was to find a way to get T class going in Ontario. The timing was good at TORC because they needed growth and T was more like a SO class and not like an OPC class.
Plus there were no OPC classes running in Ontario. They had all died.
TORC people stepped up to help to get the T class approved at CBF and we were RACING.

We needed to get the race boats in the area racing so we did a lot of promotion and made rule changes to increase the boat count.
We were lucky that several former EP racers returned to racing and a special thanks has to go to Paul at Top Gun who provided race boats and motors to most of the racers.

Once we had the boat count we needed to tighten up and be more strict on the rules both Safety and Tech.

The Wrongs!
One of the wrongs was trying to satisfy everyone in the class. We made too many rules changes to suit individual people or small groups with in T850 class. Many of those people are not even racing now. We lost many racers because of Tech rules [that really made NO difference in the racing], but cost money for the racers.
The problem was all the inexperience in the class. Tech rule changes they thought would make the class better have not worked. The boat count is down. We adjusted TOO FAST in T850. We grew too fast!
The good news is we have not made the same mistake in T750. That class is still the same basic UIM T750 class.
It is growing slower but without the issues

I was asked to explain a bit more about the mistake we made in T850 tech rule changes.
In short here is what happened.
The original UIM rule for the class was a maximum displacement of 53 cubic inches.
The most common motor in the area in the class was the 56 OMC.
The 2000 and up version of that motor was legal in FV.
Racers wanted to race them in the T850.
We allowed them in and immediately had a problem.
The racers were not running 2000 and up models. They brought SST 60 and other mod motors.
We spend 2 years race testing 56 motors with different heads.
Result: We found that 145 to 155 lbs compression made both the SST 60 and the fishing motor equal in stock form.
The 160 compression rule as put in place.
Simple and it made the Yamaha, the 49 OMC and the 56 close in performance. Speeds were 66 to 69 mph.
In my opinion we should have left it right there for a few years.
We did not!
We instead got into altered stock and mod motors.
In 2014 T850 had speeds 75 plus. It became a one motor class. The 56.
We have racers now running different motors.
Several racers are tired of the rule changes and are not going to build another motor.
Others raced in 2015 with an illegal motor.
All of this hurts the class.
The sad part is. You need the complete package to win. Boat set up, motor, driver and Luck.
The motor is not the most important part.
The problem is getting racers away from thinking it is.

From: Gord
Sent: January-18-16 10:21 AM
To: Don Whittington
Subject: 56 OMC T850 engine specs?
Don, thanks for sending me the T rules. I am not sure if I will race, but, if I rebuild my motor I want to make it legal.
I am not an engine guy and the porting is a mystery to me. What should I do?

Gord, I know you visit this site so I thought it best to answer here.
First you are not alone.

Your block is a production 1986-7, 56 cu. inch 70 hp fishing motor. It has all the right stuff to be a competitive T850 motor and a long lasting lake runner as well. I have never blue printed one of these. In the test comparisons mentioned, the fishing motor powerheads were all non rebuilt motors I got for $500.00 or less. The only thing I did was run smaller than stock CC heads. The compression readings ranged from 135 to 163 depending on the head and how tired the motor was. Nothing else was done. The powerheads were all raced tested. The best motors were 145 to 155 compression. In that range every motor on any of the T boats ran between 66 to 69 mph. All were competitive. The 66 mph ones accelerated better and got to 66 mph faster than the ones that ran 69 mph. That difference is what you would expect from stock production motors. It also tells you what a good race-prep power head will run...69 to 71 mph with acceleration. THAT IS EXACTLY WHERE THEY DO RUN BASED ON RACERS THAT HAVE RACE-PREP 56 FISHING MOTORS.
So my advise is to blue print the motor and just clean up and match the port it to run 145 to 155 lbs compression. No need to do more and it is 100% legal if you decide to race.
Sign up to race for a weekend!!!