I started this thread, because I heard that “He That Cheats Best Wins” from several very experienced racers over the years. It was an attitude that had been handed down from the previous generation to them and they were passing it on to the next group.
This is a very good “accurate post” from another thread.
dandrews wrote:
It depends on how detailed you want to get with an engine. Do you weigh cranks, rods, flywheel, etc and put together the lowest weight rotating assembly, that includes driveshaft and some other things I won't get into. The name of the game with outboards is decreasing friction and weight to make rpm and you need to have high compression to go with it. Who's running top rings with the bottom ones just being along for the ride? There's crank work to be done to get rpm also. Back to the piston rings for a second, there are things done on ring prep that make a big difference also, I won't get into that here. The starting point for anyone wanting to build up any 2 stroke engine is Gordon Jennings 2 Stroke Theory Handbook. The difference between a stock and mod engine is not as much as people may think. They allow blueprinting within the specs so automatically everyone is blueprinting their engines. There is also obscure info out there that not everyone is privy to when it comes to parts on a particular motor. Grey area? Plenty of that, for example they allow any bearing. Ok, a bushing is a bearing. What if I replace a needle or a ball with a clearanced (.001-.002) bushing? See how much friction I just reduced. Yes the name of the game is elapsed time especially on the short courses we run now.
There are two classes...Stock & Modified. If you want to cheat run in a modified class. At the higher levels of boat racing the cheaters get caught . That’s one reason why they generally don’t race there. At the grass roots level it’s the honor system. I few bad apples in a class can spoil the whole crop. Hear say BS and don’t give a damn attitude spreads, especially with new entries.
“I am just here to have fun”. That’s a coverup most of the time. If the boat races at every race and runs mid pack...that racer is there for the fun of racing. If the boat is top three that racer is there to win! The spec rules for stock classes have few “grey areas”. You must run the original equipment as it came from the factory with a few exemptions and those are stated. The spec rules are easy to follow provided you want to follow them.
