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Question: Hounddog I was at the Gravenhurst races on Sunday and watched the T850 boats race. They all just jump when the drivers hit the gas. They are way faster than I expected and way faster than my 70 hp Voodoo. What makes them so fast?

Harry Wilson the announcer at the races does an excellent job. He is very knowledgeable about the other classes at the event, but not about the T850 class.

Here is the difference. Your Voodoo is powered by a 49 cubic inch, long shaft OMC and runs low 50 mph.

The T850 boats can run the 49 cubic in OMC motor, but the rules allow you to run up to 60 cubic inch. All of the motors at that race were 56 cubic inch OMC. The 56 cubic inch motor has a super stock version called the SST 60. The T850 boats can run similar engine versions. All of the motors are short shaft similar to the SST 60 and run a smaller gearcase with a higher gear ratio. The T850 motors are approximately 20 hp greater than the 70 hp Harry talks about. The boats don’t run 70 mph......the top boats run 75 mph plus on the race course and 79 to 80 mph on the lake.
Gordon Racing has some excellent videos on this site. In one Eric Gordon explains that a T850 raceboat is similar to running a car in 3rd gear rather than 4th gear. In 3rd gear the car has much faster acceleration, but not as much top end. But that gearing makes them faster running around the race course..
So to answer your question:
The T850 boat is lighter, has much more horsepower, it’s a race motor running 7500 rpm and it’s set up to accelerate rather than for top speed. So they are much faster than your Voodoo in both speed and acceleration.

“How did TClass become part of the Stock Outboard Group?”

Out of necessity! Is the reason.
I wanted to bring my favorite raceboat class back. All Outboard Performance Craft (OPC) died after Professional Powerboat Racing folded in the early 2000’s. The American Power Boat Association had tried a few V bottom classes SSV and FV and they all died.
There was a class in Europe call T Class that was active, but not recognized in CBF or APBA.

The first step was to talk to the executive of Toronto Outboard Racing Club (TORC) to see if they would first be interested in having a new class as part of their program and if so would they support me in presenting my new class to the CBF board for “possible “ approval.

TORC was open to looking at my idea and helped with the initial wording and structure so the class would fit as a Stock Outboard Class and not have to follow the rules for an OPC class like the UIM T Class in Europe. That was tricky and required a few years of presentations and wording changes.

I am very thankful to TORC and to CBF for their continued support of T Class. Our first year was 2010. It’s still the only OPC class Racing in Canada.
But, it is really a true Stock Outboard Class .
It’s Stock Outboard category is VPR....V production runabout
Same safety gear as the other Stock Outboard classes including cut suits.
It has its own rule book.
It’s become a good fit within TORC and many T Boat racers also race in other classes .

Let’s not forget the Gordon Group and the Coulter family for their continued support of T Class.
The future is 4 stroke and electric....T can lead the way.

“Could other OPC classes also fit into the Stock Outboard Division?”

YES, but only the lower classes that don’t require safety cells or cages. That’s one reason why the small tunnels are a good fit in Stock Outboard Division. The largest engine class in UIM that doesn’t require a safety cell is S750. Same motors as the T750 class only on a small tunnel.
The small tunnels running in Asia run motors up tp 50 hp. These boats look similar in size to the Stock Outboard hydroplanes except their a tunnel design. The tunnel is much better suited to run the stock 15 inch production outboards be they two stroke or four stroke. And with transom mounted water pickups they are very fast and fun to drive.
The cost to build a wood tunnel would be similar to building wood hydroplane. The boat could still be a kneel down boat same as the hydroplane. The cost for the motor is far less compared to a Stock Outboard race motor and the performance is likely equal or better. Once successful tunnels are built in wood a mould can be made and those boats will cost less to build.
To get started you only need a few boats so people can see them race.

I am currently getting parts together for a kneel down S750. I have the boat which needs to be modified. I have an OMC 45 cubic inch manual start 15 inch midsection, SST.45 tuner, 1:9 ratio gearcase case and a transom water pickup system. Hope to have it tested on 6 mile next summer. We need to see how it runs compared to the T boats.