We
are in Chamberlain, South Dakota after a
couple long days driving through the mid-west from Quebec. This is a nice location on the
Missouri River about half way between Sioux Falls
and Rapid City.
The ULHRA will put on an exhibition tomorrow – but the UL-13 Washington Asset
Management is out of commission until we get back to the shop. The boat just
doesn’t stay afloat long with a six foot hole in the bottom…
Turns out Kayleigh is sick and her doctor has advised her not to drive the
UL-72 Miss Boat Electric until she her health improves. Phil approaches me to
see if I can fill in, driving the UL-72 for the exhibition in the morning.
Guess I’ll have something more to do than sit in the stands and talk with
sponsors and fans tomorrow. Great decks and restaurants at the Cedar Shore
Resort, this will be a nice place to put on a race – if a bit remote for
team travel.
Thursday night:
The
Missouri River may prove to be a challenging course.
The wind picks up quite a bit in the afternoon and can create standing waves
going up the backstretch. During the testing session I keep the UL-72 down
around 6500 rpm. We are here to put on a demonstration not break equipment and
I certainly don’t want to break another teams boat. Never the less I have
to say that I am suitably impressed with the UL-72, even at 5500 rpm coming off
the corner the boat is in the air and accelerates well. I have never driven
anything other than the UL-13 and the handling characteristics are very
different. This is a wake up call, if we are going to be competitive at the
level we want to be we’re going to have to look at substantial equipment modifications
next season.
Morning
testing goes fine, although the G-329 incurs damage so there will only be three
of us out on the course for the exhibition race. After four laps of lead
changes the UL-8 with Michael Flaherty crosses the line first with J. Craig in
the UL-72 just behind in second and the UL-83 with WilMuncey third. I think the spectators were impressed
and enthusiastic, hydroplane racing is definitely
something new for this area.
