1986 Budweiser Indiana Governor's Cup
Turbine engines becoming popular
By Bob Walters, Star Staff Writer
Madison, Ind. — There aren't many rules In unlimited hydroplane racing.
That's why they call them unlimiteds.
The boats have to be 28 feet in length, and they must have a propeller in the water. The rest is up to the mechanics and drivers.
But three years ago the turbine engine entered the scene. The exotic engines, designed for helicopters, produce incredible horsepower and limitless torque with about 30 percent of the weight of piston motors.
The combination of weight and horsepower puts the turbines dearly in a class of their own, which is why a third rule has been added, limiting the turbine horsepower to 2,650.
"Actually it’s just a gentlemen's agreement this year"’ said defending Madison Regatta Governor's Cup champion Steve Reynolds, pilot of the turbine powered Miss 7-Eleven. "Next year it will be in the book, but for now it's Just something we’ve agreed to for the good of the sport."
Last year the turbine engines, Lycoming Dash-11s, pumped out 3,700 horsepower. This year a smaller version of the same engine. the Dash-7. Is the only turbine approved by the Unlimited Racing Commission and produces the agreed-upon 2,650 horsepower.
Most of the boats on the unlimited circuit still use the reciprocal (piston) power plants. Last year there were two turbine boats, Reynolds' and the Miller American driven by Chip Hanauer. They have been joined this year by the Miss Budweiser Turbine driven by Jim Kropfeld.
"I’m really glad we've decided to limit the turbine horsepower," Reynolds said. "It puts the onus of speed on the technical end. Rather than Just putting more horsepower in what amounts to a Model A Ford, it's going to become more and more important to come up with new designs."
The most muscular boat on the circuit is the piston-powered Miss Budweiser, which packs a 4,000 horsepower Rolls Royce Griffon airplane engine that dates back to World War II. But as its current driver. Scott Pierce, notes, "Even with all that horsepower, it was at a disadvantage to the turbines last year because of the weight. This boat weighs 9,000 pounds with 4,000 horsepower, but the turbine boats weighed closer to 6,000 pounds with 3,700 horsepower. Obviously the new rule evens up the power-to-weight ratios."
Most of the other piston boats run Allison aircraft engines that develop around 2,500 horsepower, but the overall weight of the boats are on a par with the turbines. A turbine engine alone weighs roughly 700 pounds while all the piston engines weigh approximately 2,000 pounds.
Kropfeld has driven both Bud boats. “I like the turbine better because it’s livelier, more responsive," he said. "It handles more like a sports car where the other is a Cadillac." Hanauer downplays the effect of the new rule. "Last year we ran both the Dash-11 and Dash 7, and so did Reynolds. Personally. I like the Dash 7 better because it’s a stronger motor.
"Anyway you go. the turbine is a win-win situation. It has better acceleration, less weight and a better top end. Take any turbine boat against any piston boat, both running up to their potential, and the turbine is going to win 99 percent of the time.
"If the aim of the new rule is to even up the competition, then it really hasn’t worked. So what does that mean to the sport? "The sport is at a crossroads," Hanauer insists. "If you get rid of the turbines and aircraft engines and go to automotive power. there's no doubt in my mind this would be the finest motor sport in the world.
"What fans want to see is boats running deck to deck. When they arrive for the race on Sunday they wouldn't know which of 10 or 15 boats is going to win, rather than which one of three or four like it is now.
"Now if you mention changing to automotive power to Bernie Little, it would be like talking about communism."
"Automotive power" means modified marine engines or auto racing engines in the hydroplanes instead of the Griffon. Merlin and Allison piston aircraft engines currently used.
Little is the owner of the Miss Budweiser and Miss Budweiser Turbine boats, and Hanauer had Little’s reaction to the automotive idea right on the money.
"That would be the dumbest thing to ever happen to this sport," Little said. "If a guy coming into this sport doesn't have the money to get with a turbine program, then there are plenty of other racing circuits he can go on. I say don’t screw up this sport."
There is a definite romance associated with the unlimiteds because they are hybrids, unrelated to anything else In any type of racing on land or water.
But one part of the romance is disappearing with the turbines, and that is the thundering, ear-splitting roar of the piston engines. Miss Budweiser, with its 4,000 horsepower Griffon, is positively deafening.
The turbines sound more like a giant Electrolux, the sound of the water slapping the hull louder than the whine of the engine.
"That noise is part of what the spectators pay to be a part of." said Tom D’Eath, driver of the Joe Ricci Spirit of America, formerly the Squire Shop boat. "To me we've lost touch of what interests the spectator. We don’t have the noise, and the new enclosed cockpits have segregated the crowd from the driver. It could be a robot in there for all anyone knows."
Whether the sport is at its crossroads, head waters or muddy waters is hard to say. But the fine whine of the turbines has definitely become the toast of unlimited hydroplane racing.
(Reprinted from The Indianapolis Star, July 6, 1986)