Safety Innovations and Hull Design Changes

D.C., where three drivers died in one day . And they decided that, you know, maybe we need to do something different. Building materials had changed after the events of the 1966 Presidents Cup, but they wanted to make them safer. The problem was that the old propellers had too much lift for the excessive thrust they provided. So, if you look at videos of old boats, you 'll see that the rooster's tail is very high and comes right out of the stern of the boat. But that means all your energy is also directed there. So, there's too much lift to compensate for that. This pit. This is a 1973 Pan Pack. They carved out the front of the boat, and that was the beginning of the pickle fork design. And if you look around, you 'll see that Squire Shop has it. Griffin Bud has it. Atlas Van Line has it. This was the next step in the evolution of racing design. And it was done for safety, not because it was cool. Safety, because if it was going to go nose to nose, if there's nothing here, then there's nothing to grab onto. So the bolt would n't hit the nose. He would just come in and go out. Would that help with lift, also, so it doesn't get a little bloated? But how the wing works depends on the angle of attack at the bottom of the pit. You can see that there is another opening at the back with a much more pronounced angle of attack. So the greater the angle of attack, the more efficiently the wing works. Interesting. So do these things only turn left or also right ? You could turn right, but the races were only with left turns, like in NASCAR. Yes. So these holes at the bottom are asymmetrical? Hmm, when you go to newer designs, there is a difference between the left and right sponson. And perhaps the biggest difference lies in this. This was a Griffin Budweiser design by Ron Jones , son of Ted Jones, in the late 70s. And this boat had an offset cockpit. You can see that the engine in the cockpit is above the internal sponsor. And Ron felt that the widest and deepest part of the sponson should be on the outside, not the inside, as was the case on previous boats. So Ron specifically made these sponsons so that the outer edge gave them a wider stance on the water.