FWIW, it used to air on Speedvision.
Matt Murray
mailto:mattm@optonline.net
mailto:mdmurray@gwns.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Rocky Entriken <RENTRIKEN/0003006623@MCIMAIL.COM>
To: Team.Net <autox@autox.team.net>; CeePee <cp@twingles.com>
Date: Saturday, July 31, 1999 7:56 PM
Subject: boat-o-cross
>Just saw something weird and wild on ESPN2 -- they call it jet
sprinting.
>>From New Zealand, although at the end they said there would be a
couple of
>rounds in the USA next year, one in Idaho, the other ... I forget.
Wisconsin?
>
>autocross in boats.
>
>Event site is this area that looks like a double figure-8 carved into
the
>ground and filled with water, most of it rather narrow. I don't know
fir sure
>but it looked like the water may have been somewhere between waist-
to
>shoulder-high at most.
>
>Boats go one at A time on a predetermined course through the
channels, taking
>a run of 50-55 seconds. Now I wanna tell ya, these things HANDLE.
Driver comes
>to a turn, cranks that sucker over and it sends A 25-foot rooster
tail out as
>it cuts the turn.
>
>No pylons. the course loops back and forth through the channels,
retracing
>several sections. How do they keep track of where it goes? Each boat
has a
>navigator who directs the driver with hand signals, left, right,
straight.
>I'd guess he's the one with the map. Imagine an autocross with
options of
>left turn here or right, and what do you do next time you arrive
here? So
>maybe it is more like Pro Rally on water.
>
>Of course, instead of a 2-second pylon penalty, cut the course edge
too close
>and you are "on the beach", which can get really interesting. One
boat dis
>... did a basic spinout, about 1-1/2 around. But another ... it hit
one island
>semi-sideways, launched, and then it was
sky-ground-sky-water-sky-ground before
>he hit on the next island over. Then I noticed, these boats have roll
cages!
>
>Announcers mentioned one had a 410 Chevy (!) for power so these are
definitely
>CP-type boats. Fascinating. But I wanter what the application was for
the boat
>that had the Firestone sticker on its side?
>
>Instead of best-time like we do in Solo, they ran a bracket more like
drag
>racing. Two boats match, the best time of those two go on to the next
round.
>Kinda like my Mirror Khana, keep winning and you keep running. But
imagine a
>drag race with only a one-lane race track and it is purely a timed
thing.
>
>If you put C Prepared on water, this is what it would be!
>
>--Rocky Entriken
>
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