PORT ANGELES — You can’t escape the roar of a revved-up Sprint Boat, regardless of classification.
Rumbles range from more of a high-pitched whine for a Modified class boat, which allows engines up to 368 cubic inches; a deeper hum in the 400 class with engines from 400 to 412 inches, and a bass-heavy, throaty purr in the Unlimited class with no restriction on engine size.
Speed, handling and displacement are the goals as the vehicles tear around the track, wake flying everywhere as the boats slalom around man-made islands in a race against the clock.
With racers pushing the pedal down to the floor, stresses and strains can wreak havoc on the boat’s machinery.
That’s what happened to the Wicked Racing No. 10 team of driver Dan Morrison and his stepdaughter, navigator Cara McGuire.
“Two years ago we blew her [the boat’s motor] up racing in Albany, Oregon,” Morrison said.
“The rest of the year we had to borrow motors for races to finish out the season.”
Morrison already was planning on improving his boat. Technology had advanced so far in the time since he first raced his Unlimited class machine that he felt his craft had become a little dated, a little stale.
“The old hull wanted to hop around when we made the real tight corners and you just can’t have that,” Morrison said.
“You’re giving up seconds when that boat starts bouncing.”
The seized motor forced his hand into moving forward with an improved hull, a motor capable of faster speeds and a bulked up pump, a crucial factor in moving through the water course.
“After Albany was when we really decided this was the time to put the hull together, put the new engine together and see what it’s all about,” Morrison said.
Most importantly, though, was smoothing out the boat’s glide through the water and handling in and out of corners.
With design help from Morrison and the Wicked Racing crew, the hull was manufactured by Armstrong Marine of Port Angeles.
“The cornering was the main aspect we wanted to improve,” Morrison said.
“This new hull, it’s laying down and not coming up out of the water and digging and dragging in the corners. We made it narrower and it dives down in the water better.
“It’s been a real big improvement for us.”
Getting everything just right and waiting on parts was a lengthy process, resulting in the Morrison/McGuire pairing missing the 2013 Sprint Boat season.
“From when we decided to build the roll cage and position the motor in the boat, it probably took us close to a year,” Morrison said.
“We weren’t working on it day in, day out, but there were lots of pieces that had to be designed and custom built and then assembled.
“My good buddies Martin Hammel and Dan Konopaski and myself built that roll cage.”
One of those pieces was a custom fuel cell built to the boat’s specifications and installed in a new spot lower on the boat’s hull.
“The thinking behind what we do is to put the weight low is the trick,” Morrison said.
“So we installed the fuel cell, slammed the seats to the ground, and put the motor at the bottom of the boat so it handles more like a go-kart.
“There’s nothing really magical about that, but it takes some headscratching in the garage to figure out.”
After winning the first race of the season in June, the Wicked team has come up agonizingly short in the early August race in Port Angeles and again at the second trip to St. John two weekends ago.
“We’ve been working on trying to figure out the exact pitch needed to push the water through the pump in the most efficient way,” Morrison said.
“As the races go on, the water gets stirred up and gets thicker and it’s harder to push the boat.
“Towards the end of races it’s been more like peanut butter than water so we have to constantly work at spacing the blades differently.”
Morrison is hopeful that after three races he and his crew have been missing in the last lap.
“I think we can gain those few hundredths of a second we’ve been missing and come out on top.”
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5152 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
