| For years, I had thought the most fun you can have in your bath tub was to get your little rubber duckie, (or big rubber duckie), out and have a play!! Well how wrong was I? |
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Scott Turchin writes:
Bathtub racing began in the mid 1960's racing actual bathtubs with an outboard motor installed. It has since then developed into a highly competitive sport.
The "Tubs" are constructed of fiberglass and in some cases lightweight kevlar and are generally molded from an actual cast iron bathtub, inserted onto a hull and painted up. |
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Most races are circuit races and consist of 10 to 15 laps around a 1 mile course. There are currently three classes of racers, Stock, Modified, and Super-Modified.
Stock is stock and no modifications are allowed to the engine, but modified are allowed to run Cleaver props and work on the lower unit to the engine, Super-Modified has no limits other than they must use factory parts. |
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The top speed for the Super-modifieds has finally broken 40mph (64km/h) but the Stock boats generally run between 25 and 28mph (40-45 km/h).
Then there is the "Great Race" - a 36 mile race out in the open waters of the Straights of Georgia. In the 40th anniversary race in 2006 there was a 35mph wind and 11 foot (3.5m) swells. |
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Forty eight tubbers started the 40th anniversary Great Race but only 21 finished.
In the past the race was held between Nanaimo on Vancouver Island and ran across the straights to Vancouver on the mainland, now it is still a 36 mile race but circules back to Departure Bay in Naniamo. |
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| For more information visit my website |
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| The TubbersInc website |
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| The official bathtubbing website |
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| Words and photographs courtessy of Scott Turchin |
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| For more related sites check out the Extreme Dreams Links Page |
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