P1: Series newsletter 2009-12-14

THE BRITISH ARE COMING...BACK

Team 26 Racing Returns to Florida for Additional Testing

In advance of the 2010 Powerboat P1 World Championship season, Team 26 Racing is returning to Florida to debug some gremlins discovered after its Donzi's impressive but ill-fated U.S. racing debut at Key West in November.

Driver and team principal, Daniel Cramphorn and throttleman Kim Collins have planned an extended Team 26 round of high-speed testing from late December through mid-January at the Sarasota, Florida home of Donzi Marine, where their boat was taken following the 29th Annual Key West World Championship.

The British boys started strong in Key West with a first place finish in their first time out, but failed to finish in the subsequent two rounds of racing. As Cramphorn explains it, "We discovered we had a cooling problem with the engines when running fast in flat water, which we had not experienced before as the boat had been setup for European racing. So while the rougher conditions of the first race [in Key West] suited us well, the smooth conditions highlighted the problem."

Team 26 Racing competed at higher speeds in Key West than during the Powerboat P1 season. "Since there shall be a slight relaxation of the safety speed restrictions for the 2010 P1 season, we really need to get on top of that," Cramphorn said. "We already have a good idea of what was causing the problems in Key West -- too much air and not enough water in the pickups," Cramphorn said, "so we thought given the boat was already in Florida we might as well leave it there and go back at it ourselves in the off season; and what better place than at the home of Donzi in Sarasota? The contrast between the frozen canals at the team's base at Bernico International in Antwerp [Belgium] to the sunny Gulf of Mexico off Sarasota was certainly a big factor in the decision!"

Cramphorn was quick to point out that for their rookie season, he and Collins were "exceptionally pleased" Team 26 Takes It! with the boats performance, adding "Donzi built us a fantastic hull and with the help of Bernico International the setup and rigging has shown our performance to be better than anything else in SuperSport this year."

The team has high praise for Donzi sales vice president Craig Barrie who has been "VERY accommodating and assisting to us, and we are hoping to tag on to him for the New Year's Day poker run," Cramphorn enthused. "We really are counting down the days to get back to Florida and have some fun! I mean....do some serious testing."

The countdown to the serious fun of the 2010 Powerboat P1 World Championship continues, with the scheduled kick-off April 16 -18 in Split, Croatia.

-credit: p1