column-2005

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Powerboat P1 2005 - 2

An immediate decision had been made in Spring 2004 to replace the four 9-litre twin turbo 800hp Seatek diesel engines with a pair of 10.3-litre bi-turbo Seateks, giving 1000hp each.The hull weight was reduced to 7-tonne and with 2000hp to play with, the twin diesels could comfortably produce over 80-knots without too much stress on them. 2004 was a valuable learning curve for Hannes and his team and a P1 race win on the South-coast of England in Brighton in very rough weather proved that, when the engines ran and the turbochargers were reliable, the boat was very competitive.  Bohinc realised that for the boat to win races in 2005 against strong opposition some radical thinking was necessary, and he decided to completely modify the boat using a working concept by Fabio Buzzi.

Work was carried out on ‘The Big Beast’, Wettpunkt.com, to move its centre of gravity. The whole boat was stripped-out, the engines moved, and the cockpit altered to allow the new shock absorber seats to be installed and make the rough events more comfortable for the crew. The stern was modified, trim tabs checked, and the propeller shafts with their trims re-sited to improve the balance of the boat. The pilot line-up for the season would comprise throttleman/owner Hannes Bohinc and Britons, Miles Jennings (driver) and Ed Williams-Hawkes (navigator), a hardened crew of experienced racers and proven winners and the well-drilled team arrived in Malta for the first of five Grand Prix events, hungry for action. After two events the omens were not good for the Anglo-Austrian Wettpunkt.com, Sony was dominant with four wins from four races and a maximum 40 points to Wettpunkt’s 14.