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Fountain
Powerboats' "Cat-Killer"
V-Bottom Race Boat Reigns
in Key West
# 15 Panasonic Rio Roses
Fountain Mercury Wins
World Championship
Beats Catamaran Competition
to Take First Overall
November
16, 2006 - WASHINGTON,
NC - There's a new top
dog in the offshore
racing world and it's
not a cat. Despite predictions
that a V-hull boat could
not beat a catamaran
in this level of racing
- and in spite of stiff
competition from the
#12 BTM Marine Superboat
cat - Fountain's #15
Panasonic Rio Roses
Fountain Mercury race
boat took First Overall
in the 36th Annual Key
West World Championship,
November 5 - 12, 2006.
"There hasn't been
a V-bottom First Overall
winner in Key West for
almost two decades,"
said David Knight, President
of Fountain Powerboats,
who is throttleman of
the #15 Fountain team.
"It's the start
of a new era."
With
veteran racer Michael
Seebold at the wheel,
the 47-foot Fountain,
powered by twin 1,500-hp
Sterling supercharged
engines with Mercury
#6 drives, was also
crowned World Champion
in the Super Vee Unlimited
Class. The #15 boat
won all three races
in its class by a substantial
margin. "It was
fast racing on a fast
course," Knight
said. "We were
averaging speeds on
the straight-aways in
the 150-mph range. On
Sunday, on the last
couple of laps, I tweaked
it up and we were running
close to 170."
The boat performed flawlessly,
thanks to the combined
efforts of its racing
team members, including
Crew Chief Brian Forehand,
Alan Riehl, Roddney
Rich, Royce Whitley,
James Bass - and especially
Reggie Fountain, Chief
Engineer and Designer.
"My thanks go to
him for designing the
best piece of marine
equipment in the whole
world and giving us
the privilege to run
it," said Knight.
In
addition to setting
the race course on fire,
the #15 race boat serves
as a powerful research
& development tool
for Fountain Powerboats.
"We are constantly
making changes to that
boat in terms of the
bottom, the steps, the
center of gravity, the
set-up and the engines,"
Knight said. "Fountain
Powerboats customers
expect us to be on the
leading edge of marine
technology. When something
works well with this
boat, we instantly make
the manufacturing change
to the rest of our line.
The beneficiary of all
this is our customers."
The
next challenge for Panasonic
Rio Roses Fountain Mercury
race boat will be to
take on the Unlimited
Offshore World Speed
Record. Although Fountain
Powerboats claims the
current record, set
at 171.888 mph by a
Fountain 42' Lightning
with twin 1,500-hp Sterling
engines, the Fountain
team feels the #15 race
boat can beat it. "There
is going to be a new
Kilo," Knight announced,
referring to a measured-distance
challenge. "We'll
raise the current speed
record at that event,
and we'll do it before
the Miami boat show."
Panasonic
came on board as a sponsor
for the #15 Fountain
race boat in Key West,
as well as joining Fountain
Powerboats as a major
sponsor of the 2006
Key West World Championship.
During the competition,
a Panasonic crew recorded
a High Definition (HD)
video of the racing
action. This footage
will be made into an
exciting HD demonstration
DVD, on display wherever
Panasonic HD TVs are
sold.
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