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I have always been interested in this class and have wondered for years why the early records were frozen and why there was such a big difference in the speeds. The boats have gotten slower since the 1980's.
Lately, I have been able to get some facts to fill in some of the blanks.

First the class has always been a V bottom runabout class.

In the 1980's the class had no minimum weight. The prime motor was a SELVA. They are made in Italy. The kilo record was in the 80 mph range. Yamaha did not have their 70 CES motor. The other motors were the OMC 49's and the Yamaha 60D.
The 60D was a 2 cylinder and crankshaft rated a 60 hp. The interesting part was a British racer 1988 with a 60D yamaha had kilo runs of 72 and 75 mph.

Some time between 1989 and 1991 yamaha introduced the 70 CES [Competition Electric Short] It was a mixture of ideas taken from the 49 OMC and parts from the 60D. The Selva disappeared and the class was 49 omcs and yamahas. There still was no weight minimum to the class. The speeds were high 60's and low 70's. Same as the APBA EP class. The boats looked similar to our current boats.

In 1995 the Italians developed the Bat Wing design boat. The wing design gave their boats extra lift similar to a tunnel. Their boats ran in the 75 mph with the same OMC and yamaha power.

Because of those Bat hulls the rules were changed. The 725 lb minimum weight was added and so was any boat design that produced additional lift. They then froze all the previous records. The current T850 record in 66 mph in the kilo.

By 2012 most yamaha 70CES new parts were discontinued and that motor was dropped by UIM. To-day the T850 class runs stock 70 hp Yamahas on 70CES mid sections. The boats are not the same as in early 1990's. The hull rules have changed to allow racers to built their own fiberglass boats. The class does not race in Europe only in Britain.

The Future. They plan on going green. The new classes will be GT60 and GT90. They currently are developing new boats to run the new motors. GT30 has been a big success.

Hi Don,

Nice summary of all the discussions.

Still the one mystery. That 60D yamaha motor. It was never sold in Canada or the US. If? it is the 2 cylinder and if? it is the same motor as the 60 hp 2 cylinder Mariner/Yamaha, [55 hp at the prop] how the heck did they get it to push a T boat 72 and 75 mph? And even more impressive push a 12 foot tunnel over 80 mph. I have now got 3 of them apart. They are a very simple motor and every part is over built and heavy. The pocket on the head is like two ice cubes end to end.

mercs never raced in the early 90'S ?

There were a few 650XS, 650X and 700X motors that raced over there. None of those motors were considered stock, so they never were allowed to race in T class. The 650 XS was allowed to race in FE, EP and FV in Canada only. That was allowed because of Mercury's support in CBF. The sad part was this relationship hurt Canadian racing. Mercury was allowed to run one of their motors in every class. They ran a 40 cubic inch motor in Sport C against 31 cubic inch Yamahas and Tohatsus, They ran their SST90 in the SST 60 class and their 650XS in EP. On the plus side. Boat racing would have gone no where without Mercury's support after OMC dropped out. A lot of the fun racing in those days were the fights and the characters that raced in the Classes especially in SST60/75. The OMC guys with their SST 60s were always mad at the SST 90 racers. If the class returns do not expect the same problems. The current SST 60 boats are much quicker than they were back then. A lot of it is the boat, so the SST 90 fellows may need new boats.

it would be cool to see a 650xs merc in the field.

The gun has one get your boat built! He ran it the first couple of years of T then switched to the OMC

Boomer, the T group would love to see you out there running a 650XS!!!

Here is a video from 1991.
Talk about boats in a heat!
These boats look similar to the hulls we run.
There was no minimum weigh in 1991
You can see the boat design is just beginning to have the bat wing shape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RtnQQ3zS9g

Here is a 2013 race of T550 Same boat design.
Impressive speeds for sure. For 31 cubic inch stock Toaster motors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=307HhjvKpP8

Lots of boats but what about the 15 lap heat??? I woulda came in for lunch before finishing lol. It's no wonder they're running yamaha...Kevi woulda ran through 8 powerheads on day 1!!

Pfft! Don't exaggerate. More like 2 or 3.