Typically the fastest HEAT RACING monos are running high 50's...cats are similar in speeds...hydros in mid-high 60s... That's my experience anyway....you often hear claims of faster speeds, but rarely see that in real heat racing conditions. JMHO.

Its all about alltitude . The cats and mono's at the coast are doing mid to high 50's and are doing high 60's in straight aways . Most of the US are racing at lower alltitudes than we have here in south africa in the high lands. The Hydro,s have just started and the speeds are slowly but surley climbing . Our boats are fast for high alltitude and even faster when taken to low alltitudes . :o

I just wanted to chime in about the hobby shops. First, let me say I may not have tried a WHH boat, but truthfully, when looking at all of the RTR boats, I would purchase a WHH before some of the other RTRs I see out there. Not that there's anything wrong with them, but just by looking at the hull and the hardware, you can see the quality that goes into a WHH product. For a newbie, I would recommend a boat from them - they're well made, and can take a bit of a pounding. Back to the hobby shops - most that I visit, and that's for fuel line, some radio gear, etc, consider our genre a specialty. Most are not knowledgable enough to guide a customer, and they take guesses at what "looks good" vs what really works. They'll order whatever you want, but be prepared to pay dearly for it. Most of them specialize in cars or planes, and that's all they know. If there isn't a club around for boaters, and there is no "known place to run them," they wont even get invloved. And yes I agree, they look at you like you have four heads when you ask for something or explain what you are trying to do. My first boat was a Dumas Atlas spt40 kit, that I bought online from them. The hobby shop couldnt understand why it took so long to make it. For a first boat - I was ambitious, but when I did finally take it in, it was considered quite an accomplishment. I wind up trying to educate them a little bit. I wont try hard - they're mostly kids, and they know it all. Now, I have a couple of years experience, and love the hobby. I try to get people, especially kids involved. In some cases, I think hobby shops may hurt our hobby/sport a little bit. One of the best I have seen is at Aeromarine itself. Wonder why?