Photo courtesy of speedonthewater.com, Jason Johnson
With the season opener of Thunder on Cocoa Beach yesterday, our 390XR MTI was in the lead for most of the race, until an unfortunate mechanical error occurred forcing us back into second place. A few weeks ago, MTI test drove the new TS Motorsports raceboat just in time for the racing season to begin. Continue reading to learn more about how testing went and how the boat was ultimately expected to perform. We will be working on the boat and making needed adjustments in preparation for our next race so stay tuned and keep following us on the course!
Not only did the team at MTI in Wentzville, Mo., get two new boats over to a couple of its dealers to deliver in time for events in Missouri and Alabama this weekend, the company’s owner, Randy Scism, and client relations manager, Taylor Scism, were able to put the new TS Motorsports MTI 390XR raceboat in the water on Friday afternoon for a quick shakedown session not far from home on Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks.
Earlier in the week, the speedonthewater.com crew, which was in town to shoot an upcoming “In The Lead” episode with the founder of MTI, got a sneak peek of the team’s new 450R Factory Stock class raceboat, which will be driven this season by Taylor Scism and throttled by John Tomlinson starting with next week’s season opener in Cocoa Beach, Fla. As reported on the site, the team’s first boat that was campaigned in the 2021 class probationary season was sold to the KLOVAR Motorsports team of owner and driver Randy Keys and the rottleman Bill Allen.
According to the no-longer-rookie driver Taylor Scism, the boat performed as expected its first time in the water.
“We didn’t get a great chance to test (the boat on Friday) because of boat traffic and debris so we’re going out first thing in the morning (on Saturday) and I’ll have a better idea of how to boat feels,” she said.
“Again, we kept the testing short this morning because we didn’t want to damage anything before we have to go race next week,” she said. “We mainly were wanting to give everything a full shakedown to make sure the computer systems, electronics and rigging were all good to.
“I’m happy with how it ran—the boat is very stable,” she continued. “It feels a lot like the first boat. We changed a few creature comfort aspects inside the cockpit and are trying some different cameras in it this year. My visibility is improved because we made the windows a little larger. Plus, I’m going to drive from the right side instead of the left side this season. I thought that might feel weirded than it did, but it was fine. It’s not like trying to drive from the opposite side of a car.”
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Original article published on speedonthewater.com