Countdown To Key West: Broadco Will Take Aggressive Approach
Fresh from a “shakedown run” earlier today in the Broadco Superboat-class catamaran Marine Technology, Inc., catamaran on Florida’s Sarasota Bay, throttleman and team manager Grant Bruggemann said he is feeling confident about his team’s chances in the Super Boat International Key West Offshore World Championships early next month. The 40-foot MTI catamaran has a pair of new 750-hp engines from Ilmor Marine, as well as recently rebuilt drives.
Shown here on its way to victory at the 2014 SBI race in Michigan City, Ind., the Broadco MTI catamaran heads into Key West with new Ilmor engines and a confident crew. Photo courtesy/copyright Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
Though Broacdo finished second to Stihl in the 2014 SBI National Championship chase, the cockpit duo of owner/driver Chuck Broaddus and Bruggemann ran a full schedule of races this season. That, plus several close contests with the Stihl, has the Broadco team well prepared for the upcoming battle in Key West, said Bruggemann.
Conditions will dictate setup, but regardless the team will take an aggressive approach to the season-ending event.
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“It’s either going to be flat or bumpy—we rarely get in between in Key West—but our goal is to go out and win Wednesday’s race,” he said. “We are not there to lay back. We are going to race our asses off. We want to win all three races.
“That’s a high expectation but we raced all year and tested all year,” he added. “There wasn’t one race we did where had the same setup we had in another.”
While Broadco’s spin-out during the SBI National’s in Clearwater, Fla., tore the skegs of its drives (read the story)—hence the need for drive rebuilds—and forced the team to inspect the cat’s entire driveline including its gimbals, the team had already planned to install new Ilmor engines before the Key West races. With the exception of the broken drives, the only damage the boat sustained in the Clearwater incidient were a few hairline and cosmetic cracks to its bustle.
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