Shootout Update: 6,800-hp Mystic Maybe, 1650 Outerlimits Gets Ready & More
Though earlier this week it didn’t look like Don Onken’s 50-foot Mystic Powerboats catamaran with twin 3,400-hp V-16 supercharged piston engines producing a combined 6,800 hp would be ready to run at this weekend’s Lake of the Ozarks Shootout, the boat may actually compete tomorrow in the event. That’s the word from John Cosker, the founder and owner of Mystic in DeLand, Fla.
Mystic founder and owner John Cosker said his customer’s 6,800-hp cat likely will run in the Shootout tomorrow.
“We launched the boat yesterday and we are going to test it again tomorrow so I think we are going make a run tomorrow,” said Cosker at the docks in front of the 50-foot My Way Mystic cat that made a 203-mph run earlier today. “It’s still pretty green so I don’t know how hard we’ll push it, but they worked hard to get the boat together so we’ll see what we can do.
“As for My Way, I think it has a little bit more in it,” he added.
While eight-time Top Gun Dave Scott (left) is not competing, he brought his Nauti-Marine Mystic cat to the docks for display this morning.
Tied up at the slip next to My Way was another 50-foot Mystic, Low Altitude owned by Tom Borisch. Unlike My Way, which has twin 3,000-hp T-55 turbine engines under the hatch, Low Altitude is powered by a pair of 1,800-hp T-53 turbine engines. Cosker said he expects it to run in the 180- to 190-mph range.
“We cruised in it for four miles at 190 mph the other day,” Cosker said. “Tom initially didn’t want to do the Shootout, but I said, ‘Hey, you’re already running Shootout speeds,’ so he decided to do it. Tom is kind of here for a ‘Bucket List’ thing. He’s not here to be Top Gun, he just wants to run in the Shootout.”
At the end of the dock that was home base for all the Mystic cats, including eight-time Shootout Top Gun David Scott’s Nauti-Marine 50-footer with twin 1,500-hp Sterling engines (not running in the event), was Dave Scotto’s 52-foot Outerlimits, the first V-bottom to be powered by Mercury Racing 1650 Race engines. Outerlimits owner and founder Mike Fiore will run the boat in the Shootout today. Scotto and Fiore said they expect the boat to run in the low- to mid-140-mph range.
Dave Scotto (left) and Mike Fiore expect the Mercury Racing 1650-powered Outerlimits 52-footer to run in the low- to mid-140-mph range.
“We’ll run it today and see if we need to make any setup changes for tomorrow,” said Fiore.
Observing the scene at the docks was Martin Sanborn of P1 SuperStock USA. “The whole industry is here,” he said. “There are only a couple of events a year other than boat shows you need to be at if you’re in the industry, and this is one of them.”
As for Dave Scott, who is not competing in the event and headed back to his home on the lake in Nauti-Marine shorty after Low Altitude arrived at the docks, he said he is content to watch this weekend’s show.
“I am really comfortable with where I am,” said Scott. “I am happy with everything I did and happy with what I am doing now. I still have the Mystic here, so every now and then I take it for a 170-mph blast in the morning with me throttling and Myrick (Coil) driving, and I get my fix that way. But most of the time I run my 42-foot Fountain with 525s. I love it—it was my boat of choice before I went to cats.”
Dave Scotto and his pride and joy, the first V-bottom to be equipped with Mercury Racing 1650 engines.
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