Factory Billet Looking To Prove New Hardware At Lake Of The Ozarks Shootout

Jim Schultz and Mike Faucher made it all the way to Central Missouri from their home-base in Illinois for last year’s Lake of the Ozarks Shootout. But they never touched the water. Thanks to the birth of Schultz’s daughter, the closest they got their 51-foot canopied Outerlimits Offshore Powerboats V-bottom to the three-quarter-mile course was a parking lot on the road to the Camden On The Lake Resort. Schultz’s baby girl will celebrate her first birthday on August 24, which in 2019 was the first day of the top-speed event.

Jim Schultz and Mike Faucher are returning the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout—minus any surprises back home—in Factory Billet Outerlimits 51 GTX. Photo from Key West, Fla., by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix/speedonthewater.com.

Leading up the 2019 Shootout, Faucher, Factory Billet’s engine man, had equipped the twin flexible fuel 1,950-/1,650-hp turbocharged Factory Billet engines with new water-jacketed turbochargers and electronic waste gates.

“We knew we were going to be more efficient, but we never got to prove that out,” said Schultz, who will run again with Faucher this year. “We never got to run.

“And this year, we have a few new innovations and trinkets we are trying,” he added. “We are confident we will be able to exceed our previous 162-mph record.”

The propulsion setup for the Factory Billet 51 GTX includes three-speed automatic transmissions set to shift at different RPM settings. Dennis Parvey and his son, Jason—their chief Shootout rivals—actually added a set of those Factory Billet-designed-and-produced transmissions to their open-cockpit 43-foot Black Thunder V-bottom. The boat is powered by a pair of 2,000-plus-hp turbocharged engines.

Schultz and Faucher were delighted to work with the father-and-son duo.

“We are super excited about the Parveys having transmissions,” Schultz said. “Having other guys get more competitive just makes this more fun. We are excited to see what they can do.”

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