Flashback Image Of The Week—When Outerlimits Made Kilo-Run History
Though I was on the shores of the Pamlico River in Washington, N.C., when Brian Forehand drove an Outerlimits Offshore Powerboats SV 43 model into history with his 180.464 mph kilometer record, I did not recall the today is the 10th anniversary of that amazing feat. Virginia’s Mark Tuck, who did the much of the work required to organize the record attempt, reminded me and speedonthewater.com co-publisher Jason Johnson this morning via text message.
Caught in the act of making V-bottom history—Brian Forehand piloted the Outerlimits SV 43 into the record books.
As it happened, 2014 was the best and worst year in the history of the Bristol, R.I., company. The best, of course, was setting the kilometer record. The worst was that Outerlimits founder Mike Fiore would die five months later following an accident at the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout.
Earlier this year, Jim Schultz and Mike Faucher set a Lake of the Ozarks Shootout record V-bottom record of 184 mph in Factory Billet, a 51-foot Outerlimits. Take nothing away from their effort on the three-quarter-mile course—it was phenomenal and Schultz and Faucher are coming back for more this year at the Central Missouri event.
But setting a kilo record is a bit more complex than reaching a top speed from a rolling start, because a kilo record recognizes an average speed over two passes in opposite directions over a measured kilometer. Both records are so different that comparisons aren’t worth making.
Ten years ago, it took a village to make the Outerlimits kilo-record attempt event happen.
Will the Outerlimits kilo record ever fall? Yes, “records are made to be broken” and “never say never” and all that good stuff, but the big question is simply this: Where is the motivation and the deep-pocket funding required to even attempt to break it? I’m not sure it exists.
But here’s what I do know: The Outerlimits accomplishment was remarkable.
And 10 years ago today, I was there to see it.
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