Pro Class 1 Factory MTI Team Completes Two-Day Open-Water Session

Testing at Lake X in St. Cloud, Fla., with support from Mercury Racing setup experts such as Mike Griffiths and Roy Mitchell is an indispensable element of any new offshore powerboat racing program, as well as a fine environment in which to fine-tune existing campaigns. The facility provides pretty much everything a team needs to prepare for the season—except rough water.

For testing and practice in offshore conditions, teams need to head elsewhere.

Grant Bruggemann and Willy Cabeza have completed their second test-session in the new 48-foot Factory MTI Pro Class 1 catamaran. Photos by Kellie Bruggemann.

That’s exactly what the Pro Class 1 Factory MTI team of owner/driver Willy Cabeza and throttleman Grant Bruggemann did for the past two days in their new 48-foot raceboat from the Wentzville, Mo.-headquartered catamaran and center console company. Starting from Haulover Marine Center in North Miami on Tuesday, they ran the canopied cat powered by class-spec Mercury Racing 1100 Comp engines to the waters off Key Biscayne.

They were shadowed by MTI principal Randy Scism, team manager Milton Calafel, crew member Brendan Power and Grant’s Signature Racing general manager Kellie Bruggemann in an MTI-V 50 center console. While Calafel and company set up a buoy course, Cabeza and Bruggemann performance acceleration tests.

“We spent 200 miles on the buoy course,” Bruggemann said. “It was a long, hot day. out there, but it was very productive.

“Right out of the box, the boat has been doing everything right so Willy and I have been able to accelerate our testing program,” he continued. “Having spent a full season together in the cockpit of a 450R Factory Stock boat last year, we know we gel. But with the higher speeds, there is a different closure rate to the buoys. Instead of entering a turn at, say, 110 mph, we’re entering at 130 mph.”

The buoy course helped Cabeza and Bruggemann get in sync in their new 48-footer.

Bruggemann compared throttling the turbocharged engine-equipped cat to running a personal watercraft.

“You need propulsion for control—you have to keep ‘driving’ the boat with power,” he explained. “That gives the driver more positive feedback through the steering wheel.”

In search of rougher water for set-up testing, Cabeza and Bruggemann ran the boat in the open Atlantic Ocean off North Miami early yesterday morning. The 48-footer had no trouble in more-sporty conditions and the team wrapped up the session by noon.

“It was a very productive two days,” Bruggemann.

Scism, who spent all Tuesday observing the setting from the 50-foot center console alongside Calafel and power, agreed.

“I think they are getting good seat time,” he said. “The boat looked better and better with each lap.

“This is a big step up from the stock 450R Factory Stock class,” he added. “We’re very excited to join the big boys.”

The offshore racing season opens May 15-18 in Cocoa Beach, Fla. The week before the event, the Factory MTI team will once again visit Lake X with the 48-footer.

“There is some stuff we want to test there,” Bruggemann explained, without revealing what that “stuff” might be. “Then we’ll test again on Saturday in Cocoa Beach.”