Lift-Off: Thundercats Fly Over Waves On Lake Constance

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High jumps over waves, powerful acceleration and agile maneuvers - that is Thundercat Racing. INTERBOOT brings this exotic powerboat racing class to Lake Constance for the first time. Ten inflatable catamaran powerboats will show what they've got on the first weekend of the water sport exhibition (September 19 and 20, 2009). Speedboat fans will also be excited about the Liquid Quarter Mile, which will take place for the fifth time at INTERBOOT from September 19 to 27, 2009. This event has developed into a real spectator magnet.

Originally, the maneuverable inflatable catamaran powerboats were used as rescue boats to pluck people from the surf. From these beginnings, the Thundercat class developed in South Africa in the 80's. Since then, Thundercat Racing has established itself internationally and has also been steadily gaining fans in Germany over the last two years. A team consists of two people. "The pilot steers the motor with the tiller while the co-pilot holds on to grab ropes, distributing his body weight to reach an optimal speed, " explains Guido Krieten, chair of the German Inflatable Powerboat Association and co-organizer of Thundercat Racing in Friedrichshafen. "Both are secured to the boat by the feet with foot straps because the acceleration is enormous: With a weight of 75 kilograms and a 50-horsepower motor, these boats have the same power-to-weight ratio as a Ferrari Testarossa." Due to the uniform size of the two-meter wide and four-meter long boats as well as standardized motor specifications, success in this racing spectacle depends on skill, courage, the interplay between the pilots and a good eye for the waves. The two-man teams start simultaneously and battle each other over a distance of about 400 meters.

The Liquid Quarter Mile also puts on a spectacular speedboat show. Fast boats in nine classes will push their capabilities to the max in exciting daily quarter-mile duels (except Wednesday and the second trade show Sunday) between 5 pm and 7 pm directly in front of the Friedrichshafen lake shore promenade.

In order to put on Thundercat Racing and the Liquid Quarter Mile, an unusual request had to be granted: "Special permission had to be obtained to suspend the 40-kilometer-per-hour speed limit on Lake Constance in the closed off and secured exhibition area, " explains INTERBOOT project manager Dirk Kreidenweiß.

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