The Making of a Speed Record
Outerlimits’ recent V-bottom achievement was inspired by another big achievement 10 years ago.
May 14, 2014
Back in 2004, Mike Fiore and Reggie Fountain were far from the two-man mutual admiration society they are today. Fountain, then the head of Fountain Powerboats—the company he owned and founded in Washington, N.C.—and Fiore, of Outerlimits Powerboats—the company he founded and still owns in Bristol, R.I.—were pretty much at each other’s throats when it came to V-bottom supremacy. Off and on the record, they couldn’t stand each other.
The inspiration for the 180-mph speed record set recently by this Outerlimits V-bottom began 10 years ago.
Things got even sketchier between the two when Fountain climbed into one of his 42-footers with noted racer Ben Robertson and set a V-bottom “kilo” speed record of 171.88 mph that year. The kilo run event, which averages the times over two back-to-back kilometer-long passes to come up with an average speed through the distance, was hosted in front of the Fountain factory and open to all comers. Among those comers was an Outerlimits boat, which reportedly experienced engine problems and left early with just one lackluster run under its belt.
Never one to pass up an opportunity to give his competition a good, swift kick in the ribs when they were down, Fountain included copy in his copious Powerboat magazine ads celebrating his speed-record achievement and also tweaking his competitor for sneaking out “under the cover of darkness,” which didn’t endear him any more to Fiore. And the Fountain faithful, perhaps the most brand-loyal group of go-fast boat fans on the planet, were relentless about it on Internet message boards.
A winning team—Brian Forehand, Mike Fiore and Joe Sgro.
Flash forward 10 years. Fountain has been out of the company he owned—a company that went bankrupt under his management and was purchased by an investment group with which he eventually had a bitter parting—since 2009. Outerlimits has weathered the recession and come out of it a much leaner company, but one that’s still in the game and getting stronger. And Fiore still wants to be able to claim “the world’s fastest V-bottom” title with one of his own boats.
And that brings us up to the events of late April in which an Outerlimits SV 43 offshore raceboat owned by racer and longtime Outerlimits customer Joe Sgro, powered by twin 1,650-hp Mercury Racing engines and driven by noted racer Brian Forehand—who cut his teeth working for Reggie Fountain—set a new American Power Boat Association-sanctioned V-bottom kilo record of 172.876 mph one day, then upped the mark to 180.470 mph the next.
Did I mention that it happened on the same surveyed Pamlico River kilo course on which Fountain made his mark in 2004?
“We didn’t do this in Reggie’s backyard as an ‘in your face’ kind of thing,” said Mark Tuck, who became the de facto organizer for the Outerlimits event. “It made sense logistically. We looked at several locations, including Panama City and Biloxi. We even looked at the Salton Sea and the Lake of the Ozarks. But this was a friendly area in which to get it done. Plus, Brian [Forehand] has been down this river a million times. He knows every inch of it.”
Fountain watched the 43-footer rocket down the river from his four-story home on its banks. But he was anything but bitter about it. In face, he was downright gracious and magnanimous.
“I’m glad they got it,” Fountain told Rickie Mackie, Mercury Racing’s media-relations man, shortly after the event. “If I had to buy a V-bottom today, I would buy it from Mike Fiore.
Outerlimits left Washington, N.C., with two speed records.
“It’s a good spot to run kilos—25 to 30 records have been set here,” Fountain continued, discussing the Pamlico River kilo course. “It’s protected water, and Brian knows the river. Brian worked for me right out of high school. He did a great job and learned a lot about boats. He tested boats and evolved into a great driver.”
Of course, that doesn’t mean Fountain won’t take an active role in encouraging and assisting a current owner of a fast Fountain powerboat—the 42-foot Twisted Metal offshore raceboat has been mentioned—to try to regain the record for the brand he created. He’s long gone—and not welcome back—from Fountain Powerboats, but he hasn’t even come close to losing his competitive fire. The Fountain boats built under his watch are still his babies.
As for Fiore, he left the home waters of his former nemesis with not one but two world records—the 29-footer Outerlimits raceboat Snowy Mountain Brewery, owned by offshore racer Dr. Michael Janssen and powered by a Mercury Racing 525 EFI engine, left the Washington run with a 100.840-mph kilo record in the SV Single class. (Forehand also piloted the 29-footer.) Fiore was equally gracious and complimentary of his former rival.
“Reggie’s record stood for 10 years, and that’s a pretty big deal,” he said. “I’ve thought about breaking it ever since he set it, but obviously it took some time to bring it all together.
“Reggie is an icon in the high-performance powerboat world,” he added. “The industry wouldn’t be what it is without him.”
