Powerboat Talk19 Sep 2023

Episode 23- Jeff Bennett, Aerospace Engineer, Jet Pump Set Up Expert and Performance Bottom Designer

Jeff Bennett is an Aerospace Engineer and the owner of Bennett Analytics, a firm that offers state-of-the-art engineering services like aerodynamics, wind tunnel testing, and systems engineering- All talents that have helped things like the Space Shuttle. Bennett can also help your boat go really, really fast!

Stemming from a love of fast boats, Bennett has methodically blended his experience from a career in the Aerospace industry (where he worked for Aeronautics giants General Dynamics, McDonnell Douglas, Rockwell, and Boeing) into a vast knowledge of bottom design and jet pump set-up that has led to many national championships and world records in drag boat racing. Bennett made the decision, early in his career, to focus on hull design. "While other people spent their time building more power in their engines," Bennett told us, "I quickly discovered that the key to performance was through modifying the shape of the race boat bottom. I was able to make them much faster and, more importantly, a lot safer."

But Bennett is more than a "bottom guy". His years of testing and analyzing data led him to pioneering the use of computers and data analysis in Jet Boat racing. Working with Racepak data systems, Bennett was instrumental in developing the systems that are found on most competitive drag boat teams. Bennett has become the "the computer guy" on a number of these teams, ready, at the race track or on the end of a phone line, to "plug in" between rounds to determine what went wrong, what went right, and what can be done to make it better.

Thank you for joining us for a very special episode of Powerboat Talk.

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