Running without a thermostat ok?

Not long ago on another forum a similar topic came up and a curious thing that's obvious now that it's been exposed turned up. What should the pressure in the block be? In that forum's brand Ron Davis likes to see about 14 psi above the cap's pressure rating. this is measured right at the backside of the t-stat. Think about what the does for the boiling temperature of the coolant in the block! In an engine on the edge, be it a high state of tune or one with mechanical issues, losing the t-stat means that it looses a significant amount of boiling protection, and now it will over-heat.

Something else that hasn't been touched on is the rate of thermal transfer as related to the differential temperature. "The more radical the difference, the more radical the reaction" was what I was taught in A/C-Refrigeration class. This was demonstrated with two styrofoam cups of R-12 (instructor would likely be hanged in this state these days for doing that). He poured cold tap water into the first cup. Made the most bitchin looking ice sculpture. Then he poured nearly boiling water into the second cup. It blew up. Barely found pieces of the cup.
Now I know that's different fluids, different materials, etc., etc., etc. However, the premise is the same. I've seen this show up in engines. Those with a 'cold' t-stat tend to fluctuate in temperature much more than those with a 'hot' t-stat. I'm not saying that all behave this way, only that most do. There's almost always an exception and an exception doesn't disprove an observation.
My understanding of what is happening is that the higher temperature water actually dumps more BTU's into the ambient air than does the relatively colder water due to it's greater temperature difference. So the cold system cycles hot and cold, but the hot system maintains a more consistent temperature. Sometimes that cold system cycling is pretty slow, other times it's not very slow at all.

Some years ago the race prep shop that I was working for had an engine freshened up by an engine shop whose main claim to fame was their IRL racing series engines. Our engine came back with very specific instructions on how to make it's coolant restrictor and the required swirl pot for removing cavitation bubbles from the coolant. A flat plate with a hole in it was not only unacceptable, it would've voided the shop's willingness to stand behind their work. The restriction needed to be a venturi in shape and the exit coolant from the engine had to go thru it and then enter the swirl pot tangentially. The pot had to be placed so that the cap on it was the highest point in the system. Additionally any local high spots had to have bleed tubes run to the pot. That engine held temperature whether it was being flogged on or was driven slowly under a yellow.
Since then I've not had much patience for the disc restrictors that Moroso et. al. sell.