Tricks that old racers get up to after retirement

[jackiewilson]

Three most traumatising things in your life, getting married, having a nipper and moving house.
Sit back and enjoy Rich,the worst is over.
Little Jeff is married to my daughter Boo, he is a printer by trade, what I did not know is the fact he publishes the "CLASSIC BOAT MAGAZINE ".
Will put a few copies in the suitcase full of trophies for Tavares.

[jackiewilson]

Very few people I have ever met in my life really ever "impressed" me, one such person was Hal Hamberger!
With little or virtually no money I had managed to persuade Pat Frewer, head honcho of SWMF, to give me a Mercury dealership . Only thing going for me in those days was ambition which I had in spades. Went to my first Mercury conference at a very posh hotel in Bournemouth , the main speaker was "Ham"-------after chuckling over his name, I settled down to listen to his "Patter", I was overawed By the man.
On that day, he instilled in me something which I still have to this day, "CONFIDENCE", it's something you can't buy, you have to learn it and earn it, he was my teacher ! R.I.P. Ham.

Did a real "silly" yesterday, was making a helm for one of the sailboats, sanding it off on the linisher with 80 grit, , pushed a little too hard, helm shot away leaving my thumb to be sanded down, it's astounding how much skin can be removed in a flash, be more careful her indoors advised.

[jackiewilson]

Time flies when your having fun, damn near August already and we still don't have any weaTher that resembles summer!

Had an interesting conversation with Craig my grandson, he works with Gary at GEICO, asked him if they had a new boat coming out for Key West!.
Hell no grandad, this one is coming up 16 years old and there's still nothing out there that can beat it, designs haven't changed since then, it's only the motors that get bigger!
Must confess I was a bit surprised at that, so I asked why motors were so bloody unreliable, when in F1 cars there are very few breakages. His answer surprised me.
All the quick boats use Mercury motors, generally the 1350 lumps, but they keep upping the gee-gees to break point. They bought all the old Hi-perf Auto racing engines instead of going with the new technology they are still using race engines designed 20 years ago. Interesting or what?

Had a quiet but fruitful day In the shop, ploughed gently on with sailboat three, trying to make each one totally different from the previous whilst still using the same basic hull, all you have to do is a different sail configuration and "Voila" three different boats.
Couple of shots of vaguely interesting things in my neck of the woods.
thats Murphy, rescued from under the wheels of a delivery truck when we lived inFrance .
Jilly's Begonias!

[powerabout]

1350 is all new

[olboatman]

Time flies when your having fun, damn near August already and we still don't have any weaTher that resembles summer!

Had an interesting conversation with Craig my grandson, he works with Gary at GEICO, asked him if they had a new boat coming out for Key West!.
Hell no grandad, this one is coming up 16 years old and there's still nothing out there that can beat it, designs haven't changed since then, it's only the motors that get bigger!
Must confess I was a bit surprised at that, so I asked why motors were so bloody unreliable, when in F1 cars there are very few breakages. His answer surprised me.
All the quick boats use Mercury motors, generally the 1350 lumps, but they keep upping the gee-gees to break point. They bought all the old Hi-perf Auto racing engines instead of going with the new technology they are still using race engines designed 20 years ago. Interesting or what?

Had a quiet but fruitful day In the shop, ploughed gently on with sailboat three, trying to make each one totally different from the previous whilst still using the same basic hull, all you have to do is a different sail configuration and "Voila" three different boats.
Couple of shots of vaguely interesting things in my neck of the woods.
thats Murphy, rescued from under the wheels of a delivery truck when we lived inFrance .
Jilly's Begonias!

Gutta luv what ya did for Murphy.... Did the same for our buddy Sanibell that came from a house with 20+ kittys. Good pets are priceless!!! Gary

[jackiewilson]

Gutta luv what ya did for Murphy.... Did the same for our buddy Sanibell that came from a house with 20+ kittys. Good pets are priceless!!! Gary

When Jilly pulled Murph out from under the truck, she had to do it three times, kept going back under, so she brought her home. Fed her with a bottle for a week, think she was about two weeks old Gary. Asked all around the village if she belonged, but nobody wanted her, so she's still here five years later, chipped and with her own passport and much loved by the folks who live down the lane. Now an equal part of the family, an Anglo/French feline!
Its Thursday again already, time to rise and trundle off to Ford for the car boot sale, let you know how I get on!

[jackiewilson]

1350 is all new

You asking or saying Pilgrim, was new at one time---yesterday!

[powerabout]

You asking or saying Pilgrim, was new at one time---yesterday!

twin turbo 4v direct injection was invented yesterday but its still todays technology emission compliant in the eu

[Watermark]

Very few people I have ever met in my life really ever "impressed" me, one such person was Hal Hamberger!

On that day, he instilled in me something which I still have to this day, "CONFIDENCE", it's something you can't buy, you have to learn it and earn it, he was my teacher ! R.I.P. Ham.

At one of my first races, driving an FE - 65 hp. Merc, 13' Checkmate, Mr. Hamberger walked up to my father and I and asked if we would like to try this new propeller that Mercury had just developed. We won. He continued to support my efforts in the years to come - what a great gentleman - I'm fortunate to have known him.

[jackie wilson]

twin turbo 4v direct injection was invented yesterday but its still todays technology emission compliant in the eu

Yeah Pilgrim, new to us but old in modern day terms. Remember the EFI boxes that we were charged an arm and a leg for, latest all singing and dancing modern technology -------- i got news for you -------they were old toyota parts that were obsolete and bought for two cents on the dollar --------but how many hundreds of dollars were we charged each. De Ja Vue ?

[jackiewilson]

How the mighty have fallen -----he had it all-----Mercury eating out of the palm of his hands, Italy's nobility were among his friends, a great boat building and racing facility, sponsors falling over themselves! He was a living legend!
All he has left now, is the Martini puffa jacket---aged long before his time-----friends are long gone along with the high performance cars, Torrigia facility, house on Lake Como.
Thats what the IRS can do to you after ten years hounding !
Renato Molinari will go down in history as one of the all time Greats of power boating.
But that's only part of the story---someday, someone may write the full story!

Enough of all that for now, tell you what I did today. 7am headed for Ford car boot sale, it's full title is "Hunter Ford Aerodrome" due to being the home of the famous RAF Hunter Squadron in the sixties and seventies. Fine and bright, hundreds of stalls,lots of people but very little that I needed, bought an orbital sander for a fiver, then spent the morning making it fit for human consumption!

Mowed the lawn and trimmed the hedges, got back and shoulder pains for my troubles, must find someone to "delegate" those jobs to.
I even have a tall stool with a backrest in the shop these days, work rate is pitifully slow and production damn near zero, sadly , interest is waning, maybe that's why I've slowed of late.
Just to keep you interested that's a piccy of Jillys fuscias on the front doorstep.

Totally bushed, so that's your lot, night all, MYGGWY.J.

[powerabout]

Yeah Pilgrim, new to us but old in modern day terms. Remember the EFI boxes that we were charged an arm and a leg for, latest all singing and dancing modern technology -------- i got news for you -------they were old toyota parts that were obsolete and bought for two cents on the dollar --------but how many hundreds of dollars were we charged each. De Ja Vue ?

you raced with old toyota parts?

[jackiewilson]

you raced with old toyota parts?

Yup, old and obsolete Auto parts---but good enough for the marine industry,
or did you think the EFI box was a Mercury invention Pilgrim ?

[powerabout]

Yup, old and obsolete Auto parts---but good enough for the marine industry,
or did you think the EFI box was a Mercury invention Pilgrim ?

there is very little chance an automotive pack could run a 2 stroke back in the mid 80's as many cant today so i doubt it.
The guy that designed the current Merc F1 pak might have back then but I do know he designed the CFI for the OMC F1 V8 back in about 83 and that was before F1 had started using it
My guess is Merc ran their own project (Rich Startzel?),as they had the 2.0 F1, Bass and Offshore running 84ish and Ford and Cosworth still scratching their heads in 84
Interesting topic on Merc EFI history so I would be keen to know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqfVAGOaGEc

[jackiewilson]

Every now and again I trundle off down to the pool room I use as a studio and look at the piles of stuff I made beforehand! Went in that direction today, looked at the Rolls Silver Ghost and decided the steering wheel was all wrong. Took me most of the day, but it now has a four spoke alloy and a four spoke wooden steering wheel. Think the alloy one looks best, but will leave it to the new owner to decide.!

Pilgrim does not agree with me on the subject of EFI boxes by Mercury!
There were a a couple of Japanese drivers raced the F.O.N.D.A. series, one of these was Sughihara who seemed to have contacts in every part of the jap car industry, after dissecting one of the EFI
boxes it was declared replaceable with an up to date chip and a quarter the size at a tenth of the price. That was when we heard all the old boxes (10,000 of 'em)had been bought by Mercury!
Maybe it was just a story Pilgrim, I'm not an engineer, just a Bodger enjoying the September of life.

Had half a dozen power tools that still had continental plugs on the end, came across a box of English three pin plugs for a fiver, so I changed the lot, now I can throw away the the French system I had installed in a corner of the shop.

Was tempted to do a "twistercraft"---just for the hell of it, but there was only ever four or five made made anyway and they were pug ugly .
Molinaris and Seebolds were were much prettier and went better too.
Thats food for thought and discussion methinks, so I bid you all goodnight and MYGGWY.J.