Real Formula 1 racing

[Greg Moss]

These were taken back in the early 80's when Second Effort was still in bussiness. Eat your heart out OMC boy's they ain't no Merc's here

[Greg Moss]

No Merc's here either

[Greg Moss]

more

[Greg Moss]

not here

[Greg Moss]

No mercs

[Flat Out]

There were NO MERCs in the winners circle either.
The F-1 V8 is still the undisputed champion. King of the Hill
Long live the KING !!!!!!!!
Great pictures. Thanks for posting them.

[Instigator]

My buddy Jim Carter brought this monster to last years Rumble and I even got a ride!
The thing accelerated harder from 100MPH's than anything I've driven, ridden in, or ridden!
Gary

[us1]

Very cool pictures.

[2Blade]

Thanks for posting the pictures. Where are these motors at today that were on those boats...junkyard?...somebodys garage?

[BK]

Greg ~
What year were these taken? And where was this? Beaumont?
The blue boat #44 (Florentine Marble) I think was Art Kennedy. I went to a couple F1 races in Sacramento in the mid 80's. Was there when Jimbo had his near fatal (and final) wreck. :(

That race was extremely hard for me to watch even before that happened -- as boats were being snapped in half all over the place in the prior heats: The motors were too powerful for the transoms. They would go into a turn - the front half would turn but the back half would keep going! !:eek:

By the time Jimbo's boat stuffed and exploded directly in front of me, I was horrified and had reached my limit -- I had enough of this carnage -- I stomped off toward the parking lot and swore I'd never watch another boat race EVER again. :mad:

......Yeah right :rolleyes:

[Greg Moss]

You must not of been watching theese boats run. I found watching them that they are the most stabil of anyboat that I had seen run. they were a 19-20 ft boat and handled like a dream. by far the fastest thing with a outboard I have seen run. Ben Robertson was running the OMC Cobra boat that year and here at this race he was running near 165MPH on the straights. Gene thibadoux won the championship at this race. I think it was in 83. Really was great racing back then I got to see them run 3 different times wish they would come back and do that again. I am sure the machining for those motors is still around somewhere.

[BK]

Hi Greg -

Yes, - they were FAST and they were so cool too listen too -- that 'throaty' V8 grumble was cool. I was living in San Francisco then, and took a big group of people with me to watch ('84). They couldn't believe how fast and hard these boats could turn. Watching Pete Nydahl in Mod-U last summer at the APBA OPC Nationals brought back a lot of those cool memories.

When they first started running the V-8s, they were putting them on standard wood Champ-type hulls, the power/weight of the V8 was too much for many of them, and they were breaking left and right. The course was really tight at Sacramento -- the boats were put thru too much stress and they'd just simply snap in half.

The cranes would pull them out in two pieces: The hull in one trip, and the second trip they'd pull out the motor sometimes with the transom and combing boards still attached to the mounting plate! It was chaos.

They all knew that something had to be done about the hulls. They had to be built beefier or use tougher building materials.

I remember one boat was all aluminum (Barry Woods "O'Grady's")-- and it even crashed that year at Sacramento (collision in the turn), but didn't get torn up like the others.

But Jimbo's crash effected me a lot. Because of the OMC group we hung out with at all the SCOA, SCSC, COBRA, Parker and Havasu races, staying at the same hotels - I got to know him and what a great guy he is -- just the nicest guy you could ever imagine. My mind sometimes replays that explosive sounding "BOOM" when his pickle forks hit the roller directly in front of us -- the boat "Spirit of Sacramento" literally exploded upon impact and sent him flying thru the air. (Before capsules)

Oh, I really wish they had helmet restraints back then. The newspaper showed a picture of him flying thru the air, and it appeared that his helmet was pulled off backwards, and it looked like the chin strap was crushing his throat. (not sure what actually damaged his throat, but that photo was very frightening) A friend of mine was with him and Cathey at the hospital all night, and he told me they actually had to revive Jimbo in the ER twice. He later had to have many surgeries to repair his arm and larnyx, and his voice never fully came back. Thank God he survived that. :eek:

When I think back on how dangerous this kind of racing was back then, how many guys were lost - or close to it, I just am so very thankful we have capsules these days.

[helmetguru]

those pictures are from beaumont in 86, when robertson set the qualifying record at 141 and change...jimbo got hurt in sacramento in 85, very very sad deal...there were a few mercury's at beaumont but only v6's and had no prayer..

[helmetguru]

val you're close but not quite right...
the ogrady's aluminum boat was bob hering and he got cut off in a corner by barry woods and barrell rolled over the top of him ( i have the pictures here somewhere )...and the original v8 boat was a mod-u molinari that jimbo test drove, the original race boats were big veldens and molinaris that competed in 1981 in europe, that was then the OZ world Championship series, the next year they took the name F1. The initial US F1 race was in Pittsburgh in august of 82, I was there it was bitchin...the v8's never used champ boats, theres no way they could handle the weight and power. the boats you saw in sacramento were made for the engines by velden, molinari, burgess, etc...

[Instigator]

Been to races for all of my 43yrs. Everything from Offshore to Unlimited.
The three F-1 races I got to see were the most amazing, almost beyond comprehension examples of brute power, speed, and acceleration.
And Jimbo's deal was very, very sad!! Been a fan of his for ever, been sending him Christmas cards for 10 yrs.
Gary

[Greg Moss]

Helmetguru Those pictures are from earlier than that I think they are 83 or 84 I was still married then and that is how I know the dates. And i think the speed was 161 I have the paper here somewhere with the race in it. they had a picture on the front page of the paper with a boat that had blown over.Got so much opf that old stuff I need to find it all a post some of it.

[helmetguru]

hey greg, no those shots are from 86 at the earliest. the v8's only raced there twice and the first one was late 86...i am completly positive about this... 83 there were no capsules, 84 Velden had no capsules, 85 the Velden's were KOOL boats, and 86 they ran the Waukeegan Marine..plus I was there so i remember...

[fyremanbil]

Yes, the v-8 F-1's were the coolest. Val, I remeber being at that 85 Sacramento race, too. You must have been following me around for a few years. Is there something you want to tell me?
Jimbos crash occured right in front of me, too. I was standing with Ed Lane. He said "oh @#$%, Jimbo just got killed". That whole race was just continuos destruction. I left there wanting to drive one.
Bill

[Joe J.]

Val, I believe we were together when jimbo crashed. In 30+ years of racing, that was by far the worst accident I have ever seen.

JJ

[Sam Baker]

Wasn't it Tom Percival who was killed in Europe when his boat blew over coming out of the turn and he actually ended up upside down on top of some cars or a parking lot?

Sam

[LakeRacer99]

Didn't that happen to Peter Inward? at Bristol?
I remember seeing a video of the boat going up into the spectators area.

[helmetguru]

tom percival was racing V8's in Leige, Belgium in July of 84. It was a long skinny course with two pin corners, his big Hodges had no cell ( they were still a year away ). Coming up to far corner Fabrizio Bocca ( a rookie ) had nosedived and swerving to avoid him, Tom got airborne and landed in the car park on the bank, he pretty much died on impact. He was the last in a series of five F1 drivers to die in a short period ( gerard barthelamy, luigi valdano, saverio roberto, and guido caimi)

peter inward was driving his champboat ( formula grand prix) in 1983 at Fairford in the UK as part of the National series. Part of the course has a tight corner at the end of a long straight, the corner is through a narrow channel around an island. to the right is a high mud bank where the fans sit on top. as he rounded the corner his Hodges boat tripped over another boats wake and he barrell rolled landing top first into the muddy bank. he never really had a chance.

Those were some dark days, alot of great drivers lost their lives.