An Omc Leading The 24 Hrs Of Rouen???

[Instigator]

After 19 hrs (16 of actual racing due to rought water and wind) The lead boat is OMC powered, has completed 526 laps and is 9 laps ahead of the 2nd place Merc powered boat!
Still plenty of time to go and with the worst conditions in race history, anything can happen.
Still can't get a grip on it.
24 hrs, 8 at night, driver changes, head lights, fuel stops, un-----freakin believable!!
Gary

[BK]

(oops - I had this posted on the wrong thread!)

They've been racing for *18* straight hours now!! Oh man!
Hard to believe!

Richard Hearn reports that the "Flood Mechanism" is opening prematurely (the safety sponson door panels designed to open when a boat has flipped to cause the capsule to float upright)

Because of this, they've nearly sunk the boat several times, and have to dash back in to drain the boat and fix them. It's also very cold there, and the drivers are tired and sore....

Wartinger went out early in the race, (class 1) the motor was running good, but his boat kept falling apart.
www.mercurymarine.com (Rouen logo at bottom of page)

Go Richard! Go Rolf! Go Chris!!!!!! GOD SPEED!!! (Sorry Instigator ;) )

Here's the "Hour 18" standings:

1 18 NOTAIRES ANDRIVEAU
classe 3 Franck Revert / Rudolph Mihaldinecz / Christophe Larigot / Pierre Delvaux
JOHNSON / MOORE 602

2 32 MERCURY
classe 2 Pierre Charlot / Chris Fairchild / Rolf Magne Sunde
MERCURY / DAC 594

3 1 PEGASE RACING
classe 3 Christophe Boyard / Xavier Savin / Thierry Petiot
MERCURY / MOORE 591

4 33 MERCURY
classe 2 Amaury Jousseaume / Richard Hearn / Kay Marshall
MERCURY / DAC 575

5 2 RMSM
classe 3 Denis Jarnigon / Peter Morin / Philippe Tourre
JOHNSON / MOLINARI 523

6 16 GHOSTBUSTER
classe 3 Jules Leysen / Nico Bertels / Peter Bertels
MERCURY / DAC 503

7 23 LPTT
classe 2 Philippe Masselin / Jean-Marie Guerra / Lionel Bouix / Thomas Cermak
MERCURY / MOORE 500

8 8 SONAUTIC SCOTT
classe 3 Jean-Vital Deguisne / Cédric Deguisne / Massimo Roggioro / Gert Ladefoged
MERCURY / DAC 469

9 25 POSEIDON
classe 2 Jean-Paul Reusser / Philippe Tierce / Jean-Yves Lelievre / Franck Levillain
MERCURY / MOORE 458

10 22 MARINE
classe 2 Ludovic Gouley / Pascal Lecouillard / Philippe Bourtraix / Philippe Jouen /
MERCURY / DAC 428

11 19 DRAKKAR
classe 3 Philippe Chiappe / Michel Hulley / Philippe Dessertenne
MERCURY / LYNX 418

12 14 TC4/CASINO
classe 3 Joel Bersoult / Jean-Pierre Bersoult / Marc Roig / Rodolphe Avenel
MERCURY / MOLINARI 391

13 30 APV GRAND PRIX
classe 2 Jean-Claude Levoir / Patrick Willot / Pascal Courraye du Parc / Hugues Le Nourry
MERCURY / MILAN 383

14 36 LPTT
classe 1 Thierry Viguier / Ludovic Caliot / Thierry Marchand / Ghislain Boucher
YAMAHA / DEMANTE 344

15 45 CAROLINE
classe 1 Carole Constantin / Alain Foliard / Erick Thouin / David Journet
YAMAHA / GARDIN 338

16 38 TC4 CASINO
classe 1 Bruno Basire / Martial Kauffmann / Cyril Dron
YAMAHA / MOORE 307

17 31 CMN
classe 2 Didier Bons / François Brisot / Franck Lefevre / Jérôme Gaultier
MERCURY / BURGESS 296

18 69 ESIGELEC
classe 1 Bruno Chrétien / Antoine Lemoine / Cyril Vasse / Mathieu Koely
YAMAHA / MOORE 292

19 111 CMN
Pierre Rocher / Armel François / Régis Michel
Honda / Hulley 272

20 63 WINNER PERFORMANCE
classe 1 Nicolas Ottmann / Marie-Laure Autard / Fabrice Boulier / Stephane Belloin
YAMAHA / BURGESS 268

21 21 FORCE BUT INSHORE
classe 2 Frederic Basly / Philippe Crevet / Jerome Maizeray / Jean-Michel Renard
MERCURY / DAC 263

[B.Leonard]

Thanks BK for all the info and taking the time to post it. Keep us updated! :)

-BL

[BK]

http://www.f1boat.com/technic/DAC_boat.jpg

Here's a cross-section view of the DAC boat that Team Mercury is running --

At the rear of the sponson you'll see what they call the "bell" of the S.B. SYSTEM - Also called "RETARDED FLOATING SYSTEM" (# 35). If the boat flips, the water entering the bell will flood the back of the sponsons, and this tips the boat "pickle-forks up". There is also an airbag (#60) behind/above the driver that help keep his cockpit floating: (these are not like the airbags in cars, these airbags are strictly for boat flotation)

However, it is SO rough at Rouen, and the boats are battling huge swells that cause water to rush over the decks or worse -- they stuff..... so the water is GETTING INTO those bells while they are trying race! As if they needed this challenge to become a little more difficult! ;)

To all past and present Rouen competitors, I tip my hat to ye!!!!!!

[BK]

Here's Rolf's home page. They are posting updates there too.
He will be running the last leg in boat #32.

http://home.online.no/~suntech/index2.htm

Click "NEWS"

http://home.online.no/~suntech/victory.jpg

[Instigator]

the johnrude is still 8 laps up and the Honda is 330 lpas down! :)

[BK]

Chris Fairchild has his own webpage too...it's pretty cool!

http://www.fairchildracing.com/

If you want a lot of laughs, and an "INSIDERS VIEW" of what it is like to be a "Rouen Pilot", do NOT miss Chris' "Diary of a Rouen Rookie". It is a classic and had us busting up reading those updates in 2000! Sure wish he was doing it again this year ---

Click "Rouen" when you get to the site. :D Enjoy!


http://fcr.more-hp.com/images/2002-pilot.jpg

[MODVP22]

Ok Investigator, After everyone pokes at the OMCs, they are doing well. Good for OMC, glad to hear it:) They deserve some respect of course.

P.S.Mercury must have felt bad and backed off huh? LOL Just kidding:p