Twin 2 litre Mercs side by side on a T4 Housing

[MagicFloat]

Found a couple of old photos circa 1985. OZ class over 2000cc. wildest engine I've ever seen. Two 2 liter V-6's side by side,single driveshaft on a T-4 tower housing and lower unit.Ripped the transom out of the Burgess that Johnny Sanders was driving, never seen again.Will try to post them somehow tommorrow

[Mark75H]

Jim Hauenstein's "Wizard"

It technically met the letter of the rules, but they told him not to bring it to more races.

The powerheads were coupled by a Gilmer cogged belt like dragsters use to drive superchargers.

[MagicFloat]

Thanks,Sam. Do you have the photo with the cowling on? A great pic.

[Mark75H]

I know the one you are thinking of, but I don't know if I have it scanned. It clearly shows that they grafted 2 cowls together to enclose both powerheads. It might be in a file from Buddy Babbitt, or just in a magazine I have . . . finding it might be another thing.

[Backfire]

Another Frankenstein was the twin powerhead OMC, STACKED V-4s at Havasu '69. C.R.S., forgot who it was, but was no threat. Didn't Bob Feller lead the first day in a FellerCraft? A non factory team, and after leading the first day, Merc brought him in for a factory tuneup Saturday night. Changed switchboxes, lower units,
etc., then crapped out early Sunday.
Backfire ;)

[MagicFloat]

Sam, I have the cowl photo in an old British Mag. I'll see if Karen can post it tomorrow.Wild looking photo, an 8' wide Merc

[A.Acosta]

did you gus have a pic of the omc rotary engine?

[Ron Hill]

'69 Havasu was pretty much Scotti all the way.

In '68 PBG Marine (Their logo looked like today's PBG paints), Bob George, Judy somebody and (Maybe) Bob Feller had a triple Merc Stacker on a hull they built and were leading the first day, or was close to the top... It was a vee hull from with a tunnel back, cool reverse three point...
They had purchased the motors and Merc did help them and they did crap out early Sunday. In those days, Mercury not only liked to win, they liked to say who wins with Mercury stuff!!!! That is how they kept their budgets...(Your boys win)...PBG was never sure they got "HELP" from Mercury that Saturday night!!!

They were from Ft. Collin, CO.

I got pictures somewhere!!!

ADD WIZARD MOTOR: Jim Hauenstein owned it and may have financed it, but brother Fred Hauenstein built the Wizard. After its one race rules changed quickly!!!

Seems the transom came out of another Burgess when Fred Hauenstein was running one of the first S-3000's at Parker. Lucky for Freddy the hull flew so high and far that it basically landedon the shore, or he would have drowned in that accident. It did break Fred back!!! Hulls that are not designed for the horse power used can be a major problem!!!!

[Markus]

I have link to a picture of a Rotary (or Wankel as we call them over here) Johnson on my links page (see below). It has the cowling on, though.

[Oclassracer]

Markus,
The link seemed to be dead, so here is the picture I have thanks to Buddy Babbitt.

[Laker]

Rotary!!
What did Those sound like?? WOW!
I had a evinrude showmobile with a wankel in it! VERY Cool!!

[Mark75H]

The Wizard

[MagicFloat]

I found the photo with the one piece cowling,will try to post it ,bear with me, I'm computer challenged.

[Mark75H]

Magic Float's picture of the Wizard with the single cover. I resized it and worked on the contrast a little too.

If anyone has any pic's they need resized to use here you can always email them to me and I can work on them and send them back or post them for you.

[Laker]

COOL!!!!!!!
So they put 2 power heads powering OnE propeller..
How big is that wheel?? 440+ HP?? what is special about the gearcase? Of course the one cowl covering 2 powerheads.....was, because merc was thinking (this is how we power the BIG boats!!!) like BMC does with the big boats...... ?! Two small motors can push like one big one! ever see a Seadoo twin jet boat?

[Ron Hill]

Isn't that young man on the dock Fred Hauenstein???

He is the "Wizard"....

[Markus]

It seems like that page moves around quite a bit. Here it is, anyway:

http://phobos.sytes.net/magnus/other/johnson.jpg

[A.Acosta]

does someone have a pic of the rotary engine without the cowling.

[Mark75H]

There is one over on the "Coolest outboard racemotor" threadhttp://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=174919

[A.Acosta]

THAHNK'S MARK75H

DO YOU HAVE MORE INFO ON THOSE ENGINES I HAVE ROTARY ENGINE FOR RACING BUT ON CAR AND I KNOW HOW MUCH POEWER THEY HAVE . I ALWAYS IMAGINE OF USING ONE ON A BOAT.

[helmetguru]

man i'm sorry i missed out on most of this.. the wizard in the pic above was on a Hodges boat they had from the V8 days of the NAIU boats, I think 88 was driven by Ken Stevenson who died in 1983 Bahamas. John Sanders drove the #74 I think. Orange and white Hodges. The Burgess they strapped the Wizard on in London didn't last long. The race in the Royal Victoria Dock had long straights and tight corners, I have a video tape from it and the V8's had to turn pretty hard...too much for the weight of the massive engine. Neat effort though.

The Rotary was just ahead of it's time. The boats were in no way ready for an engine of that kind of power...i think they were measured at 244 c.i. or 4 liters if you can imagine that.

There are a bunch of shots of both on my site at www.helmetgraphics.com

[sho305]

I thought two of my inline 1500s would fit better under a cowl, but I guess with all the parts, the weight, it would not be worth it with V-6s now. Sure would be a cheap 250hp powerhead now though!