OMC's 4-Rotor Wankel Racing Engine - The Real Story

@Rotary John

Same here..I am not 100% sure that the outboard sound in the video is from the Rotary racing engine.
Paris 6 hours 1974 is a long time ago when I raced with the two Rotary powered boats. (in my own OE class boat)..

This one is for Mouse's daughter if she doesn't already have it. I think is see a very young Johnny Sanders on the left also. S, Africa 1973Attachment 490487

This is the engine Seaway has. it looks from the picture to be complete. I don't know about the carbs as we never painted the carbs black; but they appear to have both the fuel and primer rails. It has the 15/17 gearcase, but again I don't know if anything is inside. All the internal parts were V-4 except the input shaft. I would be happy to try to get it to run if somebody covers my expenses.Attachment 490488

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Originally Posted by Rotary John

It sounds more like the V-6 than the rotary; but not sure. Notice when Munice is talking there in no engine sound, which leads me to thing the sound is dubbed in.
Bob Zips in Conn. has 2 (of 4) of the latest rotaries. I have talked and e-mailed him about letting one run for history sake, but never heard back from him. BRP has the other 2 and when I asked for 1 when they stopped producing outboards, I was told the were going to their museum in Canada. The one Seaway has is an older unit and I don't know if it is run-able or not. Hey guys, I'm 76 and if something like that is going to happen, it better be soon. As long as I'm able I will do it in a heart beat.

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2+2+1 = 5 The rotary was one of the greatest R&D programs OMC ever had. Production program? No! OMC's V6 and V8 projects were legit product development production programs.

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Originally Posted by WaterZebra

2+2+1 = 5 The rotary was one of the greatest R&D programs OMC ever had. Production program? No! OMC's V6 and V8 projects were legit product development production programs.

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You forgot that OMC produce over 15,000 rotary snowmobiles in 1972 & 73; many of which are still running today.

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Originally Posted by Rotary John

It sounds more like the V-6 than the rotary; but not sure. Notice when Munice is talking there in no engine sound, which leads me to thing the sound is dubbed in.
Bob Zips in Conn. has 2 (of 4) of the latest rotaries. I have talked and e-mailed him about letting one run for history sake, but never heard back from him. BRP has the other 2 and when I asked for 1 when they stopped producing outboards, I was told the were going to their museum in Canada. The one Seaway has is an older unit and I don't know if it is run-able or not. Hey guys, I'm 76 and if something like that is going to happen, it better be soon. As long as I'm able I will do it in a heart beat.

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The sound as Jimbo goes by sounds like WOT at full speed, but you will notice the boat is Porpoiseing meaning he is running part throttle at reduced speed.

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Originally Posted by WaterZebra

2+2+1 = 5 The rotary was one of the greatest R&D programs OMC ever had. Production program? No! OMC's V6 and V8 projects were legit product development production programs.

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In some ways I would agree with you. While the rotary program was indeed a very active production development program with 6, 50 & 100HP units designed and running, the 4 rotor program was Charlie Strang's way of kicking Charlie Alexander's ass. You noticed as soon as he had a V-6 to race the 4 rotor race engine stopped even though the rotary had more HP. The rotary out preformed the V-6 Windemere. Paris and St. Louis
It is my opinion the rotary program was stopped because it had 10x less hydrocarbon emissions than the equivalent 2-stroke.. OMC at the time was selling all the 2-strokes they could produce and with out a complete rotary line up couldn't risk EPA banning 2-stroke outboard like Calf. did in 1974 to motorcycles.

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Originally Posted by Rotary John

You forgot that OMC produce over 15,000 rotary snowmobiles in 1972 & 73; many of which are still running today.

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We are talking marine outboard power, not snowmobiles.

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Originally Posted by WaterZebra

We are talking marine outboard power, not snowmobiles.

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When was the first OMC 2l cross V-6 raced and when was it's first production?

Some of these may be on Boat Racing Facts

Copied from (https://www.carthrottle.com/post/wbyo24x/)
Attachment 490526 Attachment 490527

Images below off YouTube stills

Attachment 490528 Attachment 490529 Attachment 490530 Attachment 490531 Attachment 490532

As a point of interest; all these pictures came from my originals. I sent them to Ken along with the "***the real facts" original script. They have been floating around the internet for years. I still have the originals.

I don't believe Pathe would overdub the sound as it was predominately a news channel. However the timing might not quite be correct so Johns comments may be the answer, right sound wrong place.

Mike Gwaltney: Who is the fellow opposite Ted Wright in the first picture. I don't remember. Tom Corton?

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Originally Posted by Rotary John

As a point of interest; all these pictures came from my originals. I sent them to Ken along with the "***the real facts" original script. They have been floating around the internet for years. I still have the originals.

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Hi John, thanks for you reply.
I hadn't posted for some time and posted on recently.again.
Apologies if I repost your work/pics :D . You know nobody counterfeits a $40 bill, only the real stuff :thumbsup:
I'll message you a link related to these pics below you can share if you want.
Attachment 490536 Attachment 490537 Attachment 490538

John, I’m sure this information is in the last 28 pages but how many rotary race engines were built? And what was the dressed weight?

Great thread,

Thx-