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Good evening all. I have a couple questions. Forgive my lack of knowlege. Willabee, it appears this race would be hard on lower units and power heads, considering the way they're getting airborn. Were there lower unit problems? Were there rev limiters? Thanks. I'm really enjoying this post. Smitty:p
dads with the van wagoner rear cowl on it. try to ignore the handsome lad in the foreground:D
You're right, this race was hard on everything and everybody. Boats broke, equipment failed and grown men were sometimes reduced to tears. Some people worked on their entry for an entire year just to participate in this one event and found themselves out after only a few laps.....that had to be heartbreaking :(. As the race went on, you got a feel for just how many safety boats were on the course, because there seemed to be a steady stream of them going by the pit area with someone in tow.Quote:
Originally Posted by ssmith007
Our Twisters proved to be almost bulletproof during the 1970 tour. We knew that what we shipped had to get us through testing in Italy, the Paris and Berlin 6 Hours and maybe a 3 hour in Windemere, England. We were also concerned about the quality of the fuel we might have to run so I believe that we detuned the powerheads a little. Reduced the spark advance, ran the retarded timing disc, mixed in a little extra oil, a few things like that. Everything had been built new in Oshkosh and we made a conscious effort to keep the test time to a minimum. We did use some of our new spares in Berlin, but only because we had them, not because we needed them. We did have rev limit switch boxes, but I don't remember if we were smart enough to use them.
Here are a few shots you guys may find interesting.....#190 with a white motor :confused:.....a pickle fork Cougar in 1970, maybe the 1st in Europe :cool:.
This time I think we've got Ron Hill doing his version of the hokey-pokey as he speeds down the backstretch.....you know,
he stuck his right side in
he pulled his right side out
he stuck his left side in and then he shook the boat about
the nose got high, he started to fly but didn't get upside down
that's what it's all about :).
I sure hope some of you have heard the hokey-pokey song before :o.
Here are a few shots from a different angle taken around mid-course where the water wasn't quite as wicked. The boats are still doing some prop walking, even on the calmer water.
The first is Billy Don showing us that these Twisters used the bottom water dump :). Then it's Renato and Bill Sirois, in the 16' sprint, all three running pretty darn clean :cool:.
Shucks, guess no one knows the hokey-pokey :o.
Johnny Sanders, in the yellow Molinari, running through the center section of the bridge rather than tight to the inside, but getting the same result.....airborne. Bill Sirois, really pushing the little sprint down the straight. It's hard to tell, but I think the 3rd shot is Don Clark, joining the group having the high flyin' fun :D.
Willabee...Keep it coming. There is a lot of great information and priceless pictures in your posts from the best time period of boat racing.
OK...Perhaps we know the Hokey-Pokey, but just do not want to own up to it. It is one of those things that dates you! :eek:
I tried several times to get better shots of this next sequence, but just couldn't get it done. This is a very,very lucky Fred Miles. I hope that if you look close, you'll be able to see why.....
In the first shot, there is a massive group of boats heading for the bridge. Fred is behind the red boat, but ahead of the rest of that pack. He is about center in the photo and his Milesmaster looks like it's about to do that infamous "snap over" maneuver.
The second shot shows that he managed to get the boat back down, thus avoiding the possibility of going into the water with all of that traffic so close behind. However, when he saved the boat from flipping, it came back down and hit the concrete bridge support! He's the dark object against the left side of the support.
He's the yellow hull coming from underneath the bridge off plane in the 3rd shot. In a matter of seconds this guy avoided two major disasters.....didn't flip and get run over, then hit the bridge with enough angle to kiss off of it, rather than head-on. Didn't even hurt the boat, it's the one he brought to Havasu that year and then it became the beginning of Zonkercraft! I understand that after this little adventure, he came into the pits for fuel and shorts :D.
It does that alright.....dates a person. But, since I also know how to do a few of the newer steps I don't mind showing my hokey-pokey. When people see that I can also do the Twist.....the Stroll.....and when I dirty dance, the Bump.....folks can tell that I keep up with the times! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Bob V
I'm posting on this thread because of the recent shots and references of Twisters from Willabee:
I have been reading all the postings on the Twister and Twister I engines some of them accurate and others not. Mostly the information from Jackie Wilson is pretty wacky!! He knows what I mean.
I work with one of the five guys who were on the original build of Twisters. Understand that he was an employee and this was his job and not his passion so his recollection is sketchy. He remembers that the build was in the spring of 1971 and that they built slightly over 100 red stripe Twisters. This sounds about right. To be legal for U class a manufacture had to build 100 engines. This time frame would have allowed the engines to compete during the 1971 season. They probably started shipping right away. When these first engines were finished he went to his next project and was not part of the Twister I build. I haven’t found anyone with any knowledge on that build. So I will offer an opinion based on how Mercury did things back then. I do know we did not build 100 Twister I engines which were 1972 model year engines, thus the blue stripe. About all I can determine is that it was more than one and less than 50. I suspect we got around the 100 engine limit because we came out with the update kit to convert the red stripe Twisters. This saved the racer money because they didn’t have to buy a whole new engine after one year. Based on model year introductions Mercury could have started the Twister I build in June of 1971 but I doubt it because the Red Stripe Twister was to new. Probably late summer or early fall. All of the Twister and Twister I engines, not used by the Race Team, were built in the Fond du Lac Boathouse and not Hi Perf. It didn’t open until 1973. The first engines built there were the Twister II’s. I don’t have one in front of me but I remember Mercury did advertise the Twister in the 1972 race catalog. Unlike the BP engines the serial number ranges for the Twister and Twister I are non existent. The Twister I, I have started as a red stripe Twister and still has the serial number on it. I will post it later. Maybe we can determine a range with the others that are out there.
In response to questions on the differences between engines I will offer an opinion, again based on how things got done at Mercury during that time frame. The latest question I heard is the way the log mounts to the DSH. Now remember to be legal for U class an engine had to be produced in quantities of 100 or more built to a certain specification. So we built those first 100 plus engines all the same. This was in 1971. But, the Twisters first started popping up in 1970 run by the Race Team in S or T class as it hadn’t been approved for U class yet. Willabee can confirm this but I’m pretty sure these engines were all built in Oshkosh with all sorts of modifications being done at different times. Thus the cowbells, side carbs, different style side exhaust, dumps and who knows what else. I suspect some of these engines are still out there and causing some of this confusion. There were other engines being run at this time like the C6 and its variations, again Bill can confirm, but only in S class. By 1971 the twin engine stuff was fading. So, the red and blue stripe Twisters were run by the independents and support racers in U class and I’m sure modified ones were still running in S and T. Remember Reggie had twin T:p wisters on his Glastron in Parker and Mert ran twin Twisters in Havasu.
The Twister that I purchased back then was a red stripe and was on a twin. My memory is fading but I purchased it in Colorado from I believe Bob George. It was converted to a Twister I and when I came to work for Mercury was added to Mercury’s collection of race engines that G G was putting together. Yes, it is the engine that Benny ran a few races with back in 76 or 77.
I will keep adding to this as the information flows.
Interesting info. Do you remember the difference between the Twister and Twister I ??? What did the upgrade kit contain ? I was under the impression the Twister I had a lot more porting work done to it.
Since there wasn't any particular speed increase at that time, I always assumed it was just endurance/durability related.Quote:
Originally Posted by Old fiberglass
With a slogan like "Jackie is wacky", he could run for office :D.Quote:
Originally Posted by mbd29
I think your post is on the money, I can add a little. I thought that shortly after the first 100 Twisters were completed, they had to build an additional fifty to satisfy demand (some of those for offshore). I do agree that the TI build used the whole engine and the update kits to make the 100 required, and that both were built in Fondy. Plt #6 engineering and Merc Racing decided what went into the kits. I was part of that, but just can't remember all of the pieces. The new block was because of the milled 3rd intake port and I think there was also some exhaust port differences. The TI had a little more HP and was more durable. I think the first engine built at Hi Performance was the 25SS, then the TII.
You're right about all of the different engines being tested in 1970, there were a bunch. Merc Racing did build the Twisters for the Race Team, but Plt.#6, directed by Dick Lanpheer built the 9 carb Twister. Engineering in Fondy, under Dr. Morgan, built the first C6 with a side mounted exhaust.
Looking at the pictures I have been posting of the 1970 Paris race, I just have to shake my head and wonder what the real sequence of events might have been for some of this stuff. For example, I thought the Twisters started with the upper water dump and went to the lower when a "hot pocket" was discovered at the top of the block. The pictures tell me that we actually started with the lower dump and then went to the upper fot the "U" class build. Why.....I sure don't know. I can only guess that when we started to test the cowbell, the dump had to be placed topside and when the "U" class build came after that, engineering just stayed with the top dump. Then the problem surfaced and the dump was returned to the bottom. That has to be why you see logs today with top and bottom fittings.....the "U" class engine started out at the top and was modified after people saw racing had made the switch to the lower.
Anyway, there are a bunch of things like that which would be nice to figure out.....Raceman still wants to know why there is a new crankshaft in his TI update kit. Maybe I can get Boob Hetzel to call Ray Reed and get some answers.
Did Richie Powers assemble some of these motors?
Richie was not on the original build of 100. Don't know about the TI. I don't think he was. Richie should fill this in. I think he pops in here once in a while. I talked to him last summer and told him about this site. He may have even left Mercury by this time. He can verify.