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

Gentlemen,

1. I stand before you, humble & contrite. I have been an idiot & am guilty of a gross injustice. I have published a private email from a good & decent man & betrayed his trust. I am a fool & I cannot hope to be trusted by him again. I ask him to accept my sincerest apology & remorse.
2. I also sincerly apologise to Mr Jackie Wilson for causing him any afront & embarrassment. It is unforgivable & I am ashamed.
3. I sincerely apologise to all who frequent this forum. You have aright to be angry. I am in your debt for making this site the great place it is. I have let you all down.
4. To Greg Terzian also I apologise for denegrating this great place with my foolish actions & comments. I am in your debt.

Yours sincerly.

ken finlay

Ken-----You're forgiven, we all drop a clanger now and again, and i know how impassioned all who worked for OMC and Mercury feel. It's a family thing, so you have to fight for it.
Lets get back to discussing that sodding Rotary again -----you telling how good it is ,and me not believing a word of it. Jackie Wilson.

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Originally Posted by LIQUID NIRVANA

I knew this would happen. BASH BASH BASH BASH. You lot are SICK. with HATE, HATE HATE. It never ends. I start a thread of great information & you crawl all over it & destroy it. I hope you are proud of yourselves.

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overreact much? :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by LIQUID NIRVANA

Gentlemen,..... I also sincerly apologise to Mr Jackie Wilson for causing him any embarrassment...... ken finlay

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A very proper response and I thank you for it. Keep your thread going, lots of good stuff. :thumbsup:

However, again I feel the need to present some facts.....Jackie Wilson can not be embarrassed. It's virtually impossible to embarrass someone that has gone through life totally clueless. :D

Look at these, I rest my case.....

Why are we letting facts get in the way of a good story?
Although better clearner than a 2 stroke in its day the rotary has a very large surface to volume ration on the combustion chamber so very bad Hc numbers.
But saying that someone with a good direct injection stratified charge might get around this.....

Classics dear boy----classics !!!!!!!!
Number 1 is the blue fin and 50hp mercury on one of the few occasions i beat john merryfield out of the traps driving his "hal kelly".
Number 2 is a rare shot of the first pickle that hodges built with a 2 liter cosworth bdg.
Number 3 are the three torriggia boats i brought back from lake como.
I had ambition in those days, but then i met the guys in oshburg and it all turned to worms.
Lets give this thread back to liquid and fight rotaries again !!!!!!!
You remember ridgell bringing mr.k a rotary nsu 90 back in 87/88 .?????

Hey Jackie

dont you live down in that area where when the wind blows the dogs off chains and people cut their ears off?

Cheers
Just having a dig

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Originally Posted by powerabout

why are we letting facts get in the way of a good story?
Although better clearner than a 2 stroke in its day the rotary has a very large surface to volume ration on the combustion chamber so very bad hc numbers.
But saying that someone with a good direct injection stratified charge might get around this.....

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there you go. Another dreamer of better clearner, ready to put his heart on the line. Why bother with facts-just be a rotary buff !!!

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Originally Posted by LIQUID NIRVANA

Gentlemen,

1. I stand before you, humble & contrite. I have been an idiot & am guilty of a gross injustice. I have published a private email from a good & decent man & betrayed his trust. I am a fool & I cannot hope to be trusted by him again. I ask him to accept my sincerest apology & remorse.
2. I also sincerly apologise to Mr Jackie Wilson for causing him any afront & embarrassment. It is unforgivable & I am ashamed.
3. I sincerely apologise to all who frequent this forum. You have aright to be angry. I am in your debt for making this site the great place it is. I have let you all down.
4. To Greg Terzian also I apologise for denegrating this great place with my foolish actions & comments. I am in your debt.

Yours sincerly.

ken finlay

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Probably isn't anyone who hasn't been here for a while that hasn't fallen on his sword once or twice....except Jackie ;)

We all want to hear more.....and appreciate your sharing.

Even i once made a mistake ,or at least i think i did, but i could be wrong.!!!!!

something inovative at the time, im glad its gonna get back on track,

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Originally Posted by Old fiberglass

We all want to hear more.....and appreciate your sharing.

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:iagree::iagree:

I think it's great that we all can get the history of the Rotarys from someone that actually worked on them. The fact that OMC had the guts to try something outside the box ,is a teastament to their mangement . Good decision or bad it was different and this is a racing history forum where it belongs. I've got 5 mercs so I'm not an OMC groopie ,but Ive enjoyed these posts and look forward to more of the story.If these storys aren't told now, a decade from now some of the key players may be gone.All in good fun it's also nice to hear both sides of the story .We could use a few more first hand accounts of the other OMC racing engines . Where would Merc be today without this great period of competion ? Lets keep this thread going from both sides of the fence. A great thread , thanks to both sides and I await more of the same. Glen

From John Sheldon

OK guys, enough is enough. I wrote the article to try to tell the untold story of rotary race engine based on my memories from 35+ years ago. It wasn’t to start a mud throwing or pissing contest. Unlike some others, I have not been involved in the marine or race industry since I left OMC in 1976, so my memory might be in error or bias on some things. I’m sure different people may have different memories and/or perspectives. Does it make a difference if it was Jimbo or Posey who broke on the second lap at Parker? My purpose was to tell the excitement and disappointment of the OMC people and what actually happened to the engines.
Yes, many of the engines broke, but one of the purposes of racing the engine was to find the weak spots and try to fix them. We kept pushing the envelope, running them at higher RPM’s and increasing HP. This was an exciting period in the marine industry with intense competition. The rotary part of this history had never been told before and that was my purpose and only purpose.

as a rotary engine fan I can appreciate the write up.

With todays standalone user programed ECUs and the advancement in custom ground eccentric shafts ( crankshafts ) apex and oil control seals who knows what could be made with these engines today.