Tricks that old racers get up to after retirement

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Originally Posted by olboatman

Gutta luv what ya did for Murphy.... Did the same for our buddy Sanibell that came from a house with 20+ kittys. Good pets are priceless!!! Gary

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When Jilly pulled Murph out from under the truck, she had to do it three times, kept going back under, so she brought her home. Fed her with a bottle for a week, think she was about two weeks old Gary. Asked all around the village if she belonged, but nobody wanted her, so she's still here five years later, chipped and with her own passport and much loved by the folks who live down the lane. Now an equal part of the family, an Anglo/French feline!
Its Thursday again already, time to rise and trundle off to Ford for the car boot sale, let you know how I get on!

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Originally Posted by powerabout

1350 is all new

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You asking or saying Pilgrim, was new at one time---yesterday!

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Originally Posted by jackiewilson

You asking or saying Pilgrim, was new at one time---yesterday!

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twin turbo 4v direct injection was invented yesterday but its still todays technology emission compliant in the eu

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Originally Posted by jackiewilson

Very few people I have ever met in my life really ever "impressed" me, one such person was Hal Hamberger!

On that day, he instilled in me something which I still have to this day, "CONFIDENCE", it's something you can't buy, you have to learn it and earn it, he was my teacher ! R.I.P. Ham.

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At one of my first races, driving an FE - 65 hp. Merc, 13' Checkmate, Mr. Hamberger walked up to my father and I and asked if we would like to try this new propeller that Mercury had just developed. We won. He continued to support my efforts in the years to come - what a great gentleman - I'm fortunate to have known him.

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Originally Posted by powerabout

twin turbo 4v direct injection was invented yesterday but its still todays technology emission compliant in the eu

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Yeah Pilgrim, new to us but old in modern day terms. Remember the EFI boxes that we were charged an arm and a leg for, latest all singing and dancing modern technology -------- i got news for you -------they were old toyota parts that were obsolete and bought for two cents on the dollar --------but how many hundreds of dollars were we charged each. De Ja Vue ?

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How the mighty have fallen -----he had it all-----Mercury eating out of the palm of his hands, Italy's nobility were among his friends, a great boat building and racing facility, sponsors falling over themselves! He was a living legend!
All he has left now, is the Martini puffa jacket---aged long before his time-----friends are long gone along with the high performance cars, Torrigia facility, house on Lake Como.
Thats what the IRS can do to you after ten years hounding !
Renato Molinari will go down in history as one of the all time Greats of power boating.
But that's only part of the story---someday, someone may write the full story!

Enough of all that for now, tell you what I did today. 7am headed for Ford car boot sale, it's full title is "Hunter Ford Aerodrome" due to being the home of the famous RAF Hunter Squadron in the sixties and seventies. Fine and bright, hundreds of stalls,lots of people but very little that I needed, bought an orbital sander for a fiver, then spent the morning making it fit for human consumption!

Mowed the lawn and trimmed the hedges, got back and shoulder pains for my troubles, must find someone to "delegate" those jobs to.
I even have a tall stool with a backrest in the shop these days, work rate is pitifully slow and production damn near zero, sadly , interest is waning, maybe that's why I've slowed of late.
Just to keep you interested that's a piccy of Jillys fuscias on the front doorstep.

Totally bushed, so that's your lot, night all, MYGGWY.J.

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Originally Posted by jackie wilson

Yeah Pilgrim, new to us but old in modern day terms. Remember the EFI boxes that we were charged an arm and a leg for, latest all singing and dancing modern technology -------- i got news for you -------they were old toyota parts that were obsolete and bought for two cents on the dollar --------but how many hundreds of dollars were we charged each. De Ja Vue ?

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you raced with old toyota parts?

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Originally Posted by powerabout

you raced with old toyota parts?

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Yup, old and obsolete Auto parts---but good enough for the marine industry,
or did you think the EFI box was a Mercury invention Pilgrim ?

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Originally Posted by jackiewilson

Yup, old and obsolete Auto parts---but good enough for the marine industry,
or did you think the EFI box was a Mercury invention Pilgrim ?

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there is very little chance an automotive pack could run a 2 stroke back in the mid 80's as many cant today so i doubt it.
The guy that designed the current Merc F1 pak might have back then but I do know he designed the CFI for the OMC F1 V8 back in about 83 and that was before F1 had started using it
My guess is Merc ran their own project (Rich Startzel?),as they had the 2.0 F1, Bass and Offshore running 84ish and Ford and Cosworth still scratching their heads in 84
Interesting topic on Merc EFI history so I would be keen to know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqfVAGOaGEc

Every now and again I trundle off down to the pool room I use as a studio and look at the piles of stuff I made beforehand! Went in that direction today, looked at the Rolls Silver Ghost and decided the steering wheel was all wrong. Took me most of the day, but it now has a four spoke alloy and a four spoke wooden steering wheel. Think the alloy one looks best, but will leave it to the new owner to decide.!

Pilgrim does not agree with me on the subject of EFI boxes by Mercury!
There were a a couple of Japanese drivers raced the F.O.N.D.A. series, one of these was Sughihara who seemed to have contacts in every part of the jap car industry, after dissecting one of the EFI
boxes it was declared replaceable with an up to date chip and a quarter the size at a tenth of the price. That was when we heard all the old boxes (10,000 of 'em)had been bought by Mercury!
Maybe it was just a story Pilgrim, I'm not an engineer, just a Bodger enjoying the September of life.

Had half a dozen power tools that still had continental plugs on the end, came across a box of English three pin plugs for a fiver, so I changed the lot, now I can throw away the the French system I had installed in a corner of the shop.

Was tempted to do a "twistercraft"---just for the hell of it, but there was only ever four or five made made anyway and they were pug ugly .
Molinaris and Seebolds were were much prettier and went better too.
Thats food for thought and discussion methinks, so I bid you all goodnight and MYGGWY.J.

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Something i I did earlier, from memory ,I think it has a number seven on it.
Finally got my Father's Day presents from Sam, my youngest, one of these was a bottle of smelly
" MAN IN BLACK" by Bulgari, man I tell you, that is some powerful odour,, I GET A SMILE, NOD AND A WINK FROM EVERY PASSING FELINE.

I see Butler ( Of Mercury fame) seems to be working back at the company. Another of my old mates ( Hawkeyes Hawkins) who retired from ILMOR recently is back working full time.
What is the matter with these people, retire gracefully and start a new life, enjoy the new found freedom---like wot I do. ,

Been more like the summer days I remember as a kid, blue skies, gentle breeze 75 degrees. Where I grew up in the west riding of Yorkshire in the small village of Lightcliffe there were several worked out quarries that were filled with water, this was our swimming pool. Thing I remember most, is how damned cold the water was . Bit different to the pool temp we had today, 80 and rising!

Told you how I made a couple of steering wheels for the Roller, seeing as how I had it out on the bench I fitted a new tow bar, then realised it didn't have a lighting board, got stuck into making one
out of stainless and diamonds------turned around and it was CC7 o'clock, shall continue with said number plate tomorrow.

1st of August today, Europe goes on vacation for the whole month and come the 1st of September it's like everyone left the beach-----that's it -----summer over, closed, shutters drawn, last one to leave , turn off the lights, -----reopens Easter!!!

Remember a few years back, was supposed to meet Seebold in Sannibell Island , I got the date wrong by a week, when Jilly and I arrived, we were the only living things on the island, there had been a mass exodus!

Enough of the ramblings for one day, talk to you Sunday, MYGGWY.J.

Was a "BLUE MOON" last night, first time in three years, due I'm told to the presence of shooting stars etc, no doubt Pilgrim will tell me otherwise.
Off out to lunch today with Jilly's brother David, going to "The Black Horse" at Binstead, one of the villages close to home!
If LASSE can go to "Castaways" then I figure it's ok for me to go to the black horse, HEE, HEEE.
Been told I can go out in the shop until noon, then put on me Sunday best for lunch!
I see Seebolds in Seattle, but Rinker pinched the pole by a good second, Told Billy he should have had Mark do Timmy a qualifying prop, he never listens!
Looks like another beautiful day, Jesus wept, two in a row, might have to water the garden if this continues-----Bon continuation pour Le weekend peeps!

You get a blue moon looking through a Bombay Sapphire bottle when empty

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Originally Posted by powerabout

You get a blue moon looking through a Bombay Sapphire bottle when empty

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You get the same result with a full bottle too Pilgrim!

Had a good lunch at the "Black Horse" in Binstead ------not a great lunch, but passable!
Never did get back into the shop!
spent an hour talking to my son Mark on FaceTime, he was back in his shop working on his boat!

Timmy Seebold went swimming in Seattle, leading at the time? Wonder how long ago his last dunking was ? He should know better than that by now-----can't be many racers left running that has the amount of "SEAT TIME" he has!

Been a series of plane crashes this weekend in England, A seven million pound private jet, killing all four Saudis. Second was a gnat stunt plane, pilot lost his life. Third was a biggin hill spitfire, lost power on takeoff and did a text book crash landing, pilot ok.
Enjoyed a lazy day, managed about three hours in the shop, putting some finishing touches to the Roller and a posh lighting board for the yew wing. That thing is going to be a stone bitch to transport. Not allowed to make a wooden box for it if it's bound for the USA, not a lot of people know that. ,!!!

T2X sent me a piccy of his new toys shop,-----told him "ITS OBSCENE ". Post it on here Rich, show the people I am not exaggerating------ 100 illegals could call it home, pot bellied stove and a latrine ---- nice little earner there!!!
Its that time of night again, bye bye time, MYGGWY.J.

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Originally Posted by jackiewilson

T2X sent me a piccy of his new toys shop,-----told him "ITS OBSCENE ". Post it on here Rich, show the people I am not exaggerating------ 100 illegals could call it home, pot bellied stove and a latrine ---- nice little earner there!!!

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Jackie, Did he send you pictures of ALL of the garages and buildings??? He's gone country on us! It is a beautiful place!

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Originally Posted by RogerH

Jackie, Did he send you pictures of ALL of the garages and buildings??? He's gone country on us! It is a beautiful place!

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No Roger, he just sent me a couple of piccies of T2X shacks that happen to adorn the playground!
Damned good job he didn't send 'em before we agreed a price on the "Luhrs" trophy, I would have charged him double.!

He reminds me of the guy who liked the Remington razor, he liked it so he bought the company,
Rich liked North Carolina so much ----------HE BOUGHT IT .

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Originally Posted by jackiewilson

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No Roger, he just sent me a couple of piccies of T2X shacks that happen to adorn the playground!
Damned good job he didn't send 'em before we agreed a price on the "Luhrs" trophy, I would have charged him double.!

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Figured he just show the basics........Here's a view of the Interstate Hwy. into the place! Did he mention he has his own police protection???

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Forgot to mention that the "Interstate" to the place has its own toll bridge, and yes, that is Rich's own flock of turkeys (the deer are close by too) you can see beyond the bridge. Thanksgiving ought to be interesting.

=RogerH;2777227]Forgot to mention that the "Interstate" to the place has its own toll bridge, and yes, that is Rich's own flock of turkeys (the deer are close by too) you can see beyond the bridge. Thanksgiving ought to be interesting.[/QUOTE]

It's easier to get an invite to the White House for thanksgiving dinner than it is to T2x's for supper any day of the week I suppose !
Would be fun chasing Doreen round the plantation,Largeholding, Bonanza, county, state, ? What would you call a spread like that "TERRITORY "!?

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Originally Posted by jackiewilson

=RogerH;2777227]Forgot to mention that the "Interstate" to the place has its own toll bridge, and yes, that is Rich's own flock of turkeys (the deer are close by too) you can see beyond the bridge. Thanksgiving ought to be interesting.

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It's easier to get an invite to the White House for thanksgiving dinner than it is to T2x's for supper any day of the week I suppose !
Would be fun chasing Doreen round the plantation,Largeholding, Bonanza, county, state, ? What would you call a spread like that "TERRITORY "!?[/QUOTE]
You are welcome for dinner anytime Jackie!

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Originally Posted by T2x

It's easier to get an invite to the White House for thanksgiving dinner than it is to T2x's for supper any day of the week I suppose !
Would be fun chasing Doreen round the plantation,Largeholding, Bonanza, county, state, ? What would you call a spread like that "TERRITORY "!?

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You are welcome for dinner anytime Jackie![/QUOTE]
I know that Rich, Roger and I were just doing the proverbial leg pull, as good friends do, the new house is absolutely beautiful. Hope to visit you one day, but getting medical insurance for a visit is nigh on impossible! Even though I have never had a claim.

Had six cubic metres of firewood delivered yesterday, stacked the first two metres before Jilly stormed out and demanded I cease, due to the fact I am "feak and weeble" and will ache for a month!
Asked the delivery guy if he ever had any "BURRS"------- he brought back two me two fine specimens, one of beech and one ash, spent the afternoon working on the beech, it's turning out rather interesting, could be the best thing I've done to date.
couple if piccies of the burrs in their raw state.The log pile that caused me calf ache.

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About ten ten hours into the Burr beech-----what is coming forth, is an amazing work of art by nature herself. All I've done is carefully removed all traces of bark, what's left is something of pure magic, might take a couple more piccies later!

Couple more shots of the beech burr and the four cubes of logs still to stack.

I never have worked a "Burr" before! As I uncovered the beech burr I found myself wanting to hurry so I could see the sheer beauty of the piece free from the thick bark that entombed it.
Then I had to decide whether or not to carve, shape, varnish, Polish, or simply leave as is
Decided to scrub hard with a brass bristled wire brush, then I gave it just a singe coat of beeswax, then, I took a shoe brush and simply polished until my arm dropped off.
There is everything in that piece -----just let your eyes take in--------then let your mind roam freely and you can see the wonders of the world in a single piece of wood.
Sun did not make an appearance today so I had no chance to post any close up detailed shots.
tomorrow it's a nice day so I will try to show you what I mean.
Next up is the ASH burr, this should be even better than the beech. If I get stuck in early and the bark shifts easier I'll post some more piccies.

Should have been hard and fast asleep by now, but what the hell, this is ramble time! MYGGWY.J.

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Now is that ever an ugly chunk of timber, that was a carbuncle on the side of a very old Ash tree until a woodman took a chain saw and sliced it from the main trunk. Let's see what I can make of it in the next couple of days !

May get back to you lunch time, just before my nap, give you a progress report!

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Thats is the last time I will ever stack timber again-------I got leg ache, back ache and an arse ache to die for!

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Awesome or What? Mother Nature in the raw, no artist on earth could create such a masterpiece! You could look into this for a thousand days and still see something different.
the bark almost fell off in front of the chisel. It took less than six hours in total to expose this piece.
me myself did nothing towards creating this marvel, I just cleaned and polished one of natures masterpieces.

Twould appear unless it's got a motor strapped to its bum, not a lot of folk are interested in wood!

Time to dismantle and ship some of the stuff stateside bound! Some of it needs a final touch up, but it's all mostly finished.
Not starting anything else until every last piece I have is ready and complete and the shop bears some resemblance to a workplace, at the moment it's all snot and feathers, needs drastic action and sanitisation!
Buggered if it's not Thursday again tomorrow -----foraging at Ford day, why, I can't in all honesty answer that------obsession-----habit-----get out for an hour----I certainly don't need the junk I find there!
time for big zuzzes ----- sleep well my friends, MYGGWY. J.

Well, that was Thursday here and gone, bought a pair of coffin like cases that used to store movie film reels! They will make great trophy carrying cases to ship over to the colonial counties.

Made a half hearted attempt at clearing up the shop-----it was all a bit too much so I started finishing one of the sailboats! Just let the mind wander and fitted triple sails on the bowsprit----pretty sure they'll sanitariumise me for sheer lunacy if I'm not careful.

Decided to finish all the golf trophies for Tavares and ship them over. Just in case I don't manage to make the Off meeting for whatever reason. Shed loads of sh-t about to hit the fan in my little world so I am putting some "contingency " plans in place.

Have a bunch of my side of the family coming for a "Pool and Barbie" party on Sunday, forecast is for sun and soaring temperatures-----need oodles of fun and grandkids around this weekend!

Not a lot to talk about today, think it's time just to say goodnight folks, MYGGWY.J.

Jackie - regardless what "shed load of sh-t hits the fan", all of us out here will always love you - Steve & Iris

Hi Jackie

that burr is a nice piece of timber I like the creases , I always thought they were very sought after
By the wood turning fraternity .

Rob

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Originally Posted by seeroy

Jackie - regardless what "shed load of sh-t hits the fan", all of us out here will always love you - Steve & Iris

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Hi Stavros,, just come back from the quacks place with a clean bill of health in all departments!
You remember last year in Tavares we got the bad news that Jills youngest boy Matt had been rushed to hospital with a brain tumour? The operation to remove it has not proved successful,
time scale is 2/3 months!
This is on top of her eldest boy Ivan who has signet ring cancer and is fighting like a gladiator, but has been on borrowed time for the last three years. Both are in their mid forties with five grandkids aged between four and fourteen.
We tried to keep the news private and to ourselves for a while but someone used Facebook to tell the world so no point hiding anymore.
Nothing wrong with me Stavros !, looks like I could do the five score with my hands tied behind my back and my mouth zipped wide shut.
Every day since my first born child died from that bastard disease I have asked myself where is the sense, or the justice, the pain becomes a dull ache that even twenty years later still catches me unawares, and the senselessness and total injustice of it all just reduces me to tears.
How the hell after 83+ years of hard living, 30 years top line boat racing, triple by pass ---burning the candle both ends ----five kids, eleven grandkids, nine great grandkids then today I get a perfect bill of health. It's a cockeyed world!
Thats the reason I had to make contingency plans, pots due to boil over, possibly around Tavares time Steve. Family comes before friends!
Lets wait and see how the boys manage to play the sh-ttty hand they've been dealt. It's all got bugger all to do with boat racing, but it's got everything to do with me and mine!

[QUOTE=robert j garner;2778424]Hi Jackie

that burr is a nice piece of timber I like the creases , I always thought they were very sought after
By the wood turning fraternity .

Rob[/QUOTE

You're right Rob, most wood turners would give their granny for a nice burr. Then they would turn a useless bowl out of it! Long ago when furniture making was an art, ( before Ikea), burrs would be sliced into veneers and used for decoration, but that was a very long time ago!
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Finallyl got a whole day to ourselves, better make the most of it, tomorrow my screaminghoarders come screaming in!
Just can't get into shop cleaning mode.

That represents a weeks work. , the two burrs and a Four masted south sea islands schooner of doubtful pedigree. I wouldn't employ me either!

You know it's funny how popular sailboats are on S&F---Not a single comment, one way or another, not even a stick 'em up your arse !
Cranked the pool up to 82, my lot don't go in below 80 and Sunday is invasion day.

Premier league posers started their season today, , Man U won, due to an own goal by Spurs back!
When you have a Billion dollar team being paid fifty million per week it must have been like watching paint dry for sheer spectacle and excitement !
Have to clean the shop up tomorrow morning, that has become an accident waiting to happen zone.

If nothing exciting happens tomorrow, I'll have to revert back to a couple of jokes. MYGGWY.J.

Nary a one of you out there picked up on the fact it was a THREE masted schooner. par for the course though, this IS a powerboat site and not rag and stick territory.
We have one of those perfect summer mornings, sea mist rising, still as the last seconds before the gun! Birds Singing their hearts out, a great to be alive morning, family visiting day, Bar-B-Que day with me in charge of cooking, what more can a man ask for?

Like the schooner. Maybe a rotary for auxiliary power would be nice.