1 Attachment(s)
Mercury European race manager, Roy Ridgell, at the Molinari Como race shop.
Attachment 315593
You can see the Italian flag colors in stripes on the boat's cowling.
Changing gaskets on this style of exhaust system on this Inline 6, was a pain in the butt.
This photo is on the bottom floor (lake level) where the boats were rigged next to the engine room.
1 Attachment(s)
A new era in single-outboard power begins with Roy Ridgell and Molinari hull boat 888
Quote:
Originally Posted by
GENE LANHAM
The facts are a little muddy, but if
Roy ran that boat in the 1966
GCM, he finished 6th overall. But for sure, the
Gold Coast Marathon was "
Mr. Kiekhaefer's personal race".
http://i50.tinypic.com/2ev6hcy.jpg
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> After Roy Ridgell (my dad) finished the Gold Coast Marathon race at Miami Marine Stadium, he told my Mom to get in the boat. With my mom sitting on the gas tank in front of the Mercury engine, dad left MMS to an offsite marina. He was told by Mr. K not to trailer the Molinari hull at the race site, because he did not want the competition to see the new boat.
In retrospect, it seems to me, that Carl Kiekhaefer knew with increase horsepower, new light weight tunnel hulls, and the correct propeller, that this competitive combination was compelling. This became an advent to an evolutionary transition of single-outboard powered tunnels, which are going to change the face of outboard circuit racing. And Roy Ridgell piloting boat# 888 was the forerunner to this new era. And this rig was the first-overall single outboard hull, at the Gold Coast Marathon, in its inaugural race in the USA.
And later on with the addition of power trim, outboard tunnels have achieved remarkable cornering speeds and rocket acceleration. And 1966 was a beginning step to the 1970’s racing legacy.
Attachment 321972
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]-->