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

[Rotary John]

Surprise, surprise! A race only, nothing-even-remotely-close-ever-released-to-the-public, super duper top secret racing motor beats run-of-the-mill consumer outboard!!!

Just pickin’...

Not available to the public, fuel injected V-6, so secret the inspectors had to go under the covers to inspect the kill switch.
The rotary was widely available for public viewing; a parts board was with all the rotary parts was shown in publications; engines were shown at major trade/boat shows around the world. Boating editors were allowed to actually drive the race boat, take pictures and publish stories.In addition the rotary snowmobile engine (which was the bases for the race motor) was on the market in '72.Now which motor was top secret?
Factually, the only real secrets of the race motor, was the crankshaft joining, the exhaust manifold and the cooling. The remainder of the parts came directly from the snowmobile engine with minor modifications.

[powerabout]

It's hard to factually say because much of the cost was absorbed by the production snowmobile engine and other rotary engine developments. If anyone could ever see the cost reporting for project D706, it might give some idea. My guess costs related to the race motor was in the 250/500K dollar range. That figure wouldn't include, boats, travel etc but only the engine. I was making $10,000/yr at the time and for '74 &'75 all of my time was charged to the rotary race engine. If my memory is any good, I recall OMC had 12/15 million total invested in the rotary engines programs for the initial signing in '66 till the end.

When did all rotary stuff stop?

[nitro_rat]

I guess I wasn’t aware of the snowmobile engines, we don’t have those in Texas!

[Rotary John]

When did all rotary stuff stop?

The rotaries ran for the last time in the spring of '75. That was pretty much the end of the rotary program at OMC. Most of the guys quit that year and I left the following summer. OMC research in Milwaukee played around with rotaries for awhile after that, but nothing came of it.

[powerabout]

The rotaries ran for the last time in the spring of '75. That was pretty much the end of the rotary program at OMC. Most of the guys quit that year and I left the following summer. OMC research in Milwaukee played around with rotaries for awhile after that, but nothing came of it.

was 75 also the last snowmobile with them in it?

[Rotary John]

"74. OMC went out of the SM business in '74.

[Rotary John]

Complements of my friend Jackie Wilson

[techteam]

Hi John

Ann's Dad died last year and there is so much stuff to go through. He took them at the event. I'm hoping that there is some film as well. It's going to take ages to go through it all and I don't have the time at the moment.

[WaterZebra]

Not available to the public, fuel injected V-6, so secret the inspectors had to go under the covers to inspect the kill switch.
The rotary was widely available for public viewing; a parts board was with all the rotary parts was shown in publications; engines were shown at major trade/boat shows around the world. Boating editors were allowed to actually drive the race boat, take pictures and publish stories.In addition the rotary snowmobile engine (which was the bases for the race motor) was on the market in '72.Now which motor was top secret?
Factually, the only real secrets of the race motor, was the crankshaft joining, the exhaust manifold and the cooling. The remainder of the parts came directly from the snowmobile engine with minor modifications.

Rotary John - too bad we didn't have the internet and social media back in the early 70's. Maybe marketing / race decisions by both Merc and OMC would have been radically different? I was a kid in high school in 73 and didn't even have a clue about the OMC rotary and V6 development programs until I saw photos and brief write-ups in the OMC sales brochures. You can add local dealerships to "clueless" list too. Never showed any interest in R&D unless it meant a few more fishing motors sold out the door. I lived on the west coast at the time and had I known about the rotaries running in Provo UT, I would have driven there just to see them run. I just saw the current company summary for Merc on Google.............Anything 30HP and under - Tahatsu in Japan............Midsize 40-60HP somewhere else (Oklahoma?) and the big stuff V6 / Verado, etc still in FondDuLac

[Rotary John]

[QUOTE=techteam;3038630]Hey John my friend looks like you were in Windermere after all...

Attachment 405677
It Ain't me, but it sure does look like a young me. I think that is a Merc Tech fueling the T-3, and it may be Garbrect with his back to the cmara.

[Ozzman]

Click on Link Below for short Video of the Rotary Public Launch from 1973




https://www.britishpathe.com/video/V...uery/speedboat

[Mark75H]

Now we know the sound

[WaterZebra]

Now we know the sound

Sound? I've listened to every rotary clip posted on this site and they all sound like dubbed in stock outboards. Whoever made this clip should have turned down Bill Muncie's voice so we could listen to the thing run! Only person who can authenticate the rotary's sound on this website is RJ! Real rotary sound? Doubt it. All the comments about the rotary's sound have had one thing in common..........it sounded like no other outboard power made. One way to settle the argument is to get one of these stingy collectors who still has one to have RJ look at it and dry fire it............ even for just a moment.

[2us70]

I was puzzled by the sound in that clip also. Many years ago there was a racing airplane built with 2 Mazda rotaries in it. I heard it run several times and it didn't sound like that. The airport got noise complaints every time they flew that thing. We would then go out to the runway and watch it land because the rear engine would overheat. The overheating was not the motors fault but a design problem with the aircraft.

[Rotary John]

Sound? I've listened to every rotary clip posted on this site and they all sound like dubbed in stock outboards. Whoever made this clip should have turned down Bill Muncie's voice so we could listen to the thing run! Only person who can authenticate the rotary's sound on this website is RJ! Real rotary sound? Doubt it. All the comments about the rotary's sound have had one thing in common..........it sounded like no other outboard power made. One way to settle the argument is to get one of these stingy collectors who still has one to have RJ look at it and dry fire it............ even for just a moment.

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.