Tricks that old racers get up to after retirement

[jackiewilson]

Spent all the money on a Lexus now though an'ee......................................lol

Was deeply hurt at the time———- Bill and I had become very good friends——— fact he couldn’t drive worth a lick never made an ounce of difference, he was such a great person in his own right.
We were partners in an an R2 boat that with a bit of fernagling could pass as an ON——— we were good friends having a blast sharing the cost going racing.
He wanted to name it, which was fine by me——— he supplied the motor! And kept it running, I supplied the alpha drive, all the props etc,———— a very amicable arrangement.
He was in discussions with Carlsberg for some big time sponsorship which would have made life a lot cosier. Well, Bill landed the sponsorship but informed me that it was for him only, I was not to be included in the deal———- our relationship kinda cooled somewhat after that———
He supplied me with a brand fire new BDG —I let him keep the rig—— Dennis Stacey from SWMF came-up with a warranty job alpha one——— Bought Roger Hooks Scimitar———- Chas Shooter and me stitched it all together in a week and took it to Amsterdam where she gave a very good account of herself.
Got to thinking that I needed a chunk more horsepower (as you do) and looked all through the engine comics until I found a guy who had a bunch of FORD V6 COLOGNE iron blocs that were pushing out over 300 hp——— apparently 100 had been built and homologated but power/ weight ratio was not good or some such thing. They were cheap as chips, and I thought maybe it was the way to go! Decided to give Keith a bell and see what he thought.
He wanted to try out the new Dateline Bikini Squirt boat, see if it was any good for water ski-ing, would I give him a tug !
We met at his private lake at Billing—— he brought Mike Costain with him ——- we launched the boat at the top of the lake on a beautiful afternoon and drifted slowly down to the bottom of the lake.
I asked him his views on the “Cologne”———- he simply dismissed it out of hand as a no no!
Thats when the idea of the DFV was first formulated, by Keith.Mike. And Me. The whole concept was born in one afternoon, engine, boat, transmission, builder , driver, I would supply a full time engineer to work at the factory ( Bob Savage) Malcolm TYRRELL would be in charge at Cosworth, Ben Rood and Dick Scammel would keep it running. Was expected to take 6/8 weeks.
Sun had gone down when I pulled the Dateline out of the water—— Keith never did get a tug, we did decide to put a DFV in a 19’ Hodges, I would drive it——- just for this season.
That day, we made history!

[Bob V]

Jackie - Is Mark going to persue the Cosworth DFV?

[jackiewilson]

Jackie - Is Mark going to persue the Cosworth DFV?

Very very definitely Bob—— bigstumbling block has always been the motor.

[jackiewilson]

Same thing with “Old Blue” —— nice easy project——- but do we do it as a flash all “Caldwell” piece, or leave it totally original. Two waves of thought on this one!
One things for sure, it’s in safe hands, and it’s not goin anywhere!

Back to the Cossie,—— it’s in remarkably good condition for its age, but it’s been kept under cover all its life, apart from the week it spent outside when the Basildon museum closed and we stepped in and shipped it across the pond.
Its been under cover in A/C shops ever since. Lots of maintenance has been carried out on her over the last six years.
Malcolm TYRRELL did visit Keith’s toy shop and collect all the relevant spare parts with Jill’s permission, there wasn’t much of any use or value apart from the original working drawings which include the centrifugal clutch. Mark has all these.
We have one stern drive and one gear case——— props are not a problem——-
Dont suppose I shall live long enough to see the completed project—— but you never know.

[ron54]

Whoa —— let’s not get too carried away here sunshine, Bill Brown had absolutely nothing at all to do with the Cosworth DFV Project ———- this was a direct result of a a meeting between Keith Duckworth, Mike Costain and myself.
In fact I would go so far as to say, he was not even allowed in the same shop as the boat !
The boat did win the DUCHESS OF YORK
THE CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS.
OZ WORLD RECORD.
NEVER BROKE DOWN ONCE IN THE ENTIRE SINGLE SEASON IT PERFORMED
NEVER HAD AN ENGINE, TRANSMISSION OR GEARCASE FAILURE
THAT INCLUDES “THINKING WE MIGHT HAVE A PROBLEM BUT DIDNT” AT THE SEVEN HOUR PARKER RACE
SINCE WHEN WAS CHRIS HODGES A COLONIAL.

Strangely bearing in mind the emergence of the current topic- the author of that book Graham Robson is due to give us a talk here in the Bristol badlands next month.. all a bit irrelevant now of course as the book was published in 2007...But it reinforces what we all know, that coincidences all too frequently happen and that a suitable DFV may yet appear...

[jackiewilson]

To be honest the author did ask me if I wanted to add my fourpennorth, but Bill... had long since left Cosworth with his five percent to Thailand. Irene had left him and nobody at Cosworth was making waves——— so I declined.
I couldn’t bring myself to ever read the book.
The original idea of a two litre raceboat to take on the outboards was all Bills———he just wasn’t capable of doing it himself.!
With just one shot, a mediocre boat, a middle of the road driver, Duckworth proved his motor was more than a match for anything that either OMC or Mercury were running at that time.
We had just a couple of weeks to set the boat up for Bristol, where the best drivers in the world were lining up for Mercury and OMC———
We learned in a hurry , the boat was too big, course too tight and twisty for a 19’ Boat, but we had made the choice, we had to live with it, make the best of it.
We weren’t that far out, A 17’ Seebold would have been a bit lively round Bristol with 400 HP ——- even Billy would have struggled.
Cosworth played their part magnificently———rest of us struggled, but did a great job considering we had just one shot at it——— and such a short time to do it in.
You know what Phill——- nasty bastard gremlin inside me keeps saying “go to Bristol jackielad”?.?.?

[jackiewilson]

Buckled down, got stuck in, concentrated on doing the best job I could in producing a special commemorative trophy for Timmy Seebold’s Champ boat series.
I take my hat off to Timmy for all the effort he has put into keeping F 1 powerboating alive in the USA.
Very few drivers ever pick up the baton and run with it ——— Timmy Seebold grabbed NGK and squeezed a two year deal out of them with an option for a third!
He moved into the world of composites and produced new boats for customers to purchase.
Looks to me like its all systems go,
Caldwell didn’t exactly fill me full of confidence with their price structure and product delivery in miami.

[Bob V]

Caldwell didn’t exactly fill me full of confidence with their price structure and product delivery in miami.

Who needs a Caldwell when you have have a Cosworth and a DFV at that...!!!

[jackiewilson]

That was then Bob, ——- today your talking pretty close to six figures ( £100,000) a fresh build will set you back £75,000, cheapest one we came across of unknown origin, was £40,000. which can lead to untold problems further down the line. It could have been stolen, and with today’s technology you would stand a good chance of losing it. Provenance is paramount in these cases.
But at least we can establish a firm price for a complete product .
That was the thing that pissed me off about the Caldwell “PRICING” ——— there is absolutely no way of knowing how much a ready to run motor is going to cost————- because there’s no such animal ?

[GENE LANHAM]

That was then Bob, ——- today your talking pretty close to six figures ( £100,000) a fresh build will set you back £75,000, cheapest one we came across of unknown origin, was £40,000. which can lead to untold problems further down the line. It could have been stolen, and with today’s technology you would stand a good chance of losing it. Provenance is paramount in these cases.
But at least we can establish a firm price for a complete product .
That was the thing that pissed me off about the Caldwell “PRICING” ——— there is absolutely no way of knowing how much a ready to run motor is going to cost————- because there’s no such animal ?

Off the subject--but has anyone checked the price of an aircraft engine lately?

Certainly not to be used in a boat, but to just get realistic about the high cost of living today--

[GENE LANHAM]

Off the subject--but has anyone checked the price of an aircraft engine lately?

Certainly not to be used in a boat, but to just get realistic about the high cost of living today--

____And if you can't afford the 'New' --you can always go for the 'Rebuilt'

[Bob V]

"Holy Crap on a Cracker." It must have something to do with the letter "C." Cosworth, Caldwell, and Continental, with Cosworth and Continental topping the list of the most expensive engines (toys) for Boys... I remember when rebuilt meant a fraction of the new price. Looking at the Continental, it barely makes any difference. Yes, times have changed...

[powerabout]

whats 1350 + 6 drive cost?

[jackiewilson]

whats 1350 + 6 drive cost?

You know what Pilgrim, how do you guage actuality and reality?
Lets take basics of supply and demand—— that’s really what it’s all about, whether it’s a Big Mac or a premier league footballer.
Me myself wouldn’t pay the inflated egotistical bastards in penny washers——— but that’s just my totally unbiased opinion, I used to love a Big Mac until it reached the dizzy height of a dollar and then I could no longer enjoy it.
So then scarecity value comes into it———- remember the tale of the collector who had the last two Ming vases in the world worth a million apiece? ———- so what to do ?——— the answer was to smash one of them to bits, because that made the remaining Vase worth three million! —— it’s all a question of supply and demand and availability.
Cosworth DFV. £100;000
F1. Composite fully rigged £100,000
Big Mercury race lump and number 6 drive £100,000 ( guessing )
New Lycoming ,continental £100,000 .

NFL footballer. £ 100,000,000.+
Premier League footballer £400,000,000 +

Now am I alone? Is it just me ? Or is the world going FECKIN crazy———- ??

In 1970 I bought a brand fire new Ford Cortia GT Statio wagon from Tommy Sopwiths dealership in Brighton————- told them if it reached a thousand ponds I wouldn’t take it——— the invoice price was £999.99.
I must have had one of my mad fits of depression when I bought the Sporty Lexus.

[powerabout]

You dont want to know what rich guys pay to go grand prix yacht racing.