Facts about Evinrude/Johnson racing outboards made my OMC

[WaterZebra]

Beating the new SE Class Merc 650 XS was easy 1975...but a long story the first time..!!

The Scandinavian SE Championship 1975 took place in Forsaa, Finland.

Around 25 boats were in place at this beautiful Lake, and Mercury had just released the new 650 XS UIM SE class race engine and lots of people was hoping the new Merc could give the OMC drivers a run for the money.

Driver Bo Nilson (6) was backed up by AGB, the Swedish distributor for Johnson and I by Huzells, the Swedish distributor for Evinrude. (1)
The strongest Finn was Mercury’s Bimbo Aminoff and a few more drivers from Denmark
and Norway with the new Merc.
The rest was using OMC 3 Cyl. 75 Hp. Four heat and three counts as normally and a clock start.
I did not know how strong the new Merc was, but I was very well prepared and after
the first heat the good news was that the new Merc was no match
(sorry Mercury) and the fight was as usually between Bo (6) and me (1) and some other OMC
drivers.
In the second heat Bimbo Aminoff took the lead but after a few laps I past him and so did Bo but I made a mistake in one turn and Bo past me
for the win.
Well, I do not remember exactly but it came down to the last
heat and the winner of that heat was the overall winner of the race and I was
the lucky one again with only to tens of a second over Bo Nilsson, and I was now
the Scandinavian Champion for the third consecutive year.
Well not yet, because third was Mercury’s Bimbo Aminoff and he filed a protest.
Bo and I did not have any spray paint on our gear cases.
You where allowed to sharpen the skeg, and sand on the gear case if you still was within the template.

We pass that test easy, but the Chief technical inspector said that you must spray paint the gear case, and ours was just polished aluminum
so he disqualified Bo and me.
Bimbo Aminoff was now declared the winner and Bo Nilsson went nuts.
I know how angry he can get, and it turned ugly. After a major argument we left for Sweden and straight to Roland Rosenholtz, the Swedish Power Boat Federations chairman to tell him the
story, but he was already informed.
Mr. Rosenholtz made a few phone calls to Finland and UIM.
“There was nothing in the UIM rule book saying the gearcase must be painted/or not painted”
After a few days I received the Trophy and the price money
from Finland and I was officially the Scandinavian Champion 1975.
Thank you Roland Rosenholtz
Next story here….http://svera.se/blogg/racing-histori...secutive-year/

The Swedish Daily News Paper-Dagens Nyheter July 7 1975

Attachment 481051

Attachment 481052

Yeah..............I tried starting a thread about gearcase paint specs on S&F but nobody responded? Pretty straightforward on modified classes but the arguments and yelling always centered around the "stock / OEM" classes. Nobody wanted to clarify the rules about wet sanding paint either? There were even arguments over the surface finish specs on bare aluminum? Merc used primer and Phantom Black on their first SSM inlines but the paint disappeared when the CLE cases first appeared. I can't recall ever seeing any paint used on either Merc or OMC CLE style cases? If they did, can somebody can prove me wrong with a photo?

[lars strom]

Well..UIM made it clear.
You did not have to spray paint the gear case as long as the gear case meet the specifications you where legal.
A note is..no paint did not increase speed.

[2us70]

In APBA gear cases had to be painted as it left the factory.

[lars strom]

Well..but we raced under UIM.
A spare part gear case came from OMC without paint.
The spray paint in a can from OMC (Johnson or Evinrude) did never stick perfect.
Paint came lose and looked terrible..
That was the reason for no paint.
Used up a lot of gear cases 1975 because the bearing holder cracked.

[peterse90]

I can't recall ever seeing any paint used on either Merc or OMC CLE style cases? If they did, can somebody can prove me wrong with a photo?

[lars strom]

Used up a lot of gear cases 1975 because the bearing holder cracked.

I wish we had one of those 1975..!!

[lars strom]

European Champion for the third consecutive year 1975

After the Race in Forsaa, Finland and my enormous success in the SE class the
past 3 years winning over 50 races rumors was circulating that I had a special engine from OMC.

Well, I DID NOT and the engine I used on my own Clerici SE boat 1975 was a stock short leg 75 Hp Evinrude from my inventory at my dealership.
A legal higher compression cylinder head was the only change, and the race power trim and stiff rubber mount.
I can tell the truth now, and the speed advantage was from the boat and the set up and my driving style.
One way to get the much higher top speed was to raise the engine up much higher than normal race set up.
The stock gear case was like a brake, and I was 2-3″ above everybody else, BUT that made it very difficult to drive/handle the boat.
The prop lost the grip, and the engine lost the cooling water but the trick was to just before the prop lost the grip to use power trim and throttle/steering to avoid that to happen.

I tested for many days and weeks how far you could drive before the engine started to
overheat and that was around 900 meters.
I lost many powerheads before I found out a way to back of just a little to pick up enough water to cool the engine on the straight a way before the turn.
On top of that you have to use the power trim in and out in a special way to make the “air bag” under the tunnel to lift the boat and I have to say that was my best
advantage.
The Big race this year was Sabaudia Italy, and I called friends in Italy to find out about this new place for the race and was told that it is in a Lagoon, shallow water and flat water.

That was for me great news, and I worked on raising the engine even higher on the transom and picked up a few more MPH.

There was a local race in Stockholm before the Big one, and I used that race as a test. Bad news..hooked and rolled.
Damage the boat, a few days after I told Paul Kalb that I preferred
to race my own boat instead of the factory SE boat.
I got help to repair my boat just in time to make it to Italy.
Normally I was hiding everything I was doing, (learned from Molinari) but for this Big race I changed that.
Parked the boat in the pit so everybody could see my set up and prop.
I told the Race officials that I want my engine inspected before the
race to put an end to “the special engine”rumor.
They said No, but told me that my engine is going to be inspected very seriously after the race if I was the winner.
I have never felt so ready to win a race and now all the good things started to happen.
Around 35 boats was at the race, and most drivers looked at my race set up and started to raise up there engines higher. That was my plan…
Mercury had maybe 10 drivers using the 650 XS.
4 heat, 3 counts and clock start and I was pretty good at them and took the start and turned first.
Then just pulled away on the long two turn race course.
Many drivers was hooking left and right, because they could not
drive with the engine that high.
This race was for me a perfect one. I won 3 heat in a row and did not race the last one.

I asked the officials to start taking my engine apart and they did.
The power head, mid section even the gear case to check gears and impeller and everybody could now see it was a stock 75 hp Evinrude.
Never worked on the ports or pistons.
Just standard.
Lots of disappointed people when my engine was cleared, but
Lars was happy and the European Champion for the third consecutive year.

[Capt.Insane-o]

I wish we had one of those 1975..!!

Ok, where do I get a couple of those?

[WaterZebra]

No.......these are shiftable CLEs..........I'm talking about racing CLEs (#4 & #6 SSMs)

[lars strom]

I think we can leave Merc gear-cases questions-problems for all the other Merc threads at S&F.
Thank you.

@2us70

[lars strom]

Ok, where do I get a couple of those?

Advertised at the SST-60 FaceBook page.

[WaterZebra]

I think we can leave Merc gear-cases questions for all the other Merc threads at S&F.
Thank you.

Yup......agreed. OMC painted the old style Strangler and Stinger V4 and V6 cases (including the rotary) but the newer slanted / CLE racing cases were not, correct?

[lars strom]

Näää..

[oldschoolltv]

I had to make my own.

[lars strom]

The original one from OMC always cracked at the red line and in a longer race you lost all the oil. First year was 1974..but the problem started 1975.