Hot Singles ! - Pictures

[BobbyR]

As i remember it the first true tunnel hull I saw was the Molinari that Roy drove in the Gold Coast Marthon - early to mid 60's....Italian I believe......Before that were the many cats..... loved those boats .... took up the whole south end of the lake if you didn't pull back on the inside throttle (motor that is) Like the cats - next thing you knew everyone was making them ....Big and little....good & bad (forgot to add this)

[seeroy]

Hi Bobby - I was standing next to the motel at Lake X with a bunch of folks when Roy first ran that Molinari. He eased across the lake, turned around and ran full speed directly at us.We could see all the way straight down the tunnel. I think that we all realized that we were seeing a huge change in boat racing at that very moment. After the Gold Coast, Roy told me that he would pull up next to several big block SK boats, sit along side for a short while, wave, and then simply put the hammer down and run away from them. The flat bottom drivers could not believe what they were seeing. The rest is history. Best Regards - Steve Sirois

[jackie wilson]

Hy`a Jackie tell us about the cat that you bought off Rodger Hooks wife that was british built i remember it went very well in 1974 at Rotterdam.I even new the man that built it?

Sod my old britches Steve, i honestly forgot about that!!!!!!!!!!!
Fell out with Bill after he dropped the boat off the crane in Rotterdam.
Went down to Devon and bought the boat from Sandra Hook [ that was after Roger died] Boy was she one of the best looking women i ever saw in my life !!!!!!!!
Bought a brand new BDG 2 litre---------Chas and i rigged the boat in 5 days and set off for Amsterdam, with the boat never even had its bum wet.
Just made drivers meeting, but missed testing,
Came out of the traps at the start like Polaris and left Molinari and Brown and the whole Mercury and OMC works team trailing in the long distance- Lead for 1hour and 10 mins and then split a water hose.
Race was split into 2 by 1 and a half hour races,
Did the same trick in the next race and won hands down,
Dave Brocklington built that boat-----sold it to a Dutchman and never saw it again

[BobbyR]

Steverino,
maybe I'm wrong on this but I remember Bob speaking of some "arena" boat racing near him. The picture i got from his talks was a well lite pond with night boat racing - bleachers???- must have been a short course... Years later I saw a movie of your jet boat racing in a series of dug canals...Thought of what Bob had said at that time....I have to hand it to your inovation and your desire to race in the wet stuff.. When I was across the pond and even for a few years after we had square miles of water to race on. no problem finding a body of water to race on. Now all the big Marthon races are gone and even most of the small closed course races...too many people.....

[STEVERINO]

Steverino,
maybe I'm wrong on this but I remember Bob speaking of some "arena" boat racing near him. The picture i got from his talks was a well lite pond with night boat racing - bleachers???- must have been a short course... Years later I saw a movie of your jet boat racing in a series of dug canals...Thought of what Bob had said at that time....I have to hand it to your inovation and your desire to race in the wet stuff.. When I was across the pond and even for a few years after we had square miles of water to race on. no problem finding a body of water to race on. Now all the big Marthon races are gone and even most of the small closed course races...too many people.....

Well Bobby the first thing that comes to mind is Oulton Broad in the racing season i do believe they have still have club events on most thursday nights and national events on bank holiday mondays`all the people on holiday around that area head to Nicholas Everitt park on thursday nights` that is where the events are staged.Thats the circuit that Tom Percival and Bob Spalding practised their skills on.SP.

[BrianSmith]

Come-- Come old chap !!!!!!!! where did i ever say that the Miles only ever ran with an outdated Rolla prop?????
A, there is no such thing as an OUTDATED Rolla prop!!!!!!!!!! B every prop he ever built was for a purpose, Mercury thought they were good enough to copy, Ask any old driver Ie Herring, Downard, Molinari, Seebold, Bentz, They all ran Rolla's----why should the Miles be an exception??? Not trying to prove anything-------just telling you the way it was then, Mercury were light years behind OMC in gearcases, and similarly with Props----------took them years to even get close, Just my fourpennorth,

I Agree fully Jackie; We did an awful lot of Real Testing (That is setting up a course and running on it) during the years. The only thing we did at a race-site was to run the course and check our times and the layout of course. I saw many who seemed to to their testing there. Even when we found "the right prop" there was always something else to try. Dick had a pretty good relationship with Phil Rolla and he sent many props to us and suggested modifications and set-ups.
Most of the Merc guys I think were "stuck with" what Merc had on the truck and never went beyond that.

[willabee]

.....Most of the Merc guys I think were "stuck with" what Merc had on the truck and never went beyond that.

Makes me wonder why several OMC's had propshafts splined to fit a Merc prop?

Also seems like when someone did find a Rolla prop that worked very well for them, more often than not it soon became nothing more than an expensive paperweight after it tossed a blade.

How in the blazes did we ever win a race with that antiquated Fred Flintstone era mixer hanging on the end of the propshaft?

[STEVERINO]

Sod my old britches Steve, i honestly forgot about that!!!!!!!!!!!
Fell out with Bill after he dropped the boat off the crane in Rotterdam.
Went down to Devon and bought the boat from Sandra Hook [ that was after Roger died] Boy was she one of the best looking women i ever saw in my life !!!!!!!!
Bought a brand new BDG 2 litre---------Chas and i rigged the boat in 5 days and set off for Amsterdam, with the boat never even had its bum wet.
Just made drivers meeting, but missed testing,
Came out of the traps at the start like Polaris and left Molinari and Brown and the whole Mercury and OMC works team trailing in the long distance- Lead for 1hour and 10 mins and then split a water hose.
Race was split into 2 by 1 and a half hour races,
Did the same trick in the next race and won hands down,
Dave Brocklington built that boat-----sold it to a Dutchman and never saw it again

Jackie i Remember seeing that boat first at Windemere in the pits didn`t see it run`the boatbuilders were Scimitar boats in Bideford Devon run by Dave Lott a good friend of none other than Mr Rodger Jenkins Ex World Champion and Peter Thorneyworks` the chippy`s name Desi Roberts` you can see the first ON cat they built on this site under Embassy Grande` Prix at Bristol the red and black boat at Paris in 1973. In 1974 i said to my good friend Dave Brockington who ran a outboard marine business i need my own boat do you have enough spare Omc parts to build me a Johnson engine which he did and said you critised the last boat you better do the drawings for this one yourself which i did`it didn`t turn out a pretty boat but it ran with the pack i can try and find a picture it looks identical to the inboard cat you had 18ft long`good rough water boat i still have the trophy`s for the Rotterdam race 1st private entry 3rd overall not for someone that had no idea what he was doing?.

[jackie wilson]

Makes me wonder why several OMC's had propshafts splined to fit a Merc prop?

Also seems like when someone did find a Rolla prop that worked very well for them, more often than not it soon became nothing more than an expensive paperweight after it tossed a blade.

How in the blazes did we ever win a race with that antiquated Fred Flintstone era mixer hanging on the end of the propshaft?

OOOOOO!!!!!!!Itchy bitchy-------who rattled your little cage then Willa ??? Sure hope it wasn't me,
You didn't have anything but two bladed cake mixers in those days,
Schneider was the nicest guy in the world and in charge of props, didn't get a lot of help from R&D
Hetzel was still cutting his teeth !!! Was he even in the propshop in 1970
Omc had Hendricks------------the europeans had Rolla, and Mercury had miles and miles of heart and hope, but were bloody good at copying quickly.
Rolla and Hendricks were good friends, and i met Hendricks at Rolla's shop in Lugano on a couple of occasions.
The first 3 and 4 blade props i ever saw and tried were Rolla.
Makes me wonder if OMC used the Merc propshaft just so they could run Rolla props Just a thought as you sit on the loo and cogitate Willa--------Just helping your "Hot singles towards the Quarter Mill mark

[jackie wilson]

Makes me wonder why several OMC's had propshafts splined to fit a Merc prop?

Also seems like when someone did find a Rolla prop that worked very well for them, more often than not it soon became nothing more than an expensive paperweight after it tossed a blade.

How in the blazes did we ever win a race with that antiquated Fred Flintstone era mixer hanging on the end of the propshaft?

OOOOOO!!!!!!!Itchy bitchy-------who rattled your little cage then Willa ??? Sure hope it wasn't me,
You didn't have anything but two bladed cake mixers in those days,
Schneider was the nicest guy in the world and in charge of props, didn't get a lot of help from R&D
Hetzel was still cutting his teeth !!! Was he even in the propshop in 1970
Omc had Hendricks------------the europeans had Rolla, and Mercury had miles and miles of heart and hope, but were bloody good at copying quickly.
Rolla and Hendricks were good friends, and i met Hendricks at Rolla's shop in Lugano on a couple of occasions.
The first 3 and 4 blade props i ever saw and tried were Rolla.
Makes me wonder if OMC used the Merc propshaft just so they could run Rolla props Just a thought as you sit on the loo and cogitate Willa--------Just helping your "Hot singles towards the Quarter Mill mark

[willabee]

OOOOOO!!!!!!!Itchy bitchy-------who rattled your little cage then Willa ???

You didn't have anything but two bladed cake mixers in those days,
Schneider was the nicest guy in the world and in charge of props, didn't get a lot of help from R&D

Hetzel was still cutting his teeth !!! Was he even in the propshop in 1970

Omc had Hendricks------------the europeans had Rolla, and Mercury had miles and miles of heart and hope, ..........

Makes me wonder if OMC used the Merc propshaft just so they could run Rolla props Just a thought as you sit on the loo and cogitate Willa--------

What you don't know is that Hetzel reads this on a pretty regular basis and my guess is that he will call and ask me to make a couple of comments in Merc's defense. I've asked him to join in, but he just won't do it.

Dick Snyder was R & D for props, that was part of what his department did. I'm thinking that Don Schwebs transferred to Lake X in about 1968. That would be when Hetzel took over the prop shop.

That last little thing about OMC and the Merc propshaft was a clever little shot, who helped you come up with it?

[C.G. 125]

Hetzel was the best..

[T2x]

Hetzel was the best..

In his time yes.... Today Hering and Dewald hold that title with Rolla still cranking out some nice stuff for yachts and things. Truth is in 1964, the best props came from people like Michigan Propeller, then came the Records and Cary's , then Dick Schneider pulled the "Elephant Ear" out of his head, then Hendricks came to the fore with the higher rake cleavers on OMC's new line of race motors, and it has gone round and round ever since (Don't forget Jon Culver and Papa Seebold's modified Mercury wheels). In the end it's all good...... except for that F**kin' Milesmaster...

[jackie wilson]

Makes me wonder why several OMC's had propshafts splined to fit a Merc prop?

Also seems like when someone did find a Rolla prop that worked very well for them, more often than not it soon became nothing more than an expensive paperweight after it tossed a blade.

How in the blazes did we ever win a race with that antiquated Fred Flintstone era mixer hanging on the end of the propshaft?

Good morrow fair Willabee--------------Did it ever occur to you that you may have won races due to several mitigating factors !!! IE,
1----------You had the best motor in the world !!!
2----------You had the best boats!!
3----------You had the best drivers
4 ---------You had the best race facility in the world
5---------You had Garbrecht
6 --------Not a bad crew chief
7 --------A hekin fuge race budget

So the conclusion one could come to is --------You won races in spite of your " Antiquated FRED FLINTSTONE mixer type bean cans hanging on the end of your propshft

[willabee]

..... and it has gone round and round ever since .....

No pun intended?