Tricks that old racers get up to after retirement

[rckid74]

If you ever do find out-----who and why? I will gladly put it in with the rest of the history. My son Mark is putting together OLD BLUE. He's a stickler for authenticity and detail so there will be no bastardisation I can promise you that. We are open to advice, help and parts from anyone, anywhere, and pretty soon he will show you piccies as he progresses and builds----. I had heard it sported a cooked piston, but that's not so, he tells me they look to be in pretty good shape.

Mark and me spent an hour on FaceTime looking through the " circuit racing section of THE X FILES"-------lots of myths laid to rest-----including the MAGNUM MISSILE------inseption, designer, constructor, objective, performance, and disasters,------will get Mark to send me stuff a smidgin at a time-----probably more interesting than I could conjure up, though I do have a great funny to tickle your taste buds.
Thats the beauty of "TRICKS" ------it's just like a box of chocolates -------you never know what your gonna get " till you look in there as forest used to say-------oh yes-----we have a Forest working on
"old blue"-----------HONEST TO MURGATROYD .

Have you read my input to the "Merc V6 History" thread on this web site? I go into quite a bit of info on "Old Blues" history. I should be able to answer most of your questions about her. Replacing the diecast heads and covers with sandcast will be next to impossible. They were originally made at Eck foundry in Manitowoc, WI. There's a chance they might still have the patterns and could cast new ones but I doubt it. They had a big fire there a number of years ago and they may have gone up in smoke.

[jackiewilson]

Have you read my input to the "Merc V6 History" thread on this web site? I go into quite a bit of info on "Old Blues" history. I should be able to answer most of your questions about her. Replacing the diecast heads and covers with sandcast will be next to impossible. They were originally made at Eck foundry in Manitowoc, WI. There's a chance they might still have the patterns and could cast new ones but I doubt it. They had a big fire there a number of years ago and they may have gone up in smoke.

Is it within the realms of possibility I could get a name for you friend-------mines jack! Happy for all of you to call me that, in jest, anger or contempt, it never changes---- loathe me or love ME,
it's still JACK.
I tend to agree 'bout the heads and cover------it's not of paramount importance------but someone, somewhere may just have the originals buried in the bilge of a swamp buggy for ballast or some such unlikely place------meanwhile let's just get together what we got factually and not pretend "old blue" is the covenant of the Lost Arc and the middle name happen to be "Indy".
Champion plugs are just plugs ------whatever the number------not that there's much wrong with
NGK or any other Nipponese Neverwong------somehow, you just wouldn't fit them------would be sacrilege somehow. Bit like putting a couple of Gays on top of a beautiful wedding cake, it's not illegal, but it don't seem quite right!!

Damn good job I didn't hold my breath waiting for the hospital call today----it never came------look out all you old farts, once you get over 80 you've served your purpose, you're labelled " Not fit for
human consumption--------Not wanted on voyage!!!!!-------Long past sell by date.

Any of you guys out there tried to get medical travel insurance when you turn 80----especially TO the US of A------I could straighten Obama's problems by signing a cheque ------OK, so I exaggerate a little---------Venezuela maybe-------to go to Tavares Was $3,000. It could not possibly cost any more to run the gauntlet.
Time to say goodnight compadres, thanks for putting up with my ramblings , may dig into the X Files to titivate your taste buds tomorrow, just post a comment whenever you feel that way inclined, got a nice tale 'bout Jim Hunt Testing a Raveau and a Critchfield at Lake X. MYGGWY .J.

[rckid74]

Is it within the realms of possibility I could get a name for you friend-------mines jack! Happy for all of you to call me that, in jest, anger or contempt, it never changes---- loathe me or love ME,
it's still JACK.
I tend to agree 'bout the heads and cover------it's not of paramount importance------but someone, somewhere may just have the originals buried in the bilge of a swamp buggy for ballast or some such unlikely place------meanwhile let's just get together what we got factually and not pretend "old blue" is the covenant of the Lost Arc and the middle name happen to be "Indy".
Champion plugs are just plugs ------whatever the number------not that there's much wrong with
NGK or any other Nipponese Neverwong------somehow, you just wouldn't fit them------would be sacrilege somehow. Bit like putting a couple of Gays on top of a beautiful wedding cake, it's not illegal, but it don't seem quite right!!

Damn good job I didn't hold my breath waiting for the hospital call today----it never came------look out all you old farts, once you get over 80 you've served your purpose, you're labelled " Not fit for
human consumption--------Not wanted on voyage!!!!!-------Long past sell by date.

Any of you guys out there tried to get medical travel insurance when you turn 80----especially TO the US of A------I could straighten Obama's problems by signing a cheque ------OK, so I exaggerate a little---------Venezuela maybe-------to go to Tavares Was $3,000. It could not possibly cost any more to run the gauntlet.
Time to say goodnight compadres, thanks for putting up with my ramblings , may dig into the X Files to titivate your taste buds tomorrow, just post a comment whenever you feel that way inclined, got a nice tale 'bout Jim Hunt Testing a Raveau and a Critchfield at Lake X. MYGGWY .J.

Here's some pics of Old Blue and a sister engine. Old Blue is mounted on the crankshaft dyno stand. My name is Jerry Hale. I was project engineer for the 2L V6. I spent many hours running this engine on the dyno. Most of the power development was done on her.
H

[jackiewilson]

Here's some pics of Old Blue and a sister engine. Old Blue is mounted on the crankshaft dyno stand. My name is Jerry Hale. I was project engineer for the 2L V6. I spent many hours running this engine on the dyno. Most of the power development was done on her.
H

Very nice to be able to put a name to you JERRY HALE,I have been fortunate to meet a number of great outboard engineers-----you tend never to forget them.
JOHN SHELDON, RON ANDERSON,RITCHIE POWERS KIETH DUCKWORTH----I think Doc Morgan tried to be, but there's room for discussion there.

its also interesting you give OLD BLUE the female gender---whereas I called it a HIM. I will in future use HER as the reference.
did you ever come across a " professor Blair ? From Dublin university ?

Forgive me if I leap about from one subject to another----my sainted mother used to say I had "A BUTTERFLY MIND". And there's a train of thought I may be going loopy-----but I dispute that most vigorously . My contention is you have to do this to keep a subject interesting-----bit like MIX-N-MATCH ON THE SWEET COUNTER.
De dawn is breakin ----an de new day has begun-----always get reminded of Paul Robeson about this time in a morning as the first streaks of colour begin to show.

think it's best to just forget about the hospital visit-------it don't take a genius to work out they must have forgot about me------always was a quick healer in the body------looks like I can do the same with the head.

Jillys gone to Tesco's ------not even 7am yet------says she wants to miss the traffic----24 hour shopping------,I ask you, is it a curse or a blessing.
you could be due for a load of rambling today------I'm staying indoors and lighting a big old fire, that means I'll be playing on the iPad .

My kids do what they call "CONFERENCE CALLS"-----what's to stop a bunch of us getting together at say from 3-4 ( call it the happy hour) and just log on the "dot-dot" and yak away till were done ?

Better post this now-----they tell me old farts don't like long text----they lose interest! You all enjoy today.

[jackiewilson]

A fleeing Taliban terrorist hot footing it across the desert came across a tie stall manned by a little old boy of the Jewish faith,
"you wanna buy a tie mister Taliban man?" The old man asked.
"give me some water you infidel dog, son of a low cast whore"
"Sorry sunshine, the old man explained, I'm fresh out of water"
"a pox on you, cockroach of a person, get me some water"
"I got a tie you could buy for $5" the old man offered.
"May a camel piss on you from a dizzy height" the Taliban ranted
"where can I find water you stinking camel dung eating muppet""
"because I am a good Christian I will tell you that over the hill to the south east some two miles hence there is one of the finest restaurants which serves ice cold water in unlimited amounts! And would you please buy one of my brightly coloured ties at only $5?"
"no I would not like to buy one of your foul ties, I should wrap it round your scrawny neck until your entrails fall out dog of all dogs, may leprosy bless you"

The Taliban trundled over the hill and disappeared.
About an hour later he crawls on his belly up to the little old man and says---------







The bastards wouldn't let me in



I WASNT WEARING A TIE,!!!






it should keep you going 'till lunch time!, told you the "tricks thread was like a box of chocolates. J.

[jackiewilson]

Mark ran through some of the Molinari measurements with me on FaceTime-----I was right all along------Renato was experimenting all the time----

They ran the boats pretty close to the limit up at the lake on many occasions according to the number of blow overs .
Find myself wishing I had been part of the set up down there---- no wonder the factory boats were quick-----R&D Motors ------the very best and latest boats and equipment -----half tidy drivers---hours of set up times , pick of the Mercury props?--they were bloody entitled to be quick.
Never thought much of the Mercury choice of propellors-----one of the problems was------they never listened-------wasn't until GG got hold of a couple of Rolla's and went over to Europe that things started to take off. PRUETT found Rolla for his offshore forages with Ballestieros----then the numbers began to click.
Dick Schneider was in charge of propulsion (propellors ) in those days, but to be honest I didn't think there was much to be in charge of, he was a lovely man but was under the Garbrecht cosh when he took over from Bill Steele .
Wish I had been privy to the sneaky peaks that were going down when C.K. Put the 1100 stacker against the 115 GT-----he must have been spitting feathers when he got the comparisons. ITS ALL IN THE X FILES.

Its coffee and pill time-----just ignited the wood burner-----You could be in for a long dull afternoon peeps, still, -----you don't have to switch your devices on------just ignore me-------or pick another chocolate!!!?

[Rotary John]

Jackie: You didn't believe me in the past, but that is one of the reasons Merc did so well. OMC's idea of preparation was take the boat and motor to the race sight the day before, run a prop or two and go race. Merc was always much better prepared. They played with set ups, weight distribution, fuel tank capacity, etc. Its in the files as you say. Its a wonder OMC did as well as they did. I can tell you for a fact with the rotary, the only non-race testing was the initial endurance run, and the little Jimbo did with the Goat boat. I had to fight tooth and nail to get them to try the smaller snowmobile batteries in place of the 2 automotive batteries they were using. The fuel tank for the rotaries never changed.; same one for Parker as the one for the 20 min heats in St. Louis.

[STEVERINO]

Jackie: You didn't believe me in the past, but that is one of the reasons Merc did so well. OMC's idea of preparation was take the boat and motor to the race sight the day before, run a prop or two and go race. Merc was always much better prepared. They played with set ups, weight distribution, fuel tank capacity, etc. Its in the files as you say. Its a wonder OMC did as well as they did. I can tell you for a fact with the rotary, the only non-race testing was the initial endurance run, and the little Jimbo did with the Goat boat. I had to fight tooth and nail to get them to try the smaller snowmobile batteries in place of the 2 automotive batteries they were using. The fuel tank for the rotaries never changed.; same one for Parker as the one for the 20 min heats in St. Louis.

You hit the nail on the head with that one John I can remember the outfit I ran had 2 x 12 volt heavy duty batteries weighed 50 to 60lbs but for the 1977 Paris 6hr race all the Factory entries had 2 dry cell lightweight batteries fitted I would guess weighed around 10lbs I thought what a good idea.After the race all the batteries went back to the US maybe they had them sale or return`the propellors I used to test with in 1976 with a 2.0litre engine we used in 1977 for the 2.5litre engine.The racing Manager Paul Kalb could only buy Henrix propellors I remember one time it took 18months to get new ones.The only Driver I new that could work a good propeller was Bob Hering`i remember a sprint race in Holland Molinari didn`t show but had sent Bob Hering to race ` Paul Kalbe the racing manager passed some information on to Bob on the morning of the race that his engine rpm could be increased from 7700 to 8400 for sprint races.The next thing Bob jumps in his car and was off to find a garage with files and a grinding wheel came back 1hr later with the job done

[jackiewilson]

Jackie: You didn't believe me in the past, but that is one of the reasons Merc did so well. OMC's idea of preparation was take the boat and motor to the race sight the day before, run a prop or two and go race. Merc was always much better prepared. They played with set ups, weight distribution, fuel tank capacity, etc. Its in the files as you say. Its a wonder OMC did as well as they did. I can tell you for a fact with the rotary, the only non-race testing was the initial endurance run, and the little Jimbo did with the Goat boat. I had to fight tooth and nail to get them to try the smaller snowmobile batteries in place of the 2 automotive batteries they were using. The fuel tank for the rotaries never changed.; same one for Parker as the one for the 20 min heats in St. Louis.

Every one of the 2litre Cosworths I ran had lightweight "helicopter" batteries weighing in around Four kilos (9lbs)----bloody cost was horrendous -----only way I could get 'em past my secretary was to stock them as a for sale item in the garage.
One day Johnno I will tell you how much the 115 GT had over the 1100 with stacks.The other thing I never believed was that OMC never had a competitive 2 litre motor----I saw more than you ever admitted to having in Veldens shop in Holland.
I did have the local fabrication shop in the village (Southwater) make me up a couple of different sized tanks for marathon and sprint events.
How come you could afford $25,000 for a pair of cranks but not $100 for a gas tank, piss poor accounting I'd say Johnno.

[jackiewilson]

You hit the nail on the head with that one John I can remember the outfit I ran had 2 x 12 volt heavy duty batteries weighed 50 to 60lbs but for the 1977 Paris 6hr race all the Factory entries had 2 dry cell lightweight batteries fitted I would guess weighed around 10lbs I thought what a good idea.After the race all the batteries went back to the US maybe they had them sale or return`the propellors I used to test with in 1976 with a 2.0litre engine we used in 1977 for the 2.5litre engine.The racing Manager Paul Kalb could only buy Henrix propellors I remember one time it took 18months to get new ones.The only Driver I new that could work a good propeller was Bob Hering`i remember a sprint race in Holland Molinari didn`t show but had sent Bob Hering to race ` Paul Kalbe the racing manager passed some information on to Bob on the morning of the race that his engine rpm could be increased from 7700 to 8400 for sprint races.The next thing Bob jumps in his car and was off to find a garage with files and a grinding wheel came back 1hr later with the job done

Even Mercury were slow off the mark when it came to lightweight batteries----fact is I was there long before 'em. Then again I was fooling around with Enstroms so knew all about light battery cells.
You did have a decent wheel man in Hendrix----he was also a friend of Rolla-----Cary and Hill were OMC-ish and Bobby had already got a head start on everyone except Seebold.
mince pie and pill time----back soon.

[jackiewilson]

Trouble with propellors is it can never be an exact science--there are no hard and fast rules----what suits Peter. May not be right for Paul. There must be a lot of prop men somewhere in the world, but I only know of very few.
Son Mark is pretty near top of the list, but again I suppose I am a tad biased----but youd do better to ask either winning present day racers in any class from 500 hydro's to class one superboats. To luxury yachts like Ferretti, Sunseeker or any big boat with a propulsion problem------when all else fails they usually send for Mark------he's the "quiet man"------,when the dolly throwing and blaming stops he just steps up from behind-----sorts it------leaves it as it shoulda been in the first place. He had a great pedigree-----worked on the shop floor for Rolla in Switzerland for ten years, has his own shop in Stuart Fl. Now . Has a shop full of goodies including a $75,000 diagnostic machine. It's good he reckons, but only as good as the guy using it -----Wasit ever so?

Sorry about that peeps-----just more of.my ramblings-------pick another chocolate.

[Rotary John]

Jackie: Jack Leek and Clarence Blanchard made all the decisions when it came to OMC racing. I only was involved with the rotary engine and they only put up with me because nobody else knew anything about the engine. Hell Damn, I had to design and modify the 14/23 gear case to fit the rotary as Leek and the boys had no interest. Why set up testing wasn't done more I can't answer. There was plenty of money for the race group. Charlie Strang ran the company. Hendrix was OMC's prop man, but he was more interested in selling his props to people outside of the company than doing development testing. The only 2l engines I remember were the 2 hand built cross flows that won Paris in 1974. By the spring of 1975, the rotary had run for the last time and OMC was running their 150ci cross in OZ.When the 2l looper came in I don't recall as I left OMC in the summer of '76.

[powerabout]

It wouldnt be hard to make a custom 2.0 ltr race block beat the merc quasi production based engine.
That would still be true today.
I guess they packed it up when someone decided crossflows for production will be the way forward.
They did make a great workhorse though.
PS Hendrich, unless a famous guitar player could hammer a tune on a prop as well?

[jackiewilson]

Jackie: Jack Leek and Clarence Blanchard made all the decisions when it came to OMC racing. I only was involved with the rotary engine and they only put up with me because nobody else knew anything about the engine. Hell Damn, I had to design and modify the 14/23 gear case to fit the rotary as Leek and the boys had no interest. Why set up testing wasn't done more I can't answer. There was plenty of money for the race group. Charlie Strang ran the company. Hendrix was OMC's prop man, but he was more interested in selling his props to people outside of the company than doing development testing. The only 2l engines I remember were the 2 hand built cross flows that won Paris in 1974. By the spring of 1975, the rotary had run for the last time and OMC was running their 150ci cross in OZ.When the 2l looper came in I don't recall as I left OMC in the summer of '76.

Maybe that's why Merc employed Dick Schneider on props----to keep it in house.
I don't remember when Bob Hetzel first went into props--- he just seems to have been there forever. He was certainly working on the Rolla/Cosworth props in '79.

No prop manufacturer would ever trust just one outboard manufacturer with sole production .
Bit like chucking all your eggs in one basket------if I was a wheel company nowadays, with that many outboard , stern drives and other means of propulsion, I'm pretty sure I would sell all my production at top prices using the "Must Have" method. They all lied through their eye teeth on the fuel saving/economy angle. That ain't never gonna work again.
Trouble with the world today there are no Joe Swifts or Ham Hamburgers to set an example----it's all. CAN I HELP YOU------no wonder they get the sex and travel answer.

All in all you haven't done too bad today peeps so let's see what tomorrow dishes up ----you all have a very pleasant evening----that's me done for the day----MYGGWY .J.

[powerabout]

Merc do actually have a prop they say saves fuel, came out in the last 12 months or so