Facts about Evinrude/Johnson racing outboards made my OMC

[olboatman]

i'l delete that

Oh come on I didn't get a chance to read it! Just kiddin
Gary

[lars strom]

Pretty interesting comment from Roberto Bigi about the three pictures above. (Post #688) This picture is from Clear Lake outside Houston, Texas 1983 when Renato raced the Unlimited Hydroplane class in his tunnelboat rigged with 2 X F1-V8 engines.

Roberto Bigi The black boat used at Como lake by Molinari was exactly the same boat used in Houston with 2 engines for the Unlimited world championship.

http://svera.se/blogg/a-very-unique-set-of-pictures/

Here is why I am pretty sure this is the twin F1-V8 boat Renato raced in the Unlimited Hydroplane race at Clear Lake outside Houston 1983.


1. You can clearly see how wide the boat is in the rear under the rear boat cowling. This is done to get a wide transom to fit two engines. The second picture show a regular single engine Molinari boat from same year.





2. The single engine installation on a twin engine transmission forced Renato to make new much wider steering bars.
The second picture show standard OMC F1-V8 steering bars from same model year.

[lars strom]

This has been a great topic. The photos are great, especially the older ones from the seventies. I am old enough to remember when Johnson/Evinrude was THE name in outboards. All you would see were Johnson or Evinrude. Went to see the new V8's race in Montreal in 1985. It is a shame what happened to that company.

Thank you very much tgsearay. Posts like yours make me happy.
Here is a pretty special Evinrude racing history info.

[lars strom]

Interesting video from Clear Lake, Huoston 1983. Jimbo McConnell and Renato Molinari is racing hard and fast.

[lars strom]

Andre Dierck of Belgium did lots of racing in the UIM OI class using a Evinrude V4 under 1500 cc. Not really sure about the specs for this engine but Andre won a lot of races in the mid seventies.

[lars strom]

Another great picture of Bob Spalding and his #11 Velden/Carlsberg/Johnson V6 RS 3 liter looper fuel injection. My guess is 1979.

[lars strom]

Alf Bullen driving the #6 Molinari/Evinrude CCC 3 liter V6 looper fuel injection. My guess is 1979.

[lars strom]

More Johnson Stinger GP V6 2 liter cross-flow 1975.

[powerabout]

modern engines. old boats

[lars strom]

Cees van der Velden #1 Velden/Benson & Hedges/Johnson F1-V8 3.5 liter carb model, looper. This is the 1984 model of engine from OMC. Rounded engine cowling in the rear, and a new type of exhaust manifold. Still 12 inch mid section. (The 6 inch mid and fuel injection came 1985)

[lars strom]

I think its time to get the facts straight again..
The Evinrude F1-V8 2-stroke race engine is still the fastest outboard in the world.
More speed, more horsepower than any other race outboard. UIM F1 racing today is forced to use a heavier boat but safety cockpits make racing safer. Merc have not built any 2.5 liter F1 V6 engines in a long time. The F1 rules today is more or less spec. engines. You can not modify the powerheads the way you want. Some drivers have been disqualified for doing so.
http://svera.se/blogg/still-the-fast...f1-racing-v-8/

[Mark Poole ModVP]

Lars, as someone who worked on and raced OMC's for years, I have often wondered why, after coming out with the 3 cyl looper in 1968, why did they not build any larger loopers back then? As good as the 3 cyl was it just makes no sense to me why they did not move on to larger ones. A 150 looper would have really given them an edge back in the early '70's.

[powerabout]

not to mention building 2.0 and 3.0 loopers just to race

[lars strom]

Lars, as someone who worked on and raced OMC's for years, I have often wondered why, after coming out with the 3 cyl looper in 1968, why did they not build any larger loopers back then? As good as the 3 cyl was it just makes no sense to me why they did not move on to larger ones. A 150 looper would have really given them an edge back in the early '70's.

That is a very good question Mark Poole ModVP and I asked OMC the same question many times in the late seventies / early eighties. Edgar Rose and the top OMC management refused to listening to their dealers. Many times I got the same answer.."we are the most sold outboard in the world so we must do something right".
Well, if the Evinrude Intruder V6 150 HP 60 degree 2.6 liter looper carb model had been introduced 1981 instead of 1991 I strongly believe OMC would still have been in business. It is an extremely good engine and could have been made bigger and more powerful.

[powerabout]

and they added a basic fuel injected engine like Merc did in the 80's especially after having the efi f1 v8 experience......