Tricks that old racers get up to after retirement

[jackiewilson]

Another long slow day in the shop———- got the top half of the hydro motor done ( well, assembled) need to mount it so it looks like it belongs—- not just hung there !
Did the flywheel and flexiplate, then a pair of oversized fuel intakes, ( used to call them Venturi in the day’s when Pontius was a Pilate)
Remember this thing was so bad, I chucked it in the bin—— I have to make a “silk purse” out of a pug ugly “sowsear”!
Got one or two trimmings to ornate the craft with——— a couple of bright ideas——a bit of flare and imagination—— thinking outside the box—— a bit sideways and upwards who knows how it’ll turn out eventually.
Got myself into a pissing contest with Lassie—— I sometimes get a bit uptight when some folk think they know a hell of a lot more than they actually do ?
You get folk like Roy Ridgell (who should know better) attributing a collage Of men who improved the safety of powerboating yet no mention of Hodges who was solely responsible for the safety cell as we know it today !
How do I know—— I was there—— told him it wouldn’t work—— nobody wanted to be strapped into a boat ! —— we argued—— he hung himself from a crane, strapped into a cell and dropped into the water. He was unhurt, I gradually changed my mind.
A week later, he took all his drawings with him to Holland and showed Cees how to build a safetycell.
Cees had been working with one of the Dutch universities on how the best way forward to improve driver safety———- Chris just wanted all boatbuilders to have access to the cell ——- for free—— no charge—— no patents.
Parkinson did manage to get Mercury to cough up £500 towards the cost of development!
I do not know if OMC contributed in any way?
Bill Brown Tried with an aluminium cell which went disastrously wrong——-he had “borrowed”. a mannequin from the British Motor Corporation that had all the readouts as per the human body—— reputed to have cost over a million pounds—— Bill managed to “Destroy” it the first time it was dropped from a crane!
I was wrong about safety cells——- But was passionate about boat racing, and had opinions of my own, not always right——— but I believed them at the time.
Today, there have been great strides in the development of safety cells——-even beyond the “ Crash Box”—————- how do I know this———-my son and grandson got involved.
All there is to do now is get officialdom to Agree As to where it’s going and what’s allowed !
Chris Hodges and I and all my family !have been very good friends for nearly fifty years——

[mr fun]

dude, try to keep it to a few lines, nobody has that much time to go thru all that, love you man, but trying to listen to the princess and read a long rambling post ,,,, my mind is close to be fried. fun out

[jackiewilson]

dude, try to keep it to a few lines, nobody has that much time to go thru all that, love you man, but trying to listen to the princess and read a long rambling post ,,,, my mind is close to be fried. fun out

Try reading it over a week—— or giving it a miss for a few days—— it’s not written in stone——— you don’t HAVE to read the ramblings! That short enough for you Mr. Fun ?

[powerabout]

cells in F1 boats are working ( one they sorted the lid out) but not in offshore boats that spend lots of time upside down at high speed then fall to bits

[jackiewilson]

cells in F1 boats are working ( one they sorted the lid out) but not in offshore boats that spend lots of time upside down at high speed then fall to bits

Theres a whole lot of new goings on in offshore safety cells Pilgrim—— there’s a new training program with a for real in the water experience for drivers——- not the swimming pool gig that F1 carries out.
Mark and Craig got theirselves involved and decided something should be done—— take a look on the dot dot, it makes for some exciting biting.

[powerabout]

Theres a whole lot of new goings on in offshore safety cells Pilgrim—— there’s a new training program with a for real in the water experience for drivers——- not the swimming pool gig that F1 carries out.
Mark and Craig got theirselves involved and decided something should be done—— take a look on the dot dot, it makes for some exciting biting.

I dont think anyone has died escaping did they, the boats fell to bits when they landed?
and or the punters decided they didnt need full time air
H1 Unlimited goes faster and seems to be quite safe these days?

[jackiewilson]

[QUOTE=powerabout;3081705]I dont think anyone has died escaping did they, the boats fell to bits when they landed?
and or the punters decided they didnt need full time air
H1 Unlimited goes faster and seems to be quite safe these days?[/QUOTE

]Pilgrim — do you really want to go down that road! —— yes people have died trying to escape —- SOME boats fell to bits on impact—— didn’t drivers always know best ?
UNLIMITED???? ——- Er, Which of the three boats are we talking about ?
Gieco ?.... pulling well over two thousand horsepower and cruising just a tad over half throttle——- wait until a team comes along with ambition——- puts the hammer down——- pisses on the parade ——- Sh- t hits the fan and suddenly the boats don’t look that safe anymore!
Fact is cells are needed in unlimited racing—— things are not always as it seems—- push the limits and cells are needed!

[powerabout]

[QUOTE=jackiewilson;3081766]

I dont think anyone has died escaping did they, the boats fell to bits when they landed?
and or the punters decided they didnt need full time air
H1 Unlimited goes faster and seems to be quite safe these days?[/QUOTE

]Pilgrim — do you really want to go down that road! —— yes people have died trying to escape —- SOME boats fell to bits on impact—— didn’t drivers always know best ?
UNLIMITED???? ——- Er, Which of the three boats are we talking about ?
Gieco ?.... pulling well over two thousand horsepower and cruising just a tad over half throttle——- wait until a team comes along with ambition——- puts the hammer down——- pisses on the parade ——- Sh- t hits the fan and suddenly the boats don’t look that safe anymore!
Fact is cells are needed in unlimited racing—— things are not always as it seems—- push the limits and cells are needed!

Who died trying to escape, if you are in a cell and you have air, what goes wrong?

H1 unlimited are the unlimited hydros, they have been doing 200mph for years, class type boat currently holds the prop driven world speed records for mile etc. ( drag boats are faster for a few seconds) Only one engine but well over 2000hp. I dont remember the last time someone was injured as opposed to offshore that cant seem to get their sh1t together and build a boat that can survive an accident, well at least enough to keep the crew alive. Since say the year 2000 offshore has been doing most of the killing of crew in closed cockpits

[GENE LANHAM]

[QUOTE=powerabout;3081775]

Who died trying to escape, if you are in a cell Since say the year 2000 offshore has been doing most of the killing of crew in closed cockpits

1994 at Key West--Tom Gentry

[powerabout]

[QUOTE=GENE LANHAM;3081787]

1994 at Key West--Tom Gentry

yes very sad, before they used constant air so if you get knocked out its all over

[jackiewilson]

[quote=gene lanham;3081787]

1994 at key west--tom gentry

cassagahri .?

[jackiewilson]

Pironi .

[jackiewilson]

Don’t think we need to go all the way down the line Pilgrim——- suffice to say—— too many offshore racers died before their time.
Safety cells that work——-Tuition, so they know the correct procedure——— panic avoided—— contributory factors that all go towards making offshore safer.
If you get anywhere near Port St. Lucie between the 12/17th November—— Craig will be happy to show you just how far the safety cell has come this year alone.

[mr fun]

Try reading it over a week—— or giving it a miss for a few days—— it’s not written in stone——— you don’t HAVE to read the ramblings! That short enough for you Mr. Fun ?

Mr Wilson, sorry, didn't mean to ruffel your feathers.

[mr fun]

[QUOTE=GENE LANHAM;3081787]

1994 at Key West--Tom Gentry

that's exactly my first thought, he never made it out.