Mercury Through The Years...

**2us70** · 10-12-2020, 08:09 PM

In 1976 I ran a G Production boat for a limited schedule. This was not my boat and in 1977 I was struggling with what class of boat I wanted to run going foreword. It came down to either SG or SE. Ultimately it wound up being neither since I just couldn't justify the expense. Eventually I started a whole new racing career as of all things a road bicycle racer. I pursued bicycle racing on into my 50s. I did ok racing bicycles in spite of being kind of the wrong body type. Funny thing is I wound up getting hurt on bicycles much worse than I ever did in race boats.

**bernie** · 10-13-2020, 10:10 AM

Originally Posted by WaterZebra

What a dream class to race in! Merc 80 hp short shafts correct? Did they use Sport E sized hulls? Wasn't there a Merc 850XS? My Merc 80 ran all day at WOT with a stupid high schooler (me) at the wheel. I don't think SG ran in the Seattle WA area because SE (OMC) was the dominant class. Did SG simply die out at some point?

I started racing in SJ but if I had known about SG I would have put an 850XS on an SE hull instead. Did the 1500XS and 850XS share the same mid section and gearcase? I would think the 850XS would have used a different gear ratio?

850XS was 2.3 ratio - would swing a lot of prop.

**2us70** · 10-13-2020, 10:30 AM

The later model 500s could also. I repurposed a couple of props from my not very competitive EP boat to a very competitive SD boat,

**99fxst99** · 10-13-2020, 10:47 AM

Originally Posted by bernie

850XS was 2.3 ratio - would swing a lot of prop.

I remember a JP racer who confessed at the end of the 1984 season to running a 2.3 case on his 150XS, said it pulled out of the corner better and no one ever bothered to check it.