Facts about Evinrude/Johnson racing outboards made my OMC

[lars strom]

....the new OMC 2.3 Looper fitted to his sprint Cougar outfit.

Wow..please tell us more about this engine.

[Rotary John]

Lars: You and I know there wasn't a 2.3l looper. Also, are you fellows sure about the 1:1 gearcase. At that time it was 15:17. The 1:1 was from the 60's and had the rounded front nose not the needle point.

[lars strom]

..Also, are you fellows sure about the 1:1 gearcase. At that time it was 15:17. The 1:1 was from the 60's and had the rounded front nose not the needle point.

No I am not Rotary John, but Paul Kalb installed two different gear cases on my OE class Burgess 1975. Not sure what the gear ratio was but I tested plenty of propellers before the very bad crash outside the "boathouse".

[lars strom]

Not sure where this is but its the Johnson V6 Stinger GP with the "longer shaft" mid section..not the first 12 inch CCC mid section Cees used in Cardiff 1975.

[lars strom]

Charlie Strang told me that he had the 121 cube (2 Liter) Johnson Stinger GP V6 designed in parallel with the Rotary Combustion Engine. If I remember correctly, the powers in Paris did not allow the Rotary Combustion engine to race, so OMC used the 121 cube (2 Liter) Johnson Stinger GP V6. At one race where the 121 cube motor broke down, Charlie in a friendly way, tossed a damaged piston from that 121 cube racing motor over to one of the Mercury Folks, knowing that they would examine it very closely. Then Charlie completely pulled the rug out from beneath the Mercury Folks because while Charlie raced a 121 cube V6 motor, he subsequently put a 150 cube V6 motor in production for normal service. What Charlie was after was the Bass Boat Market, which he got. Charlie was one of the greatest people in Outboarding, and especially to outboard racing the world over. Hope that this helps.

Hi and thanks for posting here..
Yes..Mercury did everything they could to stop OMC from racing the rotary engines in Paris. A late agreement with the Paris race organization was to race the rotaries in Paris 1974 in a separate class.."Categorie Exp"

Full story here:

http://svera.se/blogg/paris-6-hours/very-happy-with-our-paris-6-hour-race-1974/

[STEVERINO]

Wow..please tell us more about this engine.

The Amsterdam 3hr race 1976 Jimbo ran a 2.3 litre looper and Barry Woods also ran a 2.3 litre looper i think this race was in August. Alfi Bullen had the first 2.5 crossflow for the OZ class which he won the race with. The idea was they were about to go over to OZ class racing both the 2.3 looper and the 2.5 crossflow engines were evenly matched for performance these 2.3 loopers were left at Brugge they were still there when 9 new 2.0 litre loopers arrived in October for the Paris 6hr race.Paul Kalb and Jack leek were worried they only had one spare 2.0 looper engine and Pelster blew his up in practise because someone fitted a too small pitch prop on so Paul Kalb told me if any more engines failed i would have no engine to use but he said you will still get to race and would fit one of the 2.3 loopers to my outfit for the Paris 6hr race even though the class limit was ON 2.0litre class he said but i wouldnt be allowed to finish.Something else neither of you will believe but Didier Jeausomme and myself had been testing a new smaller 2.5 crossflow but reduced to 2.0 litres a one off that was built to see how it performed but they had no good props for it .Going back to the 1 to 1 gearcase many drivers had already used these on V4 engines and were nothing new my own team i was with in 1970 got the record at Windemere fastest one way 119mph but thats another story.You are right John about the clubfoot gearcase being 15/17 ratio.The first 2.5 crossflow gearcase ratios were 15/17 but failed too often so we used 16/18 ratios and they still failed often.

[lars strom]

The Amsterdam 3hr race 1976 Jimbo ran a 2.3 litre looper and Barry Woods also ran a 2.3 litre looper i think this race was in August. Alfi Bullen had the first 2.5 crossflow for the OZ class which he won the race with. The idea was they were about to go over to OZ class racing both the 2.3 looper and the 2.5 crossflow engines were evenly matched for performance these 2.3 loopers were left at Brugge they were still there when 9 new 2.0 litre loopers arrived in October for the Paris 6hr race.Paul Kalb and Jack leek were worried they only had one spare 2.0 looper engine and Pelster blew his up in practise because someone fitted a too small pitch prop on so Paul Kalb told me if any more engines failed i would have no engine to use but he said you will still get to race and would fit one of the 2.3 loopers to my outfit for the Paris 6hr race even though the class limit was ON 2.0litre class he said but i wouldnt be allowed to finish.Something else neither of you will believe but Didier Jeausomme and myself had been testing a new smaller 2.5 crossflow but reduced to 2.0 litres a one off that was built to see how it performed but they had no good props for it .Going back to the 1 to 1 gearcase many drivers had already used these on V4 engines and were nothing new my own team i was with in 1970 got the record at Windemere fastest one way 119mph but thats another story.You are right John about the clubfoot gearcase being 15/17 ratio.The first 2.5 crossflow gearcase ratios were 15/17 but failed too often so we used 16/18 ratios and they still failed often.

Well..Me and Bo Nilsson was invited by Paul Kalb to Brygge in late 1976. This was after the ON & OE World Championship race in Auronzo when Renato won both titles.
OMC did terrible in the OE class at that time. Bo and me tested lots of OE boats at Brygge with different power-heads but not very good.
(for racing in Amsterdam)
Willy Permanne was very fast in his Gardin OE class boat with a better OMC powerhead but only one power-head was available.
Bo and I picked a used factory OE Burgess and the best powerhead we could get for Amsterdam.
I remember lots of testing at the factory with the V6 boats. Did not pay attention to the "size" of the power-heads..
One thing i clearly remember was when Barry Woods drove his rental car in to the lobby at Sofitel..Paul Kalb was not happy..!!
The Amsterdam race for us 1976 was no good..power-head blow up at practice. Remember Barry Woods crashed bad and Alfy Bullen won in his Burgess.
After Amsterdam we drove back to Brugge and Bo & me rigged a brand new OE class factory Burgess for the Paris 6 hours 1976.
I am still a bit confused over a OMC 2.3 liter looper powerhead 1976..
I know Paul Kalb did his own "development" in Brygge..maybe he put oversized pistons in a 2 liter looper power-head but thats only a guess..

Pictures of the very powerful OMC 2 liter V6 looper purpose built race engine.

http://svera.se/blogg/pictures-of-th...t-race-engine/

[Rotary John]

It's interesting that you say the 150 cross had gear case problems. The rotary had more HP then the 150 and never failed a gear case, either the 14/23 or the 15/17. Might have something to do with the fact that the rotary had a power stroke over 270 degrees of crank rotation, while the 2-stroke developed it's power in less than 100 degrees of crank. I sure don't remember a 2.3 l looper though. Maybe I was out of racing before it came about.

[lars strom]

Not 100% sure but I think I used the 1:1 gear case on the special OE class engine 1975.

[Rotary John]

Yes that is the 1:1 gear case, but it proceeded the 15/17 used in the early 70's by the factory. The 14/23 was kept and it wasn't till 75/76 that the new shape gear case came out. I don't know what ratios were used in it. I was gone by that time. Another interesting fact was the rotary gear case used all V-4 parts. The only thing new was the casting itself and the shorter input shaft. Provo was the first race for the rotaries to use the 14:23 ratio and was actually a V-4 gear case with an adapter to fit the rotary bucket.

[Rotary John]

I believe that same gear case used the 15:17 also. Your're asking me to remember 45 yrs. back and that's getting difficult for an old man like me.

[Lake X Kid]

Charlie Strang told me that he had the 121 cube (2 Liter) Johnson Stinger GP V6 designed in parallel with the Rotary Combustion Engine...
Charlie completely pulled the rug out from beneath the Mercury Folks because while Charlie raced a 121 cube V6 motor, he subsequently put a 150 cube V6 motor in production for normal service. What Charlie was after was the Bass Boat Market, which he got. Charlie was one of the greatest people in Outboarding, and especially to outboard racing the world over. Hope that this helps.

Mercury Marine in 1973 had a production 150 hp outboard for bass and pleasure boats. Charlie and OMC getting the "Bass Boat Market, which he got," is an over statement in my humble opinion.

In 1975, I was a mechanic at Shelby Marine in Memphis Tennessee. And at that time this dry-dock marina's life blood was selling bass boats with Merc engines. And the bass boat community through out the southern states of USA, then were full of Merc powered bass boats. And subsequently Mercury got heavily involved in supporting professional bass fishermen, at the bass tournaments.

[STEVERINO]

Well..Me and Bo Nilsson was invited by Paul Kalb to Brygge in late 1976. This was after the ON & OE World Championship race in Auronzo when Renato won both titles.
OMC did terrible in the OE class at that time. Bo and me tested lots of OE boats at Brygge with different power-heads but not very good.
(for racing in Amsterdam)
Willy Permanne was very fast in his Gardin OE class boat with a better OMC powerhead but only one power-head was available.
Bo and I picked a used factory OE Burgess and the best powerhead we could get for Amsterdam.
I remember lots of testing at the factory with the V6 boats. Did not pay attention to the "size" of the power-heads..
One thing i clearly remember was when Barry Woods drove his rental car in to the lobby at Sofitel..Paul Kalb was not happy..!!
The Amsterdam race for us 1976 was no good..power-head blow up at practice. Remember Barry Woods crashed bad and Alfy Bullen won in his Burgess.
After Amsterdam we drove back to Brugge and Bo & me rigged a brand new OE class factory Burgess for the Paris 6 hours 1976.
I am still a bit confused over a OMC 2.3 liter looper powerhead 1976..
I know Paul Kalb did his own "development" in Brygge..maybe he put oversized pistons in a 2 liter looper power-head but thats only a guess..

Pictures of the very powerful OMC 2 liter V6 looper purpose built race engine.

http://svera.se/blogg/pictures-of-th...t-race-engine/

These 2 engines were built by Fred Hauenstein when i asked about the 2.3 cu capacity this was the most they could get out of a 2.0 block i saw an article on Ron Hills site with Fred saying they had many varients that we never new about or saw would be interesting to have Freds take on this discussion.I am not sure but was told the loopers in the Paris 6hr race in 1978 may have been 2.7 but with a different block but the info was not from Brugge

[lars strom]

Ulf Backman a Swedish friend of mine and his Molinari/Evinrude Starflight SS from 1970.
He drove the boat in Paris 6 hours same year (#24)..Yes..Ulf drove all 6 hours by himself.
Real easy according to him..he was a SAS commercial pilot flying between Scandinavia and the USA.

First picture is Ulf in his "Bass Boat" in Sweden..!!..

[Rotary John]

last picture between #79 &69. Jack Leek, Jimbo, Ralph Evinrude ?, Ziggy.