Tricks that old racers get up to after retirement

[powerabout]

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There is so much more to this story than has ever been published.
Only one who would tell you the whole story is DAVID PARKINSON. The whole thing was his idea in the first place ??????
that was the second event ——— first time it was run , was with Mercury motors . Believe Jones was the pilot with a Burgess hull .
Result was fixed on the orders of the sponsors. Maybe Mike Butler has the details. I was sworn to secrecy—- dont even know if the statute of limitation is applicable ?

There was a vid with them turning around and running back, the boat killed the car in that event due to the high 180 corner speed

[jackiewilson]

F1v8 tunnel boat would have made that a different race

Course it would Pilgrim———- or would it ??????? V8’s never could handle a tight circuit as good as a Merc!!!
Just as an aside—- depended who the driver was too !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[powerabout]

Course it would Pilgrim———- or would it ??????? V8’s never could handle a tight circuit as good as a Merc!!!
Just as an aside—- depended who the driver was too !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i was think about the speed in the straights...

[jackiewilson]

i was think about the speed in the straights...

MITIGATING FACTORS PILGRIM !!!!!!!!!
Length of the run ?????
Dead start or rolling???????
F1 car motors could set up the telemetry for any occasion to a fine degree——— !!!
Outboards can do two things, PROP AND TRIM. plus the huge cajones that tend to favour tunnel boat jockeys every time .
Top speed ?????? Not a tunnel boat in existence that can match the top end of an F1 car.
Not counting the offshore rigs — they need a mile run before reaching anything like top end !!

Just read through that—— i sound like a really cranky cantankerous OLD bastard— I’m not really, just a tad “contentious” !!!!!

[powerabout]

i meant the v6 f1 boat versus the v8 displacement, which seemed very slow in the corners but good down the staight.

[jackiewilson]

i meant the v6 f1 boat versus the v8 displacement, which seemed very slow in the corners but good down the staight.

BRISTOL WAS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF THE V8 JONRUDES AGAINST THE V6 MERCURY.
Seebold Versus Percival——— the Merc was a tad quicker than the Rude —- Billy could have squeezed Tom on to the bouy a couple of times, too much of a “fair” [ gentleman] driver —-only a spit second between them at the finish. Just saying——- in spite of claims to the contrary, it was never a fair playing field—- OMC had far too much money tied up in the OZ spectacle to risk Mercury pissing on their parades.
Still didn’t stop them from going belly up !!!!!!!! Just saying.

[jackiewilson]

You know what—- That damn lucky SOB Hamilton had all the luck and won again— just how bad is that? For someone who can’t drive and only wins because he has the fastest car on the circuit, he is not shaping up too badly .
(7 GP wins —99 pole positions— seven world championships] i think he has given a good account of himself.

[Rotary John]

BRISTOL WAS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF THE V8 JONRUDES AGAINST THE V6 MERCURY.
Seebold Versus Percival——— the Merc was a tad quicker than the Rude —- Billy could have squeezed Tom on to the bouy a couple of times, too much of a “fair” [ gentleman] driver —-only a spit second between them at the finish. Just saying——- in spite of claims to the contrary, it was never a fair playing field—- OMC had far too much money tied up in the OZ spectacle to risk Mercury pissing on their parades.
Still didn’t stop them from going belly up !!!!!!!! Just saying.

Seems I recall Billy was driving a 3.4l V-6 vs a 3l V-8. Last time I checked the number of cylinders didn't win races, it is HP.

[peterse90]

From a post I did in HOT SINGLES a couple of years ago;

I wish I could say I was actually there to witness this, but this is from the story in the POWERBOAT & WATERSKIING issue.

Bristol 1982 Bill Seebold brought one boat but (2) powerheads. A 2 litre powerhead for ON and a 2 litre powerhead bored an extra cc so he could qualify to run OZ against the OMC V-8's.

Bill won the ON class and the Duke of York trophy for the 4th time.

But the amazing story is he also won the OZ class and the Embassy Gold Cup defeating the 3.5 litre OMC V8's. According to the story they only had about 17 minutes between the ON and OZ heats to change the powerheads. For the OZ final Seebold just made it to the starting dock a few seconds before the 1 minute gun with Leo his mechanic still on the boat fastening the cowl - Leo literally had to jump off the boat into the water.

Seebold later admitted that this was the most demanding and hardest race he ever drove. The Bristol crowd and even the OMC drivers were truly amazed.

I think there is also a really good POWERBOAT article about this race with a headline something like "SEEBOLD DEEP SIXES THE V8's".

Although I wasn't in Bristol in 1982 to personally witness this, I was there I think it was 1983 and it was spectacular !!
Perhaps Jackie was there in 1982 because Mark Wilson finished second to Bill in the ON class.

[Mark Poole ModVP]

That race was most likely the greatest thing any driver ever accomplished in one weekend. There are several youtube vids of the F1 and F2 heats.

[jackiewilson]

Billy once told me that the 2 litre ON motor was quicker than the bored out 2+ litre motor he used in the final race.
as Mark said long ago—“if it wasn’t for that damned Seebold ,i could have been famous”
He actually finished second to Billy a total of five times at Bristol .
Billy could run his Seebold harder than any other driver , he was always 10/10ths at Bristol .
Steve West and Leo did the motor swop in record time —— there were no RATTLE GUNS in those days, just nimble fingers and a will to win.
dare not tell you how much cash Billy stashed away on his body ——- ?????only Parkinson could do that.

[powerabout]

Speaking of Parkinson, make sure all the history of Fonda gets collated and safely put somewhere.

[jackiewilson]

Speaking of Parkinson, make sure all the history of Fonda gets collated and safely put somewhere.

”COLLATED”. Huh!— as Pruetts daughter used to say—- THATS ONE OF THOSE BIG WORDS, LIKE HELIOCOPTOR AND MAYONNAISE!“. Why use a little word like „“SAVE“ when you have big words like „“COLLATED“ you can use——-.
Parky has just about every item of competition clothing MERCURY ever produced ———remember the red sports jacket, to be used only at formal presentations. And the silver barrage balloon material jackets all mercury personnel had —— Belts, ties and shirts, hats and badges—- he has more than Mercury has. Records, dates and photos of every FONDA and Canon race —- complete with pictures of every driver ever to run a Merc in a FONDA race.
His wife Muriel will make sure the rag and bone man doesn’t get them

[jackiewilson]

Seems I recall Billy was driving a 3.4l V-6 vs a 3l V-8. Last time I checked the number of cylinders didn't win races, it is HP.

Not quite right Johnno—— Billy was running a bored two litre V6, to comply with the new RULE OMC introduced to the OZ class. Capacity suddenly had a MINIMUM CAPACITY!!!!!!!!
PREVIOUS TO THIS TIME OZ WAS UNLIMITED AND WITHOUT A MINIMUM CAPACITY.
Was always told that the minimum V8 horsepower was way over 400—- even with a 3 Litre V8 ??????? Or was that just publicity?????? .
Pity the factories could never agree on anything. OMC threw the dollies and said you can’t play in my game——— .
Fonda series had proved itself to be the best series ever , costing Mercury very little .
OZ series went through five million in three years—— great for the teams —- bubble had to burst and did in a big way. Plenty commissioners in the UIM had to look elsewhere for a supplement to their earnings . Rolfe Fraulin in particular.

[powerabout]

look at it now all teams sing the Merc tune in F1 and F2 or f off..
Hand in glove with the UIM
Texas f1 growing in USA and Downunder...carby 2.5