Tricks that old racers get up to after retirement

[jackiewilson]

Well, we seem to have got the ball rolling—— Fiona Brothers was a young lady from the Cotswold club, Mercury and Fred Haunstien took a great deal of trouble with her .
She always had the best motors , STEVE WEST looked after them . Latest Seebold boats , she wasn’t too shabby as a driver either .
Problem was — win or lose, the media wanted to interview her all the time —- have to admit ,she was better looking than JOHN HILL—JON JONES—STEVE KERTON—-VIC HISCOCK !!!!!! None of them would have won a beauty contest.
For a couple of seasons ,it looked like she might have made the top slot before a freak blow over left her under water for rather too long.
She was the only serious female circuit racer in Britain for the last fifty years. Hasten to add before Matte Strome came along.
ROZ Knot and Gina Campbell had sat their little bums in a proper race boat for a few tests and stunts but nothing serious .
There has to be more than that ——-????????

[techteam]

There are both Mette B Bjerknaes and Bimba Sjoholm race F2 currently and can be very quick, both seem to be UK team based at the moment. But don't forget the UK have developed several girls in GT15 and GT30 that have competed up the front internationally, Sarah Newton, Joss Stoneman and there were the Chesman girls that competed in Hydro's with Sue Keay.

[powerabout]

It was Mette I met in Macau

[jackiewilson]

There are both Mette B Bjerknaes and Bimba Sjoholm race F2 currently and can be very quick, both seem to be UK team based at the moment. But don't forget the UK have developed several girls in GT15 and GT30 that have competed up the front internationally, Sarah Newton, Joss Stoneman and there were the Chesman girls that competed in Hydro's with Sue Keay.

Let’s not forget NICOLA MORA’S DAUGHTER ——- her mother makes the best VERDE PASTA in the world.

[jackiewilson]

All i need is a good picture of Bill Allen and a pull cord and we have a full set !!!!!!!!!!

[FUJIMO]

[jackiewilson]

Somehow all Mercury powered boats manage to have crap trailers —- even Mert’s record breaking boat only has a garden shed placed on a pair of wheels !!!!!!
Thought i could give the concept boat a better mode of transport —- like a triple axle job—-just for fun.
Graphics i have are from the wrong era, will try and rectify this at a later date.

[Lake X Kid]

Well, we seem to have got the ball rolling—— Fiona Brothers was a young lady from the Cotswold club, Mercury and Fred Haunstien took a great deal of trouble with her .
She always had the best motors , STEVE WEST looked after them . Latest Seebold boats , she wasn’t too shabby as a driver either .
Problem was — win or lose, the media wanted to interview her all the time —- have to admit ,she was better looking than JOHN HILL—JON JONES—STEVE KERTON—-VIC HISCOCK !!!!!! None of them would have won a beauty contest.

[jackiewilson]

Don’t ask me how i did —cos i dont know. Feels like I’ve sprained my wrist —badly. Had to miss the car boot sale, and the scrapyard . Spent most of the morning in bed , feeling very sorry for myself . Arm is just useless , dont remember banging it or overdoing anything strenuous .
Another day lost, just as i was meandering along nicely. Still, i suppose it gives me time to cogitate on how im going to fernagle the rear canopy for MERT.
Was never going to be easy, has too many different curvatures , specially when im doing it out of solid heavy gauge aluminium.
Have to smile when somebody says “will you take a hundred for it” ????
probably a months work——lots of machine work—-abrasive discs and saw blades —— plus the cost of the material.
Forgive me if you thought i was a tad rude when i said SEX AND TRAVEL .

Still a long way to go, but i did chuck out the centre section to lower the C of G in the motor— seems to have worked , HAVE TO ASK, WHY DID WE NEED A CENTRE SECTION ANYWAY ???????
they did get shorter and shorte over the years .
in reality all it needed was a good cav plate and a tough drive shaft.

[jackiewilson]

first piccy is JOHN HILL—MICHAEL WERNER—MARK WILSON —FEE
second is STEVE WEST— BILLY SEEBOLD—- guessing FRED HAUENSTIEN—- FEE. Not many conks like that floating about the hog market in those days !

[FUJIMO]

...looks so good...i think i can hear it start & run...... and you do pretty darn nice gearcase work too, i might add......

[jackiewilson]

...looks so good...i think i can hear it start & run...... and you do pretty darn nice gearcase work too, i might add......

Think it looks better without the center section , lowers everything, suppose there must have been a feasible reason for a centre section, anyone out there can tell me what it was !!!!!!

[Rotary John]

Jackie: I hate to be a critic but, Looking at the previous pictures of the real thing, it doesn't appear to have a mid section, Your gearcase shape is OMC not Merc, and it looks like you have a bent prop shaft in this picture.

[jackiewilson]

Jackie: I hate to be a critic but, Looking at the previous pictures of the real thing, it doesn't appear to have a mid section, Your gearcase shape is OMC not Merc, and it looks like you have a bent prop shaft in this picture.

think it does have some kind of mini centre section Johnno—- maybe just a skeleton —— steering is hanging on to it .
I must be doing something right if i can fool an expert—— i simply fernagle a gearcase off the top of my head . Select a chunk of metal and grind the sh-t out of it until a shape emerges , when it feels right— it is right . OMC gearcase we’re always prettier than the Merc, but from listening to RON HILL and other OMC jockeys, both camps had major problems with b ottomans ends . Once DUCKWORTH and the team at COSWORTH. Sorted it out there never was a problem again.
Ok, I’ll come clean — i dropped the motor on the floor and bent the prop shaft . Just needs a tweet with a pair of grips and its job done .
I do have two motors on the go at once —- one is solid alloy —‘other is all nuts and bolts and plates — wires and bits and bobs.. both have a gear case each. Problem is — i only have one prop.

[Rotary John]

I suspect it was an adapter plate to change the bolt pattern form the powerhead to the gearcase. The rotary did the same thing with the bucket. There was about 2" from the bottom of the powerhead to the gearcase.